K-1 visas are a relatively quick and effective method of bringing a foreign fiancée to the United States of America for the limited purpose of marriage and adjustment of status to permanent residence. For those seeking to bring a loved one to America there are many questions and much confusion that surrounds the sometimes complex process.

This being said, K-1 visa obtainment is not an impossible goal, but there are requirements for getting the visa. Some of the requirements are somewhat flexible, but certain regulations are very rigid.

One of the rigid rules regarding the K1 is the stipulation that a foreign fiancee and an American Citizen must have met in person before the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) will issue a K-1 fiancee visa.

When they enacted the legislation promulgating the K-1 visa, the legislators made it very clear that the visa petitioner and beneficiary ought to have met at least once before a fiancee visa should be issued. Inherent in a K-1 visa application there is a requirement that the relationship between the parties must be genuine. One factor that tends to prove the bona fide nature of a relationship is the fact that both parties have met in person. Even in the computer age where a very genuine and caring relationship can arise between two people utilizing online chat, email, and two way video; USCIS still requires that a couple meet in person at least once before a K1 application will be approved. As with most rules, there is an exception and in the case of the K-1 visa, there are exceptional circumstances in which a fiance visa may be granted even where the parties have not met within the two years preceding the visa application. That being said, USCIS is somewhat loath to approve K1 visa applications where the parties involved have not met in person. In certain religions it is forbidden for those who are to be married to meet before their wedding day. As a result, USCIS has carved out a sort of niche exception to the K1 meeting requirement where the fiances' religious practices forbid meeting.

Further, there is an extreme hardship waiver that can be obtained that waives the meeting requirement for a k-1 visa. In order to waive the meeting requirement, the party seeking the waiver must show that it would be an extreme hardship for him or her to meet their loved one in person before obtaining the K1 visa. In many cases, an example of this type of hardship exists where the US Citizen has some sort of debilitating illness.

This showing of extreme hardship is akin to an I-601 waiver of inadmissibility which requires a showing of extreme hardship in order for a finding of a legal ground of inadmissibility to be waived.

Benjamin W. Hart is licensed to practice law in Federal District Court in the USA. He is currently working for Integrity Legal (Thailand) Co. Ltd, a firm with offices in the United States and Thailand. To contact Integrity Legal please email info@integrity-legal.com, call +66 (0)2-266-3698, or Toll Free 1-877-231-7533.