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ResourcesVisa & Immigration LawUS Immigration LawIs Age Difference an Issue in a K-3 Visa Application?

Is Age Difference an Issue in a K-3 Visa Application?

Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing the K-3 Visa marriage visa specifically we are discussing the issue of an age difference between a petitioner and the beneficiary with respect to and how that has an effect on the overall processing of an application.

The long and the short of it is, all visa applications and petitions are going to be adjudicated based on the merits of that specific case so the specific circumstances of a given case are going to vary from case to case and adjudicating officers don't have a sort of set stereotypical sort of lens by which they go ahead and adjudicate these matters. So an age difference that may not make that big of a difference in one case could have an impact on another case especially if issues of sham marriages may come up, for example.

We have discussed this topic in terms of the K-1 fiancée visas where I think it is a little bit more relevant insofar as the couple is not yet married and perhaps the age difference issue can play into the intention of marrying concerns but with respect to a couple that is already married and in this instance happens to be seeking a K-3 marriage visa, it can play into the adjudication but I think where it is going to play in the most, is going to have to do with whether or not the marriage is in fact real.

There is an old memo from USCIS which goes into some analysis with respect to it is not the adjudicators duty to go ahead and make determination of the whether or not a "good idea", so what maybe an adjudicator’s opinion with respect to whether or not somebody should get married, it is not part of the adjudication, rather it is an adjudication of whether or not the couple is indeed engaged in a bona fide marital relationship and for this reason in most of these cases I do not think age difference is generally going to be a major factor. That being said it is going to depend again on the specific circumstances of the specific case so for those reasons and many more probably not a bad idea to go ahead and seek the advice of a legal professional before going ahead and undertaking the matter and as always of course, both parties need to be of legal age in order to get married and depending on the circumstances, even if a marriage might be legal in a jurisdiction abroad, there may be some issues with respect to age, with respect to how the United States views legal age of consent with respect to being able to get married. But that being said, assuming both parties are over the age of 18 if there is a substantial age difference for example one party is in their forties and the other party is maybe in their twenties again probably not in and of itself going to be a deal-breaker but that being said, it is going to be part of a broader mosaic that is going to be adjudicated when the case is processed through.

So again, we can for that reason and many more, it is probably not a bad idea to go ahead and contact a legal professional at least for a consultation before going ahead and proceeding with processing an immigrant or non-immigrant marriage visa petition.