’90 Day Fiancé’ Stars Jon and Rachel Walters Share an Update on Their Visa Process!

Jon and Rachel revealed the big news on their joint Instagram account. “Jon and Rachel saved $11,000 in 51 weeks, one week before their deadline. The visa process can now start,” the statement read.

After the couple announced their big news, their fans flooded the comments with lots of love and well wishes.

“I’m so happy for you guys, I’m praying all goes well and you two can finally be together … best wishes,” one fan wrote and another commented, “Wishing all the best for y’all! I have loved your story from the very beginning 💖 I pray it will have the best happily ever after ending!”

Jon and Rachel were first introduced to fans on season 2 of the hit TLC series, 90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days.

During season 2, the couple documented all of the major moments in their relationship thus far — from the first time they met in person after dating in an online long distance relationship, to their first kiss, their engagement and their beautiful elopement ceremony.

But even though they had a beautiful love story, they also faced a very big obstacle.

Jon has a criminal record with a violent past, and that is enough to put a halt to his plans to move outside of his native country of England.

“When I was young, I grew up in not a great area, having to choose between being stamped on or fighting to get away. And when I felt people wronged me or saw things I didn’t like, I acted. And some of the times I got into a fight with multiple people,” Jon told Rachel in a scene from season 2.

He went on to explain that all of the charges on his criminal record are assault charges. When he was younger, he had gotten into about 50-60 physical fights. But out of all of those fights, five of them led to convictions — and Jon’s most serious conviction happened when he was in college and he injured someone.

“I was at uni and I’d been out with some friends. Stuff escalated and I ended up punching a group of guys in the face,” Jon said. “They arrested me, and I was convicted of bodily harm without intent — which basically means, he did sustain an injury.” Jon hit his victim so hard that he suffered an eye injury, and he pleaded guilty. Even though he didn’t go to prison, he was kicked out of school.

But even though the incident happened nearly a decade ago, Jon is still feeling the repercussions from his past actions. Because of his criminal record, he was denied a tourist visa and could not gain entry to the United States to visit Rachel.

“Getting married could make it easier to get Jon to the United States but it’s not a guarantee and it could get him denied forever,” Rachel explained in her confessional on the show.

During the couple’s meeting with an immigration attorney, Jon explained why he didn’t think the K-1 visa was a good option for them and why he thought the K-3 visa (a nonimmigrant spousal visa) was a better option.

“We were talking about the K-1 visa and we discussed it back and forth and a huge part of why we are doing it this way is because I don’t want to ask for permission. I want to be able to fight for the right to be with my wife,” he said.

The attorney agreed that either a K-3 visa or the immigrant visa processing would be the best option.

“I usually recommend immigrant visa processing, [which is] basically going straight towards a green card. However, with your record, you’re really looking at upwards of three years processing time. You guys are really staring down the barrel of a long time of separation without being able to start your lives together,” the attorney said.

But now that Jon and Rachel are married and finally saved enough money, they can begin the visa process and hire a lawyer to help them fight for their case and begin that three-year process. We’re wishing them all the best in their visa journey!