Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests we are going to be discussing the K-1 fiancée visa and specifically criminal history. I get this question not infrequently but not altogether commonly with respect to filing of a K1 fiancée petition. 

People have criminal histories and those folks sometimes will want to go ahead and get a fiancée visa benefit for their loved one overseas. How does the criminal history interact with the overall K-1 Visa process? Well the first answer to that question if you will is "It depends." It greatly depends on the nature of the underlying criminal history so those with like a DUI in the past I would not get too worked up about their criminal history and how it impacts the K-1 fiancée visa or the K-1 fiancée visa process although depending on the circumstances there may be circumstances in which a DUI might impact a fiancée visa application.

In a lot of cases, domestic violence problems can be a real issue with respect to a K-1 or a marriage visa filing; there is another video on this channel on point with respect to that topic and I would urge those are watching this video and interested in that point specifically to go over and check that video out in more detail because that is something you have to drill a little further down into. That being said, just general criminal history, it may not have any impact at all on the K-1 fiancée visa process because it is not overly pertinent to the benefits being sought. In a domestic violence context, they don't really want to encourage more domestic violence, that is my opinion, I think that it is the policy reason behind it, so in those kind of cases they may place restrictions on folks with certain kinds of criminal history but for those with, I hate to say “normal” criminal history but with more routine criminal matters, various misdemeanors or even low-level felonies, it may not have an overwhelming impact on the K-1 fiancée visa process.

The thing to take away from this video: contact a legal professional directly if you have a question on it. It is not a bad idea to just ascertain whether or not ones history is going to have an impact on future filings and future processing of K-1 fiancée visas.