You are a U.S. citizen living abroad with your foreign, soon-to-be spouse. It’s your wedding day, which is one of the most important days of your life. But you partied hard the night before. Way too hard, in fact. The wedding ceremony is in an hour. No one knows where you are, and you are totally unprepared. You call your friend and say “Bro, I don’t think I can make it. Can you stand in my place?!!!?” Being ever so loyal, your friend agrees.
Although your future spouse to be is a little puzzled when your friend shows up instead of you, your spouse is understanding as well as forgiving and goes along with the ceremony anyway.
Years later, you and your spouse get tired of living abroad and you want to petition your spouse to come to the United States. Is your marriage by proxy valid? Are you even married at all in the eyes of U.S. immigration officials?
In order for a proxy marriage to be valid for U.S. immigration, the marriage must be consummated after the wedding ceremony. If the marriage has not been consummated, U.S. immigration officials can process a petition for your fiancé(e) as a nonimmigrant fiancé(e) (e.g. a K-1 visa). Consummation that may have occurred before the proxy wedding would not be valid; only consummation post-wedding would allow U.S. immigration officials to see your marriage as valid.
Last Updated on March 1, 2025 by Ernest J. Edwards
