Stuck in a civil union? K1 vs. Cr1 visa. Help!
Hi everyone, please bear with me as this is difficult to explain. Any advice is VERY appreciated, as we don't know what to do.
My wife (Italian) and I (American) have a same-sex civil union and live in Italy. Note that same-sex marriage is not legal in Italy so this was our only option. We filed for a K1 visa last November since civil unions don't count as marriage in the US and got an RFE saying that we need to prove that we're free to marry.
The problem is that Italy won't give us this certificate saying we're free to marry because we have a legal partnership. However, the US doesn't accept civil unions when applying for marriage Cr1 visas. It was suggested by our municipality to get a divorce (which we can't do because I'd have to leave the country). We can't get married anywhere else because we need to prove we're free to marry. There has to be another solution.
Note: my state representative told me to apply as a K1. I have this in writing.
Basically, we aren't "married enough" to apply for a Cr1 visa, but are "too married" to apply for a K1 visa.
Has anyone heard of a situation that's similar to this? Can I petition to change our application to a Cr1 visa and have our civil union registered as a marriage in the US?
Thank you in advance. I'll also be posting this on other immigration subs to see what I can find out.
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source https://www.reddit.com/r/immigration/comments/p5hfyj/stuck_in_a_civil_union_k1_vs_cr1_visa_help/