Who has gotten married in the U.S.?

Three weeks to plan a wedding??

Sheeshie!

I give you props, lady.

I'm flipping about only having 5 months. 

Let us know how things go, got it?

Well, I had planned to get my fiance visa and spend the six months planning the wedding and doing all the settlement visa stuff, but then I got a great job offer that I would have been stupid to turn down.   Can't work with a fiance visa, so wedding it is, for good or for awesome. 

I actually posted another question about this a couple days ago, but ColdKarma was nice enough to point me to this one.. thank you!

DF is coming over in 3 months for our wedding and then returning to the UK while I apply for my spousal visa. When I started reading this website almost 4 years ago, a lot of the advice I read said to NEVER tell the IO that you are visiting a BF or GF, that it would raise a red flag immediately and they could stop you from entering just for being suspicious. So I never did. In fact, the one time that DF mentioned he was coming to visit his GF they almost didn't let him through.

I was stressing big time the other day about what he is going to say to the IO when he comes over for the wedding (true to form because I always stress unnecessarily and very early on about everything) - in speaking to my brother, he pointed out that he doesn't HAVE to lie... when he comes over he says he is staying with his friend and gives my brother in law's name and address. Well, I live with my sister and brother in law, so that happens to work out. If they ask why he is coming here and he says that his friend is going through some stuff and asked him to come - he is... my wedding! The legality of it is, he is not lying. It sounds bad and I hate the thought of having to beat around the bush so to speak, but I just know if he told them he was getting married they would freak and not let him through. He tends to have bad luck when it comes to people at the POE not being very nice.

It's a tricky situation because you're not doing anything wrong, but you can't predict the IO's reaction and if they are in a bad mood or suspect anything for whatever reason they can deny entrance. lame.

I think weddings are stressful no matter how much time you have to plan them. I've been planning my wedding for 5 months, and have 3 more to go. Sometimes I think it would have been easier if I only had a month or two, because that would be my excuse to make it less complicated and traditional

Congrats on the upcoming weddings ladies!

xx

ah yes I'd have to agree with this - don't mention that you're visiting your fiance!  As someone said, even saying you're visiting a boyfriend can cause a huge hassle at immigration.  My husband spends a lot of time on another immigration forum, and we have heard all kinds of stories from people planning on getting married in the US. 

The idea of bringing a letter from his employer is a good one, just in case it comes to having to prove that.

good luck! 

We got married in the US, my husband came over with his family for 2 weeks. His mum and grandmother even brought their wedding hat's in boxes as carry-on luggage. He said he was over on holiday, it being June and Orlando they had no problem with the IO. I have to say I was nervous but it was all fine. He left 5 days after the wedding and I moved to the UK in the following August

PS: I never mentioned I was visiting my boyfriend/fiance when entering the UK, and he didn't say he was visiting his girlfriend/fiancee when visiting the US. I know it isn't recommended, but that's what we did.

Well, I registered with the US Embassy as stating "spending my birthday with my boyfriend"...so we decided I'm going to say boyfriend.  It's not a TOTAL lie, which I wouldn't want to do...or be able to do anyway since my flight gets in at like, 7am London time (which it would be 2am my time).

Just to follow up on this:   When he arrived at the POE, the IO just asked my boyfriend what he was doing here.   He said he was here to visit his girlfriend.  They asked what he did for work (Uni lecturer) and when he was going back (two weeks) and said to have a nice trip.

And he did, because we're married now.

(Of course, he is already back in England and I'm still in Chicago, and that's weird and lame, but that's another post.)

(Of course, he is already back in England and I'm still in Chicago, and that's weird and lame, but that's another post.)

Same thing happened to me. But when we went back to get married, the IO did ask my husband why he was visiting the US he just said 'I'm here to meet my Fiancee's family', the IO asked 'Is she travelling with you', he replied 'yes' and pointed at me in the US Resident line and he said to my husband 'have a great time'.

We got married and 2 days later he was on a plane back home. I on the other hand, had to renew my passport cause it was set to expire in less than 6 months, change my name on all my stuff, then file for my visa. Total time from the date he left, 6 weeks...oh yeah and I was 33 weeks pregnant by the time I got back to the UK. Though, the first time I went to England I had to spend 2 hours convincing the officer at Heathrow that 1. I had plenty of money for my stay and 2. I was returning in 6 months to the US. The next time with the golden ticket visa in hand, the gentleman just looked at it, stamped it and said 'Welcome Home'...very cool.

Yeah, that's essentially what I'm focusing on to get me through it.  We just did five months apart already and I am lonely for him, but I will be very happy to get this done and handled and not have to stress anymore about immigration junk and where my things are and how my life might go eventually.  I can just be.

I'm just not looking forward to getting married and being seperated again.  Buuutt....like my fiance said "If we're seperated for another 3 months after we get married, atleast we know in the end we'll be together forever."

How rough is it dealing with being seperated after getting married?  I mean, we've been in our LDR for a year now, so we're kinda used to seeing each other, then seperating again for months....like, after I get back from this upcoming trip, we'll be apart for almost 6 months until he flies out here and we get married.  Just wondering if there are any good tips to deal with long distance marriages for a short period of time.

And I want to wish everyone that's going through the same thing as me goooood luck.   HOPEFULLY I'll get on here again before I leave this coming Monday.  2 1/2 glorious weeks in the UK with my future hubby is DEFINITELY something I'm looking forward to.

One thing I forgot to mention, when I came here for a visit, I told immigration at Gatwick I was visiting my fiance and meeting his family... they informed me i couldn't stay without a visa, and i told them i fully intended to return to USA as we were getting married there and then applying for visa.    They smiled and wished me luck!   
i never had to lie about anything... which is good since i am no good at it, anyway!
It was hard waiting those last two months after we were married, believe me... but now that i am here, i know we did everything the right way... and my family was so glad to have that extra time with me before i moved.  i just stayed busy tying up loose ends and visiting family and friends and i was heading to the airport before i knew it! 
hang in there...

I've never lied, although I didn't volunteer more than was asked.  On the last visit, though, we were already married (had gotten married in the US, and I was waiting till the end of the school year to apply for the Visa and move over) and I told the IO that I was visiting my husband. After some casual banter about making sure my husband finished his thesis before I moved to another country and how it made sense to keep my job up till we were ready to be together, the IO stamped my passport and complimented me on my honesty.  He said it was always much easier for them to make correct decisions if they had all of the information. Now, I obviously got a very competent and kind IO, but that was lucky as I can't fib worth a darn and would never be able to "withhold" that I'm married now.

That being said, we got married in the US (CA) and had no trouble--and now that I have my Visa, I'll be able to join him in the UK!

ah yes I'd have to agree with this - don't mention that you're visiting your fiance!  As someone said, even saying you're visiting a boyfriend can cause a huge hassle at immigration.  My husband spends a lot of time on another immigration forum, and we have heard all kinds of stories from people planning on getting married in the US. 

The idea of bringing a letter from his employer is a good one, just in case it comes to having to prove that.

good luck! 

I've been back for about two weeks now, and the horror at immigration STILL plays in my mind..lol.

My flight got in about a half hour early, I stood in line at Heathrow for 45 minutes before I got to the head of the line.  And I was stupid enough to leave my folder with all my travel information out.  Long story short, the IO kept saying to me "I don't believe you...I don't believe you" etc.  I was SO nervous, and I thought I wouldn't get in.  After about 15 minutes of asking me the same questions over and over again, and looking and reading EVERYTHING, he was finally stern, stamped my passport, and said "Come through."

Lordy...buuuttt....it did hamper our plans to go to Germany because I was afraid my passport was flagged.

I just hope that incident won't hinder anything when applying for the spousal visa... :-/

I've been back for about two weeks now, and the horror at immigration STILL plays in my mind..lol.

My flight got in about a half hour early, I stood in line at Heathrow for 45 minutes before I got to the head of the line.  And I was stupid enough to leave my folder with all my travel information out.  Long story short, the IO kept saying to me "I don't believe you...I don't believe you" etc.  I was SO nervous, and I thought I wouldn't get in.  After about 15 minutes of asking me the same questions over and over again, and looking and reading EVERYTHING, he was finally stern, stamped my passport, and said "Come through."

Lordy...buuuttt....it did hamper our plans to go to Germany because I was afraid my passport was flagged.

I just hope that incident won't hinder anything when applying for the spousal visa... :-/

It shouldn't, I was grilled back in August 2007 for over an hour and was finally let in for 6 months as a visitor. When I applied back in March 2008 I did have a new passport because of a my name change but, I sent in my old passport with my spousal application and never had 1 question about it. But this is my experience, not a guarantee that you won't.