Granted, I'm no expert, but I have been looking for information regarding the same issue. If you plan to get married in the US, then you can apply for the K-1 visa. This is for your fiancee to be able to come to the US and you must get married within 90 days. This visa will allow him to stay with you while he goes through the adjustment status process for residency.
If you plan to get married in the UK, then you will have to file for a K-3 visa to bring a foreign spouse in. He will not be able to come into the country permanently (I'm not sure about visiting) until he has been issued a residency stamp in his passport. The stamp will clear him for work until his greencard is issued. I am giving you some of the links that helped me decide which way to go.
Best of luck, and hopefully someone will pass along better info if this isn't quite all that you need.
http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?pg=guides
http://www.h1base.com/page.asp?id=60
http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants ... 15.html#1d
http://uscis.gov/graphics/formsfee/forms/index.htm

 

"I am overseas. Will I still need entry clearance if I am only visiting the UK to get married?

Yes. You will need to have entry clearance as a marriage visitor. Without this, the registrar will not be able to take your notice of marriage. This condition applies even if you are from a country where you would not normally require a visa to come to the UK."

 

A K-1 visa is optimal if a person really needs to have a visa to come to the US to get married. One way around this is, since you are a British citizen, you have 90 days visa-free to enter the US, do whatever you like, then leave. Within that 90 days, you can register in your boyfriend's local county office for the marriage license (to be signed by the minister later during the rites and then returned to the council office), wait X number of days, get married in civil rites, then go back to the local council office a couple of weeks after, and get your marriage license, which is now signed and recorded in the books.

This is the route i took with my wife. No snags whatsoever. Although my wife came in with a visitor visa, we got married anyhow. YOu need no visa to enter the US, so take advantage of that.

A little note though, DO NOT tell the immigration officer you will get married there. Just your usual holiday excuse, seeing friends, etc, but not the marriage bit. If you do, then they might look for a K-1 on your passport (some of them can be ignorant), though you don't need a visa.

Any more quetions, just ask.

 

90 days for UK passport holders in the US
and
180 for US passport holders in the UK

no Visa required

 

I would like to jump on this bandwagon too! My boyfriend is English and I am American...we are going to move to England this summer (we live in Prague now ) where I will either get a partner visa and pay a zillion bucks or hopefully get sponsored by company through some contacts i have. we then plan to move to the states, getting married wherever and however is the easiest so I am in the same boat as the original poster. What polkasweetie (?) says sounds AWESOME but a few q's about that...if we got married in the states the way you say would he then have to leave again after 90 days to change the status of his visa or could he do that through the INS? And you also mentioned that after getting married the birt would then be able to work right away...but with what paper work? Surely getting married at the local coucil doesnt give you a SS number and all that good stuff. He was in the states before with J1 visa and he needed all that before he could work legally. OH what to do!!

Finally, if we do decide to do the K1 thing or get married in the UK and apply for the green card, how long does that process tend to take?

THANK YOU SO MUCH IN ADVANCE FOR ANY ADVICE OR GUIDANCE AT ALL I AM SOOOOOO CONFUSED!!!

 

Thanks. I hope you find some real help and get your situation straightened out. Mine just gets more complicated as all of the options are overwhelming the fella. I hate that things are so difficult. As we want to be able to go to both our countries rather than one, and as he's living in Ireland at the moment, there are 3 sets of rules and a mess to figure what's most compatible everywhere. Hopefully you aren't having as hard a time. Cheers and best of luck to you!

 

To all,

Should you want further clarification, I emailed zordys girl a very long and detailed discussion as to what needs to be done for your partners to enter the US and get married. Please email her and she will send you the email I sent her.

Thanks and good luck to all.

 

Nice one :thumbsup:

 

I got the aforementioned letter that Polkasweetie sent to Zordy's Girl...thanks to you both! I just have a few more questions.

My English fiancee and I (US citizen) want to get married here in California, where my family and friends are. He is living in UK now, but plans to come back with his son and parents for the wedding. We understand that he avoids complications if he doesn't tell customs that he is coming for his girlfriend/wedding. After the wedding...I will go back with him to settle down in UK. We were hoping to go right away. Do we need to fill out all the necessary visa-forms ahead of time? Or should we wait till we are in the UK? If so...do I just go back into UK as a visitor?

 

need help to

Hiya

I just recently became ensnared in this world of trying to sort through k1, k3 visas etc and find i am in the same boat as most of you. I live in the USA and my boyfriend lives in the UK. We want to get married in the USA, the process of the k1 takes so long and is very confusing to us. We also debated on just doing the marriage thing when he comes over on one of his visitor trips but I have read alot of bad things about that too. Like them being deported for commiting visa fraud and not being allowed back in the USA for years.

I would like to get a copy of the email the mod sent if anyone still has it or any more advice or ways to go. Please i need help and everything has been so confusing and seems like it could be years before we could get married. my email is mistery1310@yahoo.com anything would be welcome that could help.