Hello,
I am looking for some advice on getting my soon to be wife (again) here.
Some background information that may or may not be pertinent.
Her and I have been together since 2016, got married briefly in 2017 when we were living in Japan. We divorced due to some particular circumstances that were going to cause us to be separated for an extended period of time (nothing of the criminal nature, we both have clean records) and we wanted to ensure that if anything were to happen during that time that we would both be able to move forward in separate directions if our situations caused us to do so.
Now that that is out of the way, we have remained together since the separation and would like to proceed to get married again as both of our situations (financial and otherwise) are much more in line with what we had originally planned.
I filed the paperwork for her to obtain a tourist visa to come to the United States while we were in Japan. There was no issue and it is still valid.
She will be coming to visit soon and will be spending several months here (within the limits of her visa of course) so we can make some future plans that are in line with her cultural values. What we would like to do is to initially get married while she is here (from what I have seen as to an immigration standpoint is that this is fine so long as she absolutely intends to return to Indonesia after, which is 100% the case) and then after her return to Indonesia, file an I-130 and then an I-129 once I have received the I-797C so that she can come here on a non-immigrant K3 visa while the I-130 is processing. The reason for this is that we do not want to spend more time apart waiting the 6-8 months for a fiance visa to get processed, as we have been together for two years and separated for one already.
I have done a bit of reading and I haven't really been able to acquire much information on this, other than pretty much seeing everything discouraging the attempt at a change of status from a tourist visa while still in the United States. We are perfectly fine not doing that as it is not our plan. We will respect and follow the law as it is written.
My first question is:
Has anyone here gotten married on a tourist visa, returned to Indonesia, and then filed the I-130/I-129 to return to the United States to be with their spouse while the I-130 is processing and what hoops if any, were there to jump through?
My second question is:
What paperwork will she need from Indonesia to be able to get married here in the US aside from our divorce certificate which we both have?
As a side note, we have proof of our relationship over the past two years, pictures, conversations, divorce certificate (maybe not the best proof with that, but we may need it I'm guessing), and also, both of our families flew to Japan and met and spent time together which we also have proof of.
Getting Married to My Fiance in The US
Firstly (I may be wrong with this being the US) majority of countries that people get married on tourism Visa is illegal and will probably have your “partner banned from that country for many years
Paperwork will need to be confirmed from Indonesian Embassay in the US but in Southeast Asia (away from Indonesia as at December 2017) forms N1,N2,N3, N4, and some require N5
Original ID, passport, copies of two Indonesians ID, birth certificate, if divorced from Indonesian the documents to say divorced, since you was married and divorced you'll both need this document to remarry
You'll both need to confirm with your own Embassay as she may need documents to make legal in Indonesia, that “must” be completed with 1 year of marriage
Official translation of all documents Indonesian-English and English- Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia)
When registering the marriage in Indonesia she'll need your passport and your original birth certificate legalised in the us and translated, a photo of you both together as you look at photo you on the left of your wife) double check that
All original documents and plenty of copies will be fine
If she wants to adopt your family name she'll have a hard time updating her details, many don't bother but she “should “ be asked this if not make the decision to do or not, she must legally update her ID from single/widow etc to married
Plenty of info on here so read through, no doubt I've missed a few things
Visa I can't help, again plenty of info on here
PS letter from her embassy and after married re visit her Embassay, they'll give her a document to say it's legal she'll need this for Indonesia to make fully legal
If you married in Japan and didn't make legal in Indonesia could well be that you was never legally married? Only in Japan possibly
Have you considered getting married in Hong Kong? My father is British and my mother is Indonesian, they couldn't marry under Indonesian laws (different religions) so they had a civil marriage in Hong Kong. My mother returned to Indonesia and did all the paperwork, and now their marriage is recognized in both Indonesia and the UK.
I think Hong Kong is a similar set up to Singapore, I could be wrong though?
but one has to attend appointments 2 weeks before the date of marriage (this could well be incorrect and outdated now) as with Singapore (1 must stay 15 days and then marry a further 7 days later) production of identification of your two witnesses as in Singapore they must now be legally known to the bride and groom.
We got married in Thailand and couldn't have been more straightforward, we got a Thai family solicitor to organise everything who even took us to the embassies, translations x2 witness, photos, taxis etc was about US$ 200 cheap cheap and no leg work for us other than signing the marriage documents and collect documents from Indonesian Embassay in a beautiful part of the world
Yeah,
We have thought about other places but after reading some more, what we may end up doing is just having her visit for a while and then when she goes back to Indonesia, I will probably go with her for a week or two and us get married there. The same religion aspect is no issue, and I have the baptismal certificate which I know will be required.
I will also talk to an attorney here to see other routes, but I am beginning to think it best to not try anything here so as to not throw up any red flags and then just file the I-130/K-3 as soon as I get back to the states so that she can come here.
If I do decide to go the aforementioned route from the other day then I will post updates here as to what process we needed to go through so that others can see as well.
Good luck with it all and in my opinion a wise move by yourself
Like I said I can't comment for the US but she will no doubt need to prepare documents to marry in the US, therefore the marriage was “planned “ in many countries planned marriages on tourist Visa is illegal if she doesn't need documents to marry, quite possibly no issues
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