text: i need to get a visa for someone who lives in the philippines to come here and marry me. where do i start?   contrary to common sense, the quickest way is not to marry her in the philippines. it is usually faster to get her a fiancee visa, and marry when she comes to u.s. (you have to check for the specific country though).  to start the process, you need to submit the i-129f petition for fiancee visa to the uscis. the form is at: http://uscis.gov/graphics/formsfee/forms/i-129f.htm  after this gets processed, your fiancee can go to a u.s. embassy for an visa interview.  marriage visa (k3) takes up to a year to process, while fiancee visa (k1) takes much less (~4 months from petition to visa issued in bangkok, thailand, different in different countries).  note that you also have a slightly more difficult/expensive, but potentially faster option of enrolling her in a u.s. college or english study program, and getting her a student visa (f1)