K-3 Spouse Visa

The K-3 is a marriage-based visa. It is available to a foreign national who is married to a U.S. citizen and would prefer not to wait to go through the immigrant visa process through consular processing. The K-4 derivative visa is available to the children of an immigrant parent (K-3 visa principal) who are under 21 years of age and their immigrant parent must have married a U.S. Citizen before their 18th birthday. Both K-3 and K-4 visas are dual intent visas.

One of the prerequisites of a K-3 visa is that a U.S. citizen must file an immigrant visa petition for his/her foreign national spouse with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. If the foreign national spouse has children immigrating with him/her, then the U.S. citizen must file separate immigrant visa petitions on behalf of the children as well. Once the receipt notice of immigrant visa petition arrives, the U.S. citizen is required to submit a non-immigrant K-3 visa petition with the USCIS. However, unmarried K-3 children do not need separate petitions.

The Legal Immigration and Family Equity (LIFE) Act requires applicants to apply for a K-3 visa in the country where their marriage to the U.S. citizen petitioner occurred, or in the event the petitioner and applicant were married in the United States, the country of the applicant’s current residence. After arrival in the United States, they could then complete their processing for permanent residence.

You may be eligible to receive a green card as a K non-immigrant spouse, or his/her minor child if you:

• Are the beneficiary of an immigrant visa petition that was filed by a U.S. citizen for their spouse, or the minor children of that spouse
• Have been admitted to the United States as a K Non-immigrant
• Are eligible to adjust status as the spouse or child of a U.S. citizen
• Have an immigrant visa immediately available
• Are admissible to the United States

A U.S. citizen usually files a K-3 visa petition to speed up the entrance of his/her spouse into the United States while waiting for the adjudication of an immigrant visa petition. However, as a practical matter, the decision to file a K-3 visa must be carefully discussed with an experienced immigration attorney to get a realistic idea of processing times and procedures. It is worth mentioning here that, given current processing times the foreign national spouse will almost always have their immigrant visa approved and sent to the National Visa Center for consular processing before he/she gets the K-3 visa.

• Providing zealous representation before the USCIS
• Providing careful review of your personal circumstances
• Providing careful coordination of all correspondence with government agencies
• Ensuring a service-delivery model that meets and exceeds your satisfaction

Please contact our office if you are considering filing a K-3 marriage-based visa and K-4 derivative visa petitions for an honest case evaluation.