Michael Levitis

Hey, everybody, it’s Mike Levitis here from jurisq.com. And I have immigration attorney with me, Yakov Specter. And we have met before on our seminars with Yakov. And he was very useful answering our questions. I really appreciate it. And another question came up, which I think is very interesting relevance to many people having to do with the fall in love, what happens if you fall in love with somebody online, and right now, it’s very relevant people go on dating sites, dating apps, that are functioning all over the world, you meet somebody, you zoom with them FaceTime with them, you fall in love, but you actually want to see them in person. Possibly. You want to get engaged, and so on. So, Yakov, is that a possibility? And what are the steps you have to take?

Yakov Spektor

It is actually a possibility. Not only is it a possibility, there are a special type of a visa that is available for people who do fall in love, you know, and I think it’s a beautiful thing, just as love could be a beautiful thing. And it’s called the fiancee visa. Okay, now there is one very important requirement, when people try to seek a fiancee visa. And that is, the government would expect you to show that you actually met your fiancee in person on the requirements of the fiancee visa is that you have to meet your fiancee, you would have had to meet her in person. So either she or he would have have come and visited you in the United States. And that’s how you met, are you over zoom, and then you went over to basically to her country and met her, her parents, etc, etc, etc. And then you could show the plane tickets, you could show the photographs to the government demonstrating that. There are some exceptions, because the government realizes that, hey, you know what, in some cultures, you know, marriages are arranged. Yeah, that’s a good point. Actually, the government makes an exception for those traditional culture situations, but then you would have to prove that indeed, you belong to that particular community. Interesting. Oh, you know, and actually, this is not an immigration law advice. This is I think this is just human advice. If you meet someone over zoom, okay, and you want to marry that person, you know what, it’s good, probably a good idea to go and meet that person. Or a woman in person?

Michael Levitis

Yeah, that’s a good point. So just to clarify, to get a fiancee visa, you have to first meet that person?

Yakov Spektor

Correct. You have to show that in the last few years, you guys at least met once want at least once face to face?

Michael Levitis

And what if somebody wants to come here, first a tourist visa, and it’s not easy to get, let’s say, tourist visa, but they come in to see you. For the purposes of relationship. Is there such a visa for that or not?

Yakov Spektor

Well, no, that’s just just a basic tourist visa. If somebody’s here, you know, there’s obviously, you know, 1000s of cases every year when tourists come here, they meet somebody local, and, you know, and then the relationship progressed, and they decided to get married. And that case, they would say, talk to me, okay, there might be other ways of handling the situation, rather than going back and applying for a fiancee visa. But having said that, if that if you know, let’s say there was a romance going on, and you know, you couldn’t hear as a tourist, then you go back and you decide to get married, you wouldn’t be able to use that particular instance, when you guys met each other in person during your visit as as one of the requirements towards the fiancee visa.

Michael Levitis

And after getting that Fiancee Visa, how long does it take to get the actual green card or citizenship?

Yakov Spektor 

That’s actually a great question. So the fiancee visa in a way that’s one of the more most restrictive visas Okay, so the law says that, once you come here as a fiance of someone, okay, you guys have to get married within 90 days. It actually will really complicate things if you if you get married late and a lot of people during COVID, marriage bureaus very closed, and we’re in and they weren’t able to get married within those 90 days from now running into difficulties getting their status here based on that marriage. We could fix it but it becomes harder to fix. And let’s say if you do come here on the fiancee visa, things don’t work out. Things happen. It’s life. And you then you stay here and meet someone else. You will not be able to to really do anything. Okay, insofar as your immigration situation goes, even if your new relationship is genuine, simply because the fiancee visa, you know, that’s specifically given out for the purpose of coming in and marrying this particular person who applied for you as a fiancee. If things didn’t work out, the government will expect you to go back. Do you have to go back right away if things don’t work out? You know what, probably talk to me first. Okay, maybe we could come up with something.

Michael Levitis

Got it. Understood. Okay. Listen, this was very useful. Very interesting. I appreciate it. And we appreciate your time. And we’re going to have more q&a with you on immigration and law topics. If anybody has any questions on immigration, please drop us a note in the comments below. You can send me a message or you can even contact Yakov directly. We’re going to provide the phone number and other information for Yakov Spektor, and immigration attorney. Please follow our website for all types of legal Q&A’s from many experienced attorneys and our Facebook page jurisq.com. Thank you for your time.