How the K-1 visa scheme works

The K-1 immigration visa, issued to men or women seeking to enter the US to marry a citizen, is receiving a lot of scrutiny this week. That’s because Tashfeen Malik, the woman who would later join her husband in slaughtering 14 people in San Bernardino, is a Pakistani national who entered the United States on a K-1 visa, which is also known as the “fiance” or “fiancee” visa.

Who gets a K-1 visa?

To get a K-1 visa, a US citizen seeking to marry a foreign national has to file a petition with US immigration officials and prove that the relationship is real and that the couple have physically met. The petitioner also has to provide evidence of the relationship, which could include travel, phone and hotel records, according to Los Angeles immigration attorney Paul Herzog.

How long does it take?

It takes three to five months for United States Citizenship and Immigration Services to review and approve a petition, at which point the petition goes to the State Department. A US Embassy or consulate conducts a medical exam, checks police records and interviews the foreign applicant, Herzog said.

How strict is it?

“It’s a very detailed petition,” said Los Angeles immigration attorney Roman P. Mosqueda. “If you’re getting married in a church, you have to show proof of getting a church date for the wedding, a date for the restaurant for the reception.... It’s very strict.”

If it’s approved?

If the application is approved, the visa bearer has 90 days after entering the US to marry his or her partner. After the marriage, the bearer can apply for a green card.

Counter-terrorism screening

Authorities, who are investigating last week’s massacre as a terrorist attack, have said K-1 applicants, like other visa applicants, undergo extensive counter-terrorism screening that includes checks based on fingerprints and facial recognition software.

“It’s not an easy procedure,” Herzog said. “Beginning to end, you’re looking at least six to nine months” from the date of application to the date of receiving a visa.

How detailed?

Questions for the partner seeking to come to the US include: “Do you seek to engage in terrorist activities while in the United States or have you ever engaged in terrorist activities?” and “Have you ever or do you intend to provide financial assistance or other support to terrorists or terrorist organisations?”

Malik’s case

Malik was born in Pakistan and moved with her family to Saudi Arabia when she was a child. State Department officials would have asked how Malik and Syed Rizwan Farouq met; how they decided to marry; and some details about Farouq, as the US citizen.

Detailed information

Malik would have needed to detail for immigration and State Department officials every country to which she had travelled over the last five years and any family members she had in the United States.

Layers of vetting

“Since 9/11, [any visa application will] involve multiple layers of vetting, with multiple agencies putting folks through various systems, where we watch individuals, what their affiliations are, whether they’re on any kind of watch lists,” State Department spokesman Mark Toner said in a news briefing.

Who gets K-1 visas?

US immigration data from 2013 showed that 26,046 people entered the US on K-1 visas. By far the largest number were from the Philippines, with 5,131 Filipinos entering.

China (1,397) and Mexico (1,268) were next. Pakistan accounted for 272 K-1 visa bearers in 2013, the year before Malik arrived in the United States.

Difficult countries

“The Philippines is one of the most difficult countries” from which to get a US visa, said J. Craig Fong, an immigration attorney with offices in Pasadena and Palm Springs. “There are people in the Philippines with money, but the US is wary that they’ll come over and jump off the boat and disappear and go work in a restaurant. We won’t give them a visa because we don’t trust them.”

Difficulties for Filipino Americans

So when Filipino Americans want to marry someone from the Philippines, dating and getting married are much more difficult logistically than if someone’s partner were living in, say, France, Fong said.

“You have to go [to the Philippines] because she can’t come here,” Fong said. “How does she get here to marry you? She comes on the fiancee visa.”

Visas for Chinese

China would be the No. 2 country for K-1 visas for “similar reasons,” Mosqueda said, also citing “cultural affinity”.

“Asians would usually like to go for Asian wives, and [many] Asians here would like to get a wife from their home country,” Mosqueda said.