Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing the dual intent nature of K-1 Visas along with Trump's "visa pause". So as we have discussed in other videos, Trump placed effectively a moratorium on issuance of new Immigrant Visas and basically the thinking behind that was that they are retooling the framework under which they determine whether or not someone is likely to become what is called a public charge in the United States aka a welfare recipient. 

So basically the thing to take away from this video is understand that Immigrant Spouse Visas at the present time appear to be clearly covered under this Trump Visa ban, Visa pause. However, Non-immigrant Visas are a bit of a different story. What are we talking about here? Well by definition, they are not Immigrant Visas and it's my understanding - although I haven't actually seen any of these cases processed out yet - we're waiting until April which is the first instance of Immigration interviews at the Embassy that I will have seen for this entire year thus far - I have a number of cases scheduled up for interview in April - and it is my understanding, and again this is some degree of speculation and assumption on my part, that this lag in interview dates was due to the, essentially the application of this policy to put a pause on issuing these visas. So it remains to be seen how this pertains to the Immigrant Spouse Visas like the CR-1 and IR-1. 

That said, it's my understanding that the K-1s are treated as a different thing, as a Non-immigrant Visa. They are a dual intent Visa; you can go to the United States on a K-1; you have the ability to stay there for 90 days. If you want to leave within the 90 days, basically no harm no foul. You didn't overstay it, fine. There may be IMBRA implications for that - the International Marriage Brookers Regulations Act - and rules pertaining to multiple filings of a K-1, but other than that, as far as the Visa holder, as long as they leave within their time frame, it's fine. But they also have the option of marrying their fiancé(e), and it has to be the fiancé(e) that is named on their visa itself, they have the option of marrying their fiancé(e) and then applying for adjustment of status to Green Card status in the United States. 

So again, I am going to be able to do some more updates on this as April unfolds, but it looks like there's a possibility we might start seeing K-1s being issued as we see interviews coming online next month. That being said, we will certainly be keeping folks updated on this channel as the situation evolves.