The K-1 visa, or fiancé(e) visa, is a nonimmigrant visa that lets a U.S. citizen's foreign fiancé(e) travel to the United States and marry the citizen within 90 days of arrival. The fiancé(e) then applies for a green card with USCIS.[1]
USCIS, the State Department (DOS) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) each take part, and background checks may be run on both partners at every stage.[2]
The visa is not available to couples already married, couples marrying outside the United States, or a fiancé(e) already living legally in the United States.[3]
Married couples are covered on the spouse of a U.S. citizen path.
Step 1: The U.S. citizen files Form I-129F
The U.S. citizen (the "petitioner") files Form I-129F, Petition for Alien Fiancé(e), asking USCIS to recognize the relationship. It cannot be filed abroad.[4][5][6]
USCIS lists these requirements:[7]
- The petitioner is a U.S. citizen.[8]
- Both intend to marry within 90 days of the fiancé(e)'s admission on a K-1 visa.[9]
- Both are legally free to marry; any earlier marriages ended by divorce, death or annulment.[10]
- They met in person at least once in the 2 years before filing. A waiver can be requested if meeting would violate strict, long-established customs of the fiancé(e)'s culture or cause the petitioner extreme hardship.[11][12]
- The marriage is genuine ("bona fide"), not only for an immigration benefit.[13]
The USCIS evidence checklist includes proof of citizenship, proof that earlier marriages ended, and evidence of the intent to marry within 90 days and of the in-person meeting.[14][15][16]
USCIS may mail a request for evidence (RFE) if it needs more. It then approves the petition or denies it with reasons, handling petitions in the order received.[17][18]
What a receipt notice shows is explained separately. Published times, also on the I-129F processing times page:
Step 2: The petition goes to the National Visa Center
USCIS sends the approved petition to the State Department's National Visa Center (NVC), which assigns a case number and forwards it to the embassy or consulate where the fiancé(e) lives.[19][20]
An approved I-129F is valid for four months; a consular officer can extend it if it expires before visa processing ends.[21]
NVC's published timeframes state that they do not apply to K (fiancé(e)) visas.[22]
More is in the National Visa Center and on the NVC timeframes page.
Step 3: The K-1 visa application and interview
The embassy or consulate tells the petitioner when the interview is scheduled, and the fiancé(e) applies and brings the required documents. Each K visa applicant files a separate application.[23][24]
The State Department's document list includes:[25]
- Form DS-160, the online visa application, with its printed confirmation page.[26]
- A passport valid at least six months beyond the intended stay.[27]
- Evidence of financial support and of the relationship.[28][29]
Every applicant has a medical exam by an authorized "panel physician" before the visa is issued. Vaccinations are not required for the K visa, but are required later when adjusting status.[30][31]
At the interview, applicants show they are not likely to become a "public charge," by showing they can support themselves or the citizen can support them. The officer may request Form I-134, Affidavit of Support.[32][33][34]
If granted, the K-1 visa is valid for up to 6 months for one entry. If the officer does not find the relationship genuine, the petition goes back to USCIS.[35]
How interviews generally work is covered under the interview.
Step 4: Entry to the United States
The consular officer gives back the passport with the visa and a sealed document packet, which only the immigration official at entry opens.[36][37]
The visa does not guarantee admission; a CBP officer at the port of entry makes the final decision.[38]
Step 5: The marriage within 90 days
Once the fiancé(e) is admitted in K-1 status, the couple has 90 days to marry, under the laws of the state where the marriage takes place.[39][40]
If the marriage does not take place within 90 days
- K-1 and K-2 status ends automatically after 90 days and cannot be extended.[41]
- USCIS says the fiancé(e) and any children generally must then leave; staying violates immigration law and may lead to removal (deportation).[42]
- If the couple marries after the 90 days, the citizen may file Form I-130 instead.[43]
- Generally, the fiancé(e) cannot apply for a green card on any other basis.[44]
Step 6: Adjustment of status with Form I-485
"Adjustment of status" means applying for a green card from inside the United States. After marrying within 90 days, the new spouse files Form I-485.[45][46]
USCIS may send an RFE, and both spouses are usually interviewed.[47]
- The citizen submits Form I-864, a legally binding contract to support the immigrant financially.[48][49]
- USCIS schedules a biometrics appointment for fingerprints, a photo and/or a signature.[50]
- If the couple had been married under two years at approval, the green card is conditional for 2 years; conditions are removed with Form I-751, filed in the 90 days before it expires.[51][52]
More is in biometrics, adjustment of status vs consular processing and the I-485 processing times page.
Step 7: Work and travel documents
After K-1 admission, the fiancé(e) may apply right away for a work permit on Form I-765, valid only 90 days after entry.[53]
Filed with the I-485 instead, the permit is valid for one year and can be extended a year at a time.[54][55]
The I-485-based category, which USCIS labels (c)(9), is filed with the I-485 or with proof that one is pending.[56]
Both documents are covered in work permit and advance parole. Published times for (c)(9) work permits:
An advance parole document, requested on Form I-131 while the I-485 is pending, lets the holder ask to be paroled back in after temporary travel abroad.[57][58]
USCIS says that, generally, leaving with an I-485 pending and no advance parole document means it treats the I-485 as abandoned.[59]
USCIS also posts an alert that a 2026 Board of Immigration Appeals decision "has an immediate impact" for some advance parole holders who are considering leaving the United States; the alert is quoted on work permit and advance parole.[60]
Children of the fiancé(e): K-2 visas
- An unmarried child under 21 of the fiancé(e) may get a K-2 visa if listed on the I-129F; no separate petition is needed.[61][62]
- Children may come with the K-1 parent or later, but not before, and within one year of the K-1 visa's issue; after that, separate immigrant petitions are required.[63][64][65]
- After a marriage within 90 days, unmarried K-2 children may file their own I-485, at the same time as the parent or after.[66][67][68]
- The stepchild relationship with the citizen has to be created before the child turns 18.[69]
Later steps toward citizenship are on the naturalization (N-400) path.