K visas are issued to two groups of people:

1. K-1 visas for U.S. citizens' fiancés who are outside the U.S. and K-2 for minor children

2. K-3 visas for U.S. citizens' spouses who are outside the U.S. and K-4 for  the minor children of such fiancés  who will accompany them to enter into the U.S.

A 3/15/07 Memorandum from Michael Aytes, Deputy Director, Domestic Operations, on adjustment of status for K-2 aliens reminds officers that the applicant is not required to demonstrate a step-parent/step-child relationship with the petitioner.

1. The U.S. citizen must first file an I-129F petition with the USCIS and have it approved before the alien fiancé may apply for a K visa;
2. Both the U.S. citizen and the fiancé must remain unmarried;
3. The alien fiancé and U.S. citizen must have met personally at least once in the two years before the I-129F petition was filed;
4. The U.S. citizen and the alien must be married within 90 days from the date their arrivals.
5. Please note that legal permanent residents may not file petitions for fiancé visas. They must marry abroad and then file an I-130 petition for the immigration of a new spouse. Furthermore, this option is also available to U.S. citizen.
6. Nonimmigrants already in the U.S. cannot change from a current status into the K-1 status, or from K-1 status into another nonimmigrant status.

In a 2/8/07 Interoffice Memorandum, Michael Aytes, Associate Director, Domestic Operations, USCIS, issues guidance on the adjudication of family-based immigrant visa petitions and Form I-129F Petition for Alien Fiancé(e) under the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006.

 NSC Guidance for I-130 Petitioners with Spouse or Child in U.S. on K Visa (9/9/2004)

A person may receive a K-3 visa if that person meets the following requirements:

• be a spouse of a citizen of the United States;
• must be the beneficiary  of a previously filed a relative petition (Form I-130) filed by the U.S. citizen spouse;
• seeks to enter the United States to await the approval of the petition and subsequent lawful permanent resident status, and,
• the U.S. spouse must  have filed form I-129F for a K-3 visa on behalf of the spouse with INS, which must be  approved (Form I-129F) before visa issuance. Petition for Alien Fiancé must be forwarded to the American consulate abroad where the alien wishes to apply for the K-3/K-4 visa. The consulate must be in the country in which the marriage to the U.S. citizen took place if the United States has a consulate which issues immigrant visas in that country. If the marriage took place in the United States, the designated consulate is the one with jurisdiction over the current residence of the alien spouse.

A person may receive a K-4 visa, if that person is under 21 years of age and is the unmarried child of an alien eligible to be a K-3. The new K-3 status is available to aliens who are the beneficiaries of immigrant petition filed before, on, or after December 21, 2000. (V status is available to aliens whose I-130 filed on or before December 21, 2000).

1. The US Citizen must file an I-130 petition for the foreign spouse.
2. USCIS issues a receipt (I-797) acknowledging filing of the I-130 petition.
3. The US Citizen files an I-129F petition, using the I-797 receipt as "proof of filing an immigrant petition". All children of the foreign spouse will be listed on this petition.
4. When the petition is approved, it is sent to the NVC for processing and then the appropriate Consulate is notified and processing for the K3/K4 non-immigrant visa is begun, including medical, police check, I-134 affidavit of support, and Consular interview. The fee will be the same as the current K1 fiance(e) visa.
5. The K3 visa is issued to the spouse, the K4 to the minor children, they go to the United States.
6. The K3 spouse and K4 children file the I-485 for Adjustment of Status. The new K visa will be issued for an effective period of 2 years, with multiple entries permitted, and provision to extend the visa beyond 2 years. The State Department has indicated that in K3/K4 cases, that the USCIS will retain the approved I-130 petition. This means if he K3/K4 visa holder wishes to obtain an immigrant visa at a Consulate, they need to notify that Consulate to begin the process, after which the Consulate will request the approved I-130 petition from the USCIS. The USCIS seems to expect that most K3/K4 will apply for AOS from inside the United States, but due to long processing times at some local offices, it is very possible some folks will wish to opt for Consular processing after they arrive in the United States.