We were supposed to be getting married on the 12th June; but it's not now going to happen. We ran into an issue with visas, and there's no way we could have gotten it resolved in time, so we ended up cancelling. We're both somewhat disappointed by this. Details follow, if you want them - they are quite dull - but the TL;DR version is that we're now going to be getting married in the US, towards the end of the year, visa willing.
The plan was to get married in Scotland, and then for me to head down to the US, where we'd wait for my paperwork to come through and I could get a job. This isn't going to happen.
There are three paths that a foreigner can get a visa when marrying a US citizen. The first is to get married in the US - this requires a fiancée visa, and involves coming to the country and getting married within three months. This is path we've chosen; we now have to go through all the hoops of proving that we know each other, that we've met, and so on.
Path two involves marrying outside the US. In which case, the paperwork is dealt with in the country where the wedding takes places, which would have been the UK in this case. So I'd have to visit the UK for the interview, which is expensive but not a problem. But the other side is that while you're waiting for the paperwork to come through, the husband is effectively barred from the US. It's not so much that you can't visit, but Homeland Security start out with the assumption that you're only visiting so you can stay illegally, and you need to prove that you're going back. It's do-able, but the general advice is not to, unless you really need to.
I'm sure the more astute of you are wondering - if One involves getting married in the US, and Two outside the US, what does that leave for Path Three? That's a very good question, in fact. That would be the path for people who visit the US with no intention of getting married, but who do so on a whim and then have to have a path to legalize their spouse. (I generally call this the "Whooops; I accidentally married an American" scheme.) Alas, we're not exactly eligible for this one, what with Beloved owning a wedding dress and us having booked a venue or anything.
So there we are. We're currently applying for a Fiance Visa for me, which should take between 6-9 months; and once I've got it, I've got 90 days to get married in the US. It's not the situation we wanted, but it means we get to be together a little sooner than otherwise. I'm still going to miss not being able to give Beloved the wonderful wedding we'd been planning, and which she so definitely deserves, though.
Path two involves marrying outside the US. In which case, the paperwork is dealt with in the country where the wedding takes places, which would have been the UK in this case. So I'd have to visit the UK for the interview, which is expensive but not a problem. But the other side is that while you're waiting for the paperwork to come through, the husband is effectively barred from the US. It's not so much that you can't visit, but Homeland Security start out with the assumption that you're only visiting so you can stay illegally, and you need to prove that you're going back. It's do-able, but the general advice is not to, unless you really need to.
I'm sure the more astute of you are wondering - if One involves getting married in the US, and Two outside the US, what does that leave for Path Three? That's a very good question, in fact. That would be the path for people who visit the US with no intention of getting married, but who do so on a whim and then have to have a path to legalize their spouse. (I generally call this the "Whooops; I accidentally married an American" scheme.) Alas, we're not exactly eligible for this one, what with Beloved owning a wedding dress and us having booked a venue or anything.
So there we are. We're currently applying for a Fiance Visa for me, which should take between 6-9 months; and once I've got it, I've got 90 days to get married in the US. It's not the situation we wanted, but it means we get to be together a little sooner than otherwise. I'm still going to miss not being able to give Beloved the wonderful wedding we'd been planning, and which she so definitely deserves, though.
