The K1 fiance visa was designed in order to institute means and method for alien fiancees of American citizens to travel to the USA in order to unite with their American counterparts. This travel document is usually called a “fiancee visa” because that is this visa’s raison d’etre. The primary advantage of the K-1 visa is that it has the quickest processing time when comparing it to marriage visas such as the K3 Visa and CR-1 visa. That being said, the K-1 does require that the alien fiance file for adjustment of status to lawful permanent residence within 90 days after being admitted to the United States. Usually, the adjustment of status process takes about 120 to 150 days from application submission until final decision.
The I-601 waiver was designed for those who are found to be inadmissible to the US due to one of the legal grounds of excludability found under the provisions of the United States Immigration and Nationality Act. In the Kingdom of Thailand, the two most common grounds of excludability are usually the result of a factual finding that the foreign fiance/fiancee engaged in acts amounting to prostitution within a 10 year period prior to the submission of a visa application or a finding that the foreign fiance/fiancee overstayed in the USA and thereby accrued unlawful presence on a prior visa.
Many ask: if an alien fiancee is approved for one of the aforementioned waivers of excludability, then will she ever need to be put through a readjudication of that issue? The short answer: no. Subsequent to an approval of an I-601 waiver application the underlying waiver is binding with regard to the facts at issue. Therefore, if the local Office of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) in Bangkok approves an I-601 waiver application, then that holding, based upon those unique and specific facts, will be respected by other USCIS offices adjudicating later applications that are connected to the alien’s presence in the United States of America.
By way of exampe of how this could play out: a Thai fiance/fiancee is issued a K-1 visa denial letter by the Consular Section at the American Embassy in Thailand based upon a factual finding that a legal grounds of excludability is present in the case. After notifying the Consulate that a waiver is to be sought, the file is then sent to the appropriate USCIS office. Should the I601 waiver petition receive approval, then the file will be remitted back to the appropriate US Consulate. The American Consulate should then issue the K-1 visa, and the applicant will travel to the United States, gain lawful admission, marry the American Citizen fiance, and submit an adjustment of status application.
In the above scenario, the previously adjudicated waiver should be recognized during the adjustment of status application process and as a result the matter would probably not be re-visited. A significant advantage of submitting an application for a waiver abroad is the fact that it can encourage transparency regarding upcoming phases of the process and may also be a benefit since waiver issues will be dealt with in a jurisdiction other than the one in which the US Citizen maintains his or her place of residence.
