Family Immigration: My Experience Filing for a Fiancee Visa

With so much attention on illegal immigration, it's easy to forget about the thousands of law-abiding citizens struggling through the legal process to reunite with their non-American family members. Many people assume when you marry a U.S. citizen, Uncle Sam welcomes you with open arms and a green card. Even my Canadian friends believed marrying an American is no big deal; you just get married and cross the border with your U-Haul, right? Not surprisingly, most people aren't aware of the time, money and effort required to bring a foreign family member to the United States. My husband and I recently had a real-world education in family immigration and it wasn't as simple as "just getting married".

A born and bred Canadian, I fell in love with a National Guardsman finishing up his tour in Iraq. Soon after he returned home, he traveled from Seattle to visit me in Vancouver, Canada ,and the rest, as they say, is history. After many months of border-hopping, he popped the question and we were engaged. Now came the real life-altering decision: Canada or the U.S.? With four years to go until military retirement for him and my mobile writing career, the logical choice was for me to move to the U.S.

I don't hold the necessary credentials for a work visa so the only option for us was family immigration - either marry and live separately while I waited for my immigration visa, or file for a fiancée visa, which would allow me to immigrate for the purpose of marriage. The spousal visa meant that we could get married anywhere in the world at whatever time we chose, but we would have to live apart during the application process, which, at the time, was taking over a year to approve. During the wait, there was a good possibility that I wouldn't be allowed to cross the border since it would be difficult for me to convince the border patrol that I did not intend on staying in my husband's country. Once approved, I would have my Green Card and could work right away. The fiancée visa would be quicker, taking on average four to nine months for approval at the time, but there were limitations. After entry to the U.S. we would have to marry on American soil within 90 days and I would have to apply for an adjustment of status after the marriage to obtain work authorization, permission to reenter the country if I chose to leave for a vacation or family emergency, and ultimately, a Green Card. Neither of us wanted to be a married couple living in two different countries, so we chose to apply for the fiancée visa.

In the first step of the process, the United States Citizen petitions the government to allow the fiancé to apply for a visa with a local U.S. consulate. Our submission was as thick as a book containing documentation such as birth certificates, biographical information, and the kicker: "proof of relationship/having met within the past two years". It felt a bit like a violation of privacy having to share our photos, personal e-mails, and instant messenger conversations with complete strangers. The only thing worse, I imagine, is not having the pictures and sappy e-mails to prove that you indeed are a "real" couple with honest intentions.

Once the petition is approved, notification is sent to the fiancé's consulate and the process for the visa application begins. In addition to a detailed packet containing much of the same documentation as the original petition, the beneficiary must also provide police clearance from every city of residence as an adult for six months or more, and undergo a complete physical from a government-approved immigration doctor. The most sobering part of the entire process for me was the medical, particularly the x-ray to rule out tuberculosis. The procedure left me, and I'm sure some of the other applicants, feeling like a second-class citizen - almost as if we didn't have the right to be treated well until it was proven we were disease-free. We were ushered into a long hallway lined with narrow change rooms with flimsy curtains and told to change into hospital gowns. We then queued in the hallway to the x-ray room. The embarrassment was palpable as people tried to wrap threadbare gowns around their dignity in a room full of strangers. The faces of the women whose cultural background demands modesty bore a look of shame and I felt terrible for them. One-by-one our numbers were called (we didn't have names during the procedures, only numbers) and we were led into the x-ray room. When that was finished we were dismissed and allowed back to the change rooms. While I understand the need for medical testing and willingly complied, I wish I had been treated as a person instead of a number.

A few weeks later, I received a letter from the consulate confirming my appointment for an interview. It was scheduled on a Friday, two days before Christmas. My paperwork was in order and my fiancé had even arranged to accompany me to the interview for support. It's a strange feeling knowing a stranger will evaluate your relationship and intentions in a 10-minute interview and determine your fate. I knew the likelihood of not being approved was slim but I couldn't help but worry. At the consulate, I saw firsthand how a well-meaning decision could go wrong.

At the consulate waiting for my name to be called, I noticed a frustrated couple with 18-month old twin boys at one of the interview wickets. They had applied for a fiancée visa the year before and had come in for their final interview. On a whim, they had decided to marry a few weeks before. They were both upfront about the wedding with the interviewing officer and looked quite sure that they would be approved. After all, they had their boys and had recently married; obviously proving they wanted to be together as a family. I had to turn away from the grief on the woman's face when the interviewer explained that by marrying they had invalidated the fiancée visa, and they would have to start from scratch and refile for a spousal visa.

Thankfully we were approved and a few weeks later I made the big trip across the border to start my new life. I was not yet authorized to work but my application to adjust my status for a Green Card was processed quickly. I went for my interview four months after I arrived and received my card a month later. This is hardly the end of the process, though. My current Green Card provides me with conditional permanent resident status for two years, at which time I'll have to reapply to remove the conditions to receive my 10-year Green Card. And as an immigrant based on marriage, I'll be able to apply for citizenship in three years.

Our journey was relatively easy - no major bumps or hurdles and the process was completed in a timely fashion. This isn't the story for every family immigrant. There's no question that we need to find an equitable solution to illegal immigration, but let's not forget the fiancées, wives, husbands and children of American citizens with struggles and sacrifices of their own with the other, legal, side of immigration.