Marriage in Moldova

Marriages between U.S. and Moldovan citizens

The specific requirements for marriage and immigration depend on whether the marriage occurs in Moldova or in the United States.

Marriage in the United States (using a K-1 Fiancé Visa):

If your fiancé(e) is not a citizen or legal permanent resident of the U.S. and you plan to get married and reside in the U.S., you must first file an I-129F, Petition for Alien Fiancé, on behalf of your fiancé(e) with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) Center having jurisdiction over your place of residence. If the petition is approved, your fiancé(e) must then obtain a nonimmigrant fiancé visa (K-1) at a U.S. embassy or consulate abroad.

Note:  All Moldovan citizens have to apply for a fiancé(e) visa (K-1) at the U.S. Embassy Bucharest, Romania.  More information you may find at http://www.usembassy.ro/Visas/Fiance_Visas.html

The marriage must take place within 90 days of your fiancé(e) entering the U.S. If the marriage does not take place within 90 days, your fiancé(e) will be required to leave the U.S. It is not possible to obtain an extension of stay in this category.

Following your marriage, in order to continue to live and work in the U.S., your fiancé(e) must apply with USCIS to become a legal permanent resident. Click here for links to forms and more information about becoming a legal permanent resident and filing the I-129F petition.

Note: Your fiancé(e) may enter the U.S. only one time with a fiancé(e) visa. If your fiancé(e) leaves the country before you are married, your fiancé(e) will not be allowed back into the U.S. without a new visa.

Marriage in Moldova (using an Immigrant Visa to enter the United States):

In order to enter the U.S. to reside following a marriage in Moldova your foreign spouse must obtain an immigrant visa. You should first file an I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, on behalf of your spouse with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) Center having jurisdiction over your place of residence. If the petition is approved, your spouse must then obtain an immigrant visa (IR-1 or CR-1) at a U.S. embassy or consulate abroad.  

Note: All Moldovan citizens have to apply for an Immigrant visas at the U.S. Embassy Bucharest, Romania.  Click here for links to the forms, required supporting documentation, and how and where to file them. Processing time for these petitions varies among Service Centers and also can depend on the circumstances of the individual case.

NOTE: For those who qualify, the U.S. Embassy in Chisinau will accept petitions for immediate relatives from American citizens who are resident in Moldova, including members of the armed forces, as well as true emergency cases, such as life and death or health and safety, and others deemed to be in the national interest. It costs $355 to file the petition.
 
• After the petition is approved, Embassy Chisinau will give your spouse a packet with the petition and certified copies of the documents you presented.  This packet must remain sealed.  Your spouse must then present this packet to the US Embassy in Bucharest when they have their IV interview.

• All the rest of the processing must be done in Bucharest, including the medical exam.  Only your spouse needs to go to Bucharest for the interview and processing there, but BOTH of you must be here for the initial interview in Chisinau.  The process in Bucharest takes 2-3 days, but if everything is in order, your husband/wife will receive his/her visa at the end of that time.  At this time, an Immigrant Visa costs $355. Beginning on March 15, 2005 all immigrants visa applicants are required to pay an Immigrant Visa Security Surcharge of $45. The IV is good for travel for six months from the date it was issued.
 
• If you are an American who has been living overseas for a long time, it might be difficult for you to file an IV petition - especially if you don’t have recent tax returns.  However, you could find a co-sponsor - someone who is living in the U.S. and is willing to sign the legally binding Affidavit of Support (I-864) to sponsor your fiancée.  Both you and your co-sponsor need to fill out separate Affidavit of Support (I-864) forms.  The forms must be notarized if the sponsor and/or co-sponsor are not present at the interview in Bucharest.  For those who choose to be together with the spouse in Bucharest, the I-864 form can be signed before the U.S. consul at the time of the immigrant visa interview.

DOCUMENTS NEEDED BY THE PETITIONER FOR FILING THE I-130 PETITION WITH THE CONSULAR SECTION IN CHISINAU

• U.S. passport or Naturalization Certificate for the petitioner;           
• Moldovan citizen’s passport;
• form I-130, provided by the Consulate;
• two forms G-325A provided by the Consulate;
• two color pictures, 3,5 cm x 4 cm, one for the beneficiary and one for the petitioner;
• marriage certificate (original and a certified copy);
• Moldovan Citizen’s birth certificate (original and a certified copy);
• divorce decrees, if previously married, or death certificate, if widowed (original and a certified copy);
• $355 fee for each I-130 Petition (In Chisinau all fees must be paid in U.S. dollars or Moldovan Lei in cash only).

Any document not in English or Romanian must have translations into English to be accepted at the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest.

Disclaimer: petitions which are not clearly approvable will not be accepted at this Consulate and the petitioner will be instructed to file a petition with the BCIS (INS) office in the United States that has jurisdiction over petitioner’s residence.

We recommend that you plan ahead and make an appointment for filing an I-130 petition. Without an appointment and without coming to the petition filing properly prepared, the consular section cannot guarantee timely processing. 

DOCUNENTS NEEDED BY THE BENEFICIARY FOR THE ISSUANCE OF AN IMMIGRANT VISA IN  BUCHAREST(after the petition was filed and approved)

• A valid passport for foreign travel;
• Police certificate for the country of nationality and country of the alien’s residence at the time of visa application in which the applicant has resided for six months or more;
• Police certificate for any other country in which the applicant has resided for one year or more;
• Military record;       
• Court and prison records (if applicable, originals, photocopies and translations);
• Packet III (List of documents attached);
• 1 color picture 5 cm x 5 cm.  It should have a light backround.
• 2 color pictures, 3,5 cm x 4 cm, semi profile, showing the right ear;
• Affidavit of Support (form I-184) filled out by the petitioner together with his/her proof of current employment and copies of his/her federal income tax returns for the three most recent tax years;
• Medical examination.
• Fee for the application and issuance of the immigrant visa: US$355.  In Bucharest all fees must be paid in U.S. dollars only, in cash or travelers checks, in the exact amount.

Important: Certificate from the Moldovan police must include ALL names your spouse has used – including maiden name, his/her new married name, and names from previous marriages.  In addition, the certificate must include both Latin (Romanian) and Cyrillic (Russian) spellings of these names.  There have been several cases of delays in visa issuance, and visa applicants being told they must return to Moldova to get the complete set of documents, because they failed to get a police clearance for all previous names.

Any document not in English or Romanian must have translations into English to be accepted at the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest.

For further information you may call the Immigrant Visa Section from Bucharest at 00-40 21 200 3300 Mondays through Fridays between 8:00AM and 12:00 noon.

NOTE: For adjustment of status with the DHS/BCIS (former INS) (to receive a Green Card) in the United States, documents in a foreign language must be accompanied by a complete English translation.  The translator must certify that the translation is accurate and that he or she is competent to translate.  It will probably be easier to do this in Moldova than in the United States.

Please note: DHS/USCIS (INS) has granted consular officers limited authority to accept and approve an I-130 petition from a U.S. citizen when the U.S. citizen is a resident of consular district of the foreign service post, there is no USCIS officer assigned to that post, there are emergent or humanitarian concerns or U.S. national interests for accepting the petition, and the petition is clearly approvable.  USCIS has not delegated the authority to deny I-130 petitions to consular officers, so any I-130 petition not clearly approvable must be adjudicated by USCIS. 

Note: The same requirements apply to filing an I-130 at the Embassy on behalf of your child or stepchild.

K-3/K-4 VISAS

The new category of non-immigrant visa created by the LIFE Act may be issued to spouses of U.S. citizens who were married overseas and the dependent children of the foreign national spouse (K-3 for spouses, K-4 for dependent children).  The purpose of the new visa is to reunite families that have been or could be subject to a long period of separation during the process of immigrating to the U.S.A.  Holders of the new K visas will be able to wait in the US for this process to be completed.  These visas are processed by the U.S. Embassy in Chisinau.

To qualify for a K-3 visa the applicant for the visa must prove:

1. his/her marriage to a U.S. citizen is valid, and
2. he/she is the beneficiary of a petition (I-130) already filed with the DHS/BCIS (INS) as the spouse of a U.S. citizen, but which petition has not yet been approved by BCIS, and
3. he/she is also the beneficiary of a special petition (form I-129F) filed with and approved by BCIS in the US, and
4. he/she wishes to enter the United States to await the approval of the I-130 petition by BCIS or the availability of an immigrant visa.

All four qualifications must be met before the request for the K visa can begin. 

If an I-130 petition for the spouse is already at the overseas post, then an immigrant visa will be processed instead of the nonimmigrant K visa.  If an immigrant visa based upon the I-130 petition for the spouse has already been denied, then neither the spouse nor the spouse’s children may qualify for K-3 or K-4 visa.

Please note: If the marriage took place in the US, then the visa application must take place abroad in the country where the visa applicant resides.

THE K-3/4 VISA APPLICANT MUST PRESENT TO THE CONSULAR OFFICER THE FOLLOWING DOCUMENTS:

• Valid Moldovan passport(s) for foreign travel
• 2 Copies of the DS-156 application form

• Local Police Certificate
• Marriage Certificate (original and a certified copy)
• Birth Certificates for each K-3 and K-4 visa Applicant (original and a certified copy)
• Divorce decrees, if previously married, or death certificate, if widowed (original and a certified copy)
• Standard Immigrant Visa Medical Examination, except Vaccination
• $131 MRV fee for each visa Applicant
• 2 photographs 5 X 5cm for each visa applicant

All documents must have translations into English.

For more information about K-3 visas please see the USCIS (former INS) Internet page: www.uscis.gov.  Additional information is available at the State Department’s Internet page regarding K visas: http://travel.state.gov/vvisas/.  Our recent experience is that it generally takes eight to twelve weeks for DHS/USCIS (INS) to process and Embassy Chisinau to receive notice of the approval for a K-3 I-129F petition.