The K-1 Visa Process and the Violence Againest Women Act (VAWA)

This piece will briefly delve into the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and how the provisions of this act, as amended, can impact the process whereby an American Citizen petitions for immigration benefits for a foreign spouse or fiance.

The Violence Against Women Act was created in an effort to curtail domestic brutality befalling women in the United States of America. From the perspective of United States Immigration, there was a period when the Violence Against Women Act had little implication for those seeking visa benefits for an alien loved one. This state of affairs changed upon the enactment of an amendment to the Violence Against Women Act. This amendment is sometimes colloquially referred to as the International Marriage Broker Regulation Act.

The International Marriage Broker Regulation Act (IMBRA) seems to fundamentally be concerned with matchmakers and other services that charge a fee to place foreign women with American men. However, some key provisions contained within the provisions of this legislation have a significant impact upon those seeking a K-1 fiance visa. For example, the provisions of an amendment to the Violence Against Women Act called the International Marriage Broker Regulation Act (IMBRA) changed the rules regarding the number of K-1 visas that a petitioner could file for in a two year period. Prior to the passage of the International Marriage Broker Regulation Act (IMBRA) it was theoretically possible for an American Citizen to petition for an infinite number of K-1 visas for an infinite number of beneficiaries. This apparently lead to a situation where some United States Citizens were petitioning for a large number of K-1 visas for many different beneficiaries over the course of a relatively short period of time. It would appear as though Women's Rights groups and the United States Congress found this situation both unacceptable and untenable. As a result, the International Marriage Broker Regulation Act (IMBRA) was passed and now those wishing to obtain a K-1 visa are only entitled to petition for one (1) such travel document every twenty four (24) months without needing to resort to seeking a waiver from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS). Individuals who wish to apply for more than one K-1 visa within a twenty four (24) month period will be required to acquire a waiver from USCIS in order to do so.

There has been speculation as to how this legislation impacts those wishing to seek a K-3 non-immigrant spousal visa. For practical purposes, at the time of this writing, that issue is rather moot as the National Visa Center (NVC) currently has a policy of "administratively closing" all K-3 visa applications if the underlying I-130 petition is adjudicated prior to, or at the same time as, the K-3 visa petition. Since the USCIS backlog is currently low compared to prior periods many I-130 petitions are adjudicated before their K-3 counterparts. Therefore, K-3 visas are becoming something of a rarity in an immigration context and the likelihood of seeing two K-3 petitions not "administratively closed" within a twenty four (24) month period is highly unlikely.


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Ben Hart is an American attorney handling cases arising in Asia. To contact: 1-877-231-7533, +66 (0)2-266-3698, or info@integrity-legal.com. See: K-1 Visa Indonesia or K-1 Visa Cambodia .