Engaged · Married · Already here

Engaged or married is the first fact that decides the route.

The K-1 is for a couple that is engaged, with the fiancé(e) abroad and a U.S. citizen petitioner. Married couples, permanent-resident petitioners, and partners already in the United States each start somewhere else.

01 · K-1 fiancé(e)

Engaged to a U.S. citizen, fiancé(e) abroad

The citizen files Form I-129F, the fiancé(e) receives a K-1 visa at a consulate, and the couple marries in the United States within 90 days of arrival. The green card is a second application, filed after the wedding.

Check the four requirements

02 · CR-1 / IR-1

Already married, spouse abroad

A married couple files Form I-130 and completes an immigrant visa case through the National Visa Center and a consulate. The spouse arrives as a permanent resident, with no 90-day clock.

Consular processing for spouses

03 · Married, spouse here

Already married, spouse in the United States

A spouse already here after a lawful admission can often apply through Forms I-130 and I-485 without leaving. Adjustment is discretionary, and USCIS guidance issued in May 2026 tells officers to weigh whether the spouse could have used a consulate instead. How the spouse entered, and the rest of the history, decide whether that door is open.

Marriage green cards

04 · Green-card holder

The petitioner is a permanent resident

A permanent resident cannot file a K-1. The route is to marry and file Form I-130 in the F2A category, which waits on the Visa Bulletin. If the petitioner naturalizes, a pending F2A petition generally converts to an immediate-relative case.

Family-based green cards

05 · K-2 children

The fiancé(e) has children

Unmarried children under 21 can be listed on the same petition and travel as K-2s. The route closes for a child who turns 21 before admission, so ages shape the timeline from the start.

Read about K-2 timing

06 · Already here on a K-1

The fiancé(e) has already arrived

The work now is the wedding date, the green card package, the affidavit of support, and the interview. Leaving without advance parole abandons a pending green card application, and a late I-485 can make even a trip on advance parole risky.

Adjustment of status

The route is set by the facts on the day you file: whether you are married, where the foreign partner lives, and whether the petitioner is a citizen. A couple that marries abroad while a K-1 petition is pending has left the K-1 route, so decide before you file.

Who qualifies

Four requirements, and each one is proved on paper.

A fiancé(e) petition is decided on documents. USCIS looks for four things before it approves Form I-129F, and the consular officer tests the same facts again at the interview.

A U.S. citizen petitioner

Only a U.S. citizen can file for a fiancé(e), and citizenship must already exist on the day the petition is filed. Proof is a U.S. birth certificate, a naturalization or citizenship certificate, a consular report of birth abroad, or a valid U.S. passport.

Both legally free to marry

Every earlier marriage of either partner must have ended by final divorce, annulment, or death, with the decree or certificate in the file. Both partners must also be legally able to marry in the United States, under the law of the state where the wedding will take place.

An in-person meeting within two years

You must have met in person at least once in the two years before filing; calls and video do not count. USCIS may waive this only when meeting would violate strict, long-established customs of the fiancé(e)'s culture or social practice, or would cause extreme hardship to the U.S. citizen.

A plan to marry within 90 days

Both partners sign statements of intent, and the plan has to fit the 90 days after the fiancé(e)'s admission. The relationship must be genuine; a marriage entered only to obtain an immigration benefit disqualifies the case.

Who the K-1 is not for: couples who are already legally married, couples who plan to marry outside the United States, and, according to USCIS, a fiancé(e) who already lives in the United States in lawful status. A married couple uses a spousal petition: consular processing for a spouse abroad, or the marriage green card route for a spouse already here.

IMBRA · Adam Walsh Act

The petitioner's history travels with the petition.

Two federal laws decide what a U.S. citizen must disclose and who may file at all. The International Marriage Broker Regulation Act (IMBRA) requires criminal-history disclosures and limits repeat filings; the Adam Walsh Act restricts petitions by people convicted of certain offenses against minors.

Sealed or expunged still has to be disclosed. For the crimes IMBRA lists, the petition must include certified police and court records for every arrest or conviction, even when a record was sealed or expunged or someone said it no longer counts.

Request a confidential petition review

Specified crimes and protection orders. Domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse or neglect, dating violence, elder abuse, stalking, homicide, trafficking, and related offenses must be disclosed, with any protection or restraining orders tied to them and three or more alcohol- or drug-related convictions not arising from a single act.
Your fiancé(e) will see it. After approval, USCIS sends the petition and any criminal history it finds to the State Department, which shares it with the fiancé(e) along with a pamphlet on the legal rights of immigrant victims of domestic violence. A victim's name stays confidential; the relationship does not.
Multiple-filer limits. A waiver is required if the petitioner has filed before for two or more fiancé(e)s, or had a fiancé(e) petition approved and fewer than two years have passed since that earlier petition was filed. A history of violent crime raises the standard to extraordinary circumstances.
International marriage brokers. If you met through a paid matchmaking or introduction service that counts as a broker under IMBRA, the petition names the broker and includes the fiancé(e)'s signed consent to release contact information.
Repeat petitions are tracked. USCIS records fiancé(e) petitions in a database. Once a petitioner has two approvals, a new filing within ten years of the first triggers notice to both the petitioner and the new fiancé(e).
Offenses against minors. Under the Adam Walsh Act, a citizen convicted of a specified offense against a minor cannot file a fiancé(e) petition unless USCIS decides, in its sole and unreviewable discretion, that the petitioner poses no risk to the fiancé(e).

From petition to green card

Three agencies and a wedding, in a fixed order.

USCIS approves the petition, the State Department issues the visa, Customs and Border Protection admits your fiancé(e), and USCIS returns for the green card. Background checks can happen at every stage, on both of you.

01
Form I-129F at USCIS
The citizen files the petition with proof of citizenship, the in-person meeting, the intent to marry, the end of any prior marriages, and the IMBRA disclosures. Every form must be the current edition and signed by hand, and USCIS may call the petitioner in for fingerprints.
02
Approval and the National Visa Center
USCIS sends the approved petition to the National Visa Center, which forwards it to the consulate, generally the one where your fiancé(e) lives. An approval is valid for four months, and a consular officer can revalidate it while the couple still intends to marry.
03
The visa application abroad
Your fiancé(e) completes the online Form DS-160, has the medical exam with a panel physician, and gathers police certificates and civil documents. The DS-160 asks for social media handles from the last five years, and since March 2026 K-1 and K-2 applicants are asked to set profiles to public for review.
04
The consular interview
The officer tests the relationship, admissibility, and whether your fiancé(e) is likely to become a public charge. Form I-864 cannot be required at this stage; the consulate may ask for Form I-134 or other proof of support. A doubtful relationship can send the petition back to USCIS.
05
Visa, travel, and admission
The K-1 visa is generally good for one entry within up to six months. A CBP officer decides admission at the airport, and the admission date on the I-94 record starts the 90 days.
06
The wedding, within 90 days
Your fiancé(e) must marry you, the petitioner, in a legally valid ceremony within 90 days of admission. K-1 status cannot be extended, and a wedding on day 91 does not use the K-1 route.
07
Green card, then conditions
After the wedding, Form I-485 is filed with the citizen's Form I-864 and, usually, requests for work and travel permits. USCIS usually interviews the couple. If the marriage is under two years old at approval, the card is conditional and Form I-751 is due in the 90 days before it expires.

After arrival

After admission, the path to a green card runs through one person.

A K-1 is a single-purpose visa. Outside narrow humanitarian exceptions, the law allows adjustment of status only through a timely marriage to the citizen who filed the petition, and it closes most other doors while your fiancé(e) is here.

Required

What the K-1 has to do

Marry the petitioner within 90 days of admission, in a marriage that is legally valid in the state. A religious ceremony without a marriage license does not satisfy the rule.
File the green card application promptly after the wedding: Form I-485, proof of the K-1 admission and the timely marriage, and the citizen spouse's Form I-864, all on current form editions.
Meet the medical rule. The overseas exam can carry over if the I-485 is filed within a year of it, though a vaccination record may still be needed; after that, a new exam is required.
Request work and travel permission on Forms I-765 and I-131, and stay in the country until advance parole is in hand. If the I-485 was filed more than 180 days after the 90-day admission ended, get advice before any trip: since August 13, 2026, a trip on advance parole counts as a departure that can trigger the three- or ten-year unlawful presence bar.
Prepare for the interview with originals and current proof of a shared life. Marriage-based cases should expect one.
Calendar the I-751. A two-year conditional card needs a joint petition in the 90 days before it expires.

Off limits

What the K-1 cannot do

Change to another visa status from inside the United States. INA § 248(a)(1) bars it for K nonimmigrants.
Adjust through anyone else: not an employer, another relative, or a different spouse. INA § 245(d) limits adjustment to the marriage with the citizen who filed the petition.
Extend the 90 days. K-1 status ends with the admission period and cannot be extended.
Stay past day 90 without marrying. The K-1 is then out of status, can be placed in removal proceedings, and time here can begin to count as unlawful presence.
Rely on a late wedding. A marriage to the petitioner after day 90 does not use the K-1 approval; the couple generally needs a new Form I-130, and eligibility depends on the full history.
Travel on a pending I-485 without advance parole. Leaving is treated as abandoning the application, and K-1 status is not among the exceptions.

Plan the wedding backward from the I-94. Confirm the admission date, count the 90 days, and make sure the county marriage license, in Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, or wherever you marry, will be in hand in time. Most late-wedding problems are calendar problems.

K-2 children

For a K-2 child, the age that counts is the age at admission.

Children of the fiancé(e) do not need their own petition, but they must be listed on it and must still be unmarried and under 21 when they enter. Long waits turn that into a timing question, not a formality.

01 · Who qualifies

Unmarried and under 21

A child of the fiancé(e) who is unmarried and under 21 can receive a K-2 visa on the same approved petition. List every child on the I-129F, including one who may not travel right away.

02 · Travel

With the parent, or after

K-2 children may travel with the K-1 parent or follow later, but never before the parent. A child following later generally must be issued the K-2 visa within one year of the parent's K-1 visa.

03 · Turning 21

No age freeze while you wait

The K-2 route has no age freeze. A child who turns 21 before admission can no longer use it, however long the petition or the consulate took. A child close to 21 needs a filing plan from the first week.

04 · Older children

Why the K-2 matters at 18, 19, or 20

A U.S. citizen can petition for a stepchild only if the marriage took place before the child turned 18. For a child already 18 or older, the K-2 may be the only way to immigrate alongside the parent, provided the child is admitted before 21.

05 · After admission

Turning 21 after entry

In Matter of Le (2011), the Board of Immigration Appeals held that a K-2's age at admission controls, so turning 21 after entry does not by itself bar adjustment. Each K-2 files a separate I-485, with or after the parent, and must stay unmarried.

06 · If plans change

The child's case follows the parent's

A K-2 can adjust only through the K-1 parent's timely marriage to the petitioner. If the wedding does not happen within 90 days, the child loses the K-2 route along with the parent.

If a child cannot use the K-2: the citizen can petition for a stepchild when the marriage came before the child's 18th birthday. Otherwise the parent, once a permanent resident, can petition in a family preference category that follows the Visa Bulletin.

Side by side

K-1 and CR-1 reach the same green card by different roads.

The spousal visa, CR-1 or IR-1, asks the couple to marry first; the K-1 lets them marry here. The differences that usually decide it are where the wedding happens, what status your partner has on arrival, and how many filings stand between arrival and a green card.

	K-1 fiancé(e) visa	CR-1 / IR-1 spousal visa
Where you marry	In the United States, to the petitioner, within 90 days of admission.	Before the petition is filed, wherever the marriage is legally valid, often abroad.
Status on arrival	K-1 nonimmigrant for 90 days. Permanent residence takes a second application after the wedding.	Permanent resident on admission: CR-1, conditional, if married under two years; IR-1 if longer.
Work authorization on arrival	Allowed only during the 90-day admission and proved with an EAD; most K-1s wait for the permit filed with the I-485.	From the day of admission. The stamped immigrant visa is temporary proof until the card arrives.
Number of filings	Three stages: I-129F at USCIS, the visa at a consulate, then I-485 with I-864 (and usually I-765 and I-131) back at USCIS.	Two stages: I-130 at USCIS, then the immigrant visa through the National Visa Center and a consulate, with the I-864 filed once.
Financial support	Form I-134 or other proof at the consulate; the binding Form I-864 at adjustment.	The binding Form I-864 during the National Visa Center stage.
Travel after arrival	Single-entry visa. Once the I-485 is filed, leaving without advance parole abandons it, and since August 2026 even a trip on advance parole can trigger the unlawful presence bars if the I-485 was filed more than 180 days after the 90 days ended.	Travels as a permanent resident; long absences carry their own risks.
Children	Unmarried children under 21 come as K-2s on the same petition, if admitted before 21.	No derivatives: each child needs a separate I-130, and a stepchild qualifies only if the marriage came before age 18.
Cost and total time	Usually more in government fees, because the green card is a separate filing after arrival. Compare current times for every stage.	Usually fewer filings and fees, and the process ends at entry. Compare current times before choosing.
Who it suits	Engaged couples who want to marry in the United States, and some families with a child of 18 to 20.	Couples already married, or willing to marry abroad, who want the spouse to arrive able to work and travel.

General comparison only. Fees, processing times, and consular schedules change, so compare current figures for both routes before deciding; see our USCIS fee guide and the official USCIS processing times. Both routes can lead to a conditional card and a Form I-751 when the marriage is new.

Private two-minute guide

Is the K-1 the right route for the two of you?

Answer three general questions. The guide suggests where a first review should start; it does not decide eligibility, and your answers are not sent to the firm.

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1. What is the petitioning partner's status?

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3. Are there complications to plan around?

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Common questions

K-1 questions.

General answers help you prepare. They cannot tell you whether a particular relationship, record, or history will lead to a visa or a green card.

Can a green-card holder file for a fiancé(e)?

No. Only a U.S. citizen can file Form I-129F. A permanent resident's route is to marry and file Form I-130 in the F2A category, which follows the monthly Visa Bulletin. Naturalizing first opens the K-1; if you have already married and filed, the pending F2A petition generally converts to an immediate-relative case when you naturalize.

We are already married. Can we still use a K-1?

No. USCIS says couples who are already married, or who plan to marry outside the United States, are not eligible for a fiancé(e) visa. A married couple uses Form I-130, with consular processing when the spouse is abroad or adjustment of status when the spouse is already here and eligible. Whether a ceremony abroad created a legal marriage depends on the law where it took place, so bring the paperwork.

Is a K-1 faster than a spousal visa?

Not reliably. Which route brings your partner here first depends on current USCIS processing for the I-129F and the I-130 and on the consulate's schedule, and both change. The K-1 also adds a green card application after the wedding, while the spousal visa finishes at entry. Compare current times on the USCIS and State Department sites before choosing.

Does the 90-day deadline apply to the wedding or to the green card application?

To the wedding. The marriage to the petitioner must take place within 90 days of admission; the regulation does not set a separate deadline for Form I-485. File promptly anyway: the K-1 admission is short, K-1 work authorization ends with it, and time after the authorized stay can count as unlawful presence.

What happens if we do not marry within 90 days?

K-1 status ends and cannot be extended. Your fiancé(e), and any K-2 children, are expected to leave; staying can lead to removal proceedings and unlawful presence. If you marry the petitioner later, the case generally needs a new Form I-130, and whether a green card is available from inside the United States depends on the full history. Get advice before the date passes.

Can my fiancé(e) visit on a tourist visa and marry here instead?

It is risky. A visitor visa is for a temporary visit, and entering with a plan to marry and stay can be treated as misrepresentation, which can become a permanent bar unless it is waived. USCIS guidance issued in May 2026 also tells officers to weigh whether someone who came temporarily could have used the consular process. The K-1 exists for exactly this plan; a visitor who marries and then leaves as intended is a different case.

Can a K-1 work or travel before the green card?

Work is authorized only during the 90-day admission, and proving it takes an employment authorization document, so most K-1s apply for a work permit with the I-485 and wait. Travel is riskier: the visa is single-entry, a K-1 who leaves before the wedding generally needs a new visa, and leaving after the I-485 is filed, without advance parole, abandons the application. Even with advance parole, get advice first: in Matter of Delcarmen-Lara (August 13, 2026), the Board of Immigration Appeals held that a trip on advance parole is a departure that can trigger the ten-year bar, and USCIS applies the same reading to the three-year bar. That matters for a K-1 who built up more than 180 days of unlawful presence before filing the I-485. Read what changed.

Which financial form is used, the I-134 or the I-864?

Both, at different stages. At the consulate, Form I-864 cannot be required; the officer may ask for Form I-134 or other proof that your fiancé(e) will not become a public charge. After the wedding, the adjustment requires Form I-864 from the citizen spouse, a contract that generally lasts until the immigrant naturalizes or is credited with 40 quarters of work. The new DHS public charge rule applies to a Form I-485 postmarked or filed online on or after September 18, 2026, and federal lawsuits against it are pending. A joint sponsor can fill an income gap.

Do 2026 travel restrictions and visa pauses affect K-1 cases?

They can. Presidential proclamations restrict visa issuance for nationals of certain countries, and consular scheduling has been disrupted in 2026 by pauses and litigation. A K-1 is a nonimmigrant visa that consulates process much like an immigrant visa, so check your fiancé(e)'s nationality and the consulate's current notices before setting a wedding date.

What if the relationship ends after the wedding?

The case may continue. In Matter of Sesay (2011), the Board of Immigration Appeals held that a K-1 who married the petitioner in good faith within 90 days may still be granted adjustment even if the marriage has ended by the time the application is decided. Expect close review. A conditional resident whose marriage ended, or who was abused by the spouse, can ask to waive the joint I-751 filing; an abuse-based waiver does not need the spouse's signature or cooperation, and federal law bars immigration officials from sharing it with the abuser. If you are not safe at home, our humanitarian relief page has a quick-exit button and explains safer ways to contact us.

K-1 representation at a glance

Who we represent: U.S. citizen petitioners, their fiancé(e)s abroad, and K-2 children, from Allentown and across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York. USCIS filings are federal, so we also help petitioners elsewhere in the United States.
Languages: English and Spanish.
Main forms: Form I-129F; after the wedding, Form I-485 with Form I-864; Form I-751 if the card is conditional.
Who can petition: A U.S. citizen only. Permanent residents use Form I-130 after marrying.
The deadline: Marriage to the petitioner within 90 days of admission; K-1 status cannot be extended.
Children: Unmarried children under 21 as K-2s, admitted before they turn 21.
Fees: Flat legal fees quoted in writing after review, by stage: the K-1 petition and consular process, the green card after the wedding, and the I-751. Attorney attendance at a USCIS interview, if requested, is quoted separately. Payment plans are available. Government fees change; see our USCIS fee guide.
Office: 609 W. Hamilton Street, No. 102, Allentown, PA 18101 · (484) 763-4984

Information reviewed against official USCIS and State Department sources on September 25, 2026. This page provides general information, not legal advice; it does not evaluate a particular relationship or record, promise a visa or a green card, or create an attorney-client relationship. Fees, forms, processing times, and consular procedures change.

Reviewed and updated September 25, 2026

A K-1 fiancé(e) visa has one purpose and a 90-day deadline.