How to Have My soon to be Wife come legally to the US before marriage?

My girlfriend lives in Brazil and we are trying to figure the best way of her coming here for 6 months prior to our wedding which will be the 1st of January, 2010. We are not yet engaged and have been wondering what method is best to allow her to be here for 6 months prior to our wedding.





I had heard that a engagement visa only counts for 3 months.





Any insights for me? Yes, I am an American Citizen.





Thanks, and let me know if you have any questions.





SteveHow to Have My soon to be Wife come legally to the US before marriage?
you will need to go with the K1 Fiance Visa, the whole process can take up to a year. then she has 6 months to enter the country n 3 months to get married.


I filed a few months back. heres wat we're looking at:





File with the USCIS (takes a while to get all the stuff together, took me a couple weeks) then once they receive the packet, in 2 weeks they will send you a notice of action.


after that you need to wait around 5 months for them to review n approve your case. (could be 2-8 months but 5 is the average).


then you she will need to file paper work n go for an interview. this will take an additional 2-3 months before she gets her visa. at that time she has (depending on which country) 3-6 months to enter the US. then you two must marry in 90 days.


there arent too many ways around it. If you two get married while she is on a visitor visa, n they find out you had intent to marry, she could be banned from the US for 3 years!





here is the site i use. will help u with what u need!:


http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.鈥?/a>





http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.鈥?/a>





Its a tedious process i wont lie! but get on it so u two can get married, hopefully when u want, but with these processes its almost impossible to plan an exact date!How to Have My soon to be Wife come legally to the US before marriage?
You need to check with US immigration. Here's a link to their website. I'm sure you can find the forms you need and most answers to your questions there.





http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis





My sister married a Brazilian this past January, he's from Recife. He was already in the country when they got engaged though--they're now working on getting his permanent alien status. You may find it much easier to hire an attorney to help you weed through all the legal red tape, my sister says that's pretty much the way it's done. You can ';technically'; do it yourself, but it's rather complex, and any screw up can send you right back to square one, like in a perverse game of ';Chutes and Ladders.';
This is why they have the immigration office. The workers there can tell you everything you need to know.