K-1 Visa - International Marriage Broker Regulation Act

International Marriage Broker Regulation Act

The K-1 visa has been associated with the mail-order bride phenomenon. Many K-1 visa immigrants are from third world or economically depressed countries. Some have argued that both mail order brides and their American petitioners both hold false expectations – the bride imagining life with a wealthy foreign husband and the bridegroom dreaming of a loyal wife who overlooks obvious differences in age or other faults.

Partly in response to this Congress passed the International Marriage Broker Regulation Act in 2005. The act requires that fiancées be given a brochure about domestic violence, and requires that American petitioners who have been convicted of certain crimes of violence, abuse or multiple crimes involving drugs declare this on the petition, among other things. If two or more K-1 visa petitions were filed at any time in the past or if a petitioner previously had a K-1 visa petition approved within two years prior to the filing of another petition, the petitioner must apply for a waiver. To request a waiver a written request must be submitted with the new petition accompanied by documentation of the claim to the waiver.

Additionally, under the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, any person convicted of a felony sex crime involving children is ineligible to petition a foreigner to immigrate to the United States, including on a K-1 visa. The Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security can issue a waiver of this Act at his sole discretion.