Foreign-Born Fiancée Risks Return If Couple Doesn’t Wed in 90 Days
The stakes are high for couples on the TLC show "90 Day Fiance."
— -- Danny Frieshmuth and Amy Africa face high-stakes pressure to make their relationship work. The two have 90 days to get married or Africa faces a return to her native South Africa.
“There’s so much pressure. There’s pressure of me trying to shape to this mold of his life, me trying to fit into a new family,” Africa told “Nightline.”
They are just one of six couples featured on the TLC reality show “90 Day Fiancé,” which starts its second season this Sunday. The couples are made up of Americans who brought their foreign-born girlfriends or boyfriends to the United States on a K-1 visa.
Getting approved for the visa isn’t easy. Couples, who might barely know each other, have to submit stacks of paperwork, endure rigorous interviews and pay thousands of dollars just to get their fiancé or fiancée into the country. The TLC show pays the U.S. partner an appearance fee.
But the catch is that the couple must get married in 90 days. If they don’t, the foreign-born fiancé or fiancée risks getting sent back home.
Africa, 21, took the risk when she left Capetown, South Africa, to move to a suburb near Philadelphia to live with her boyfriend, Frieshmuth.
“My dad is the one who really has opinions against it,” Frieshmuth told “Nightline” of his father's reaction to the interracial couple. “So he basically poses questions like, ‘Are you ready to live in a world where a lot of people still don’t agree with interracial couples?’ He says, ‘Are you ready for that type of just like that type of judgment?’”
Africa said, “It is hard because I would want to definitely be accepted by him, but obviously it changes the dynamic of the family if that might exist."
But Frieshmuth and Africa are optimistic about the future and getting married. Not every couple on the show has a rosy forecast, however.
Cassia Tavares and Jason Hitch met on Facebook while Tavares was dating Hitch’s friend. Tavares, 15 years younger than Hitch, is from Brazil and now lives with her 38-year-old fiancé in Spring Hill, Florida.
They relied on social media during the beginning of their relationship, never meeting in person. It took about six months for Tavares to win Hitch over. She convinced Hitch to apply for the visa.
“She said you want to by my boyfriend? About five or six months later, I was able to go down to Brazil in July of 2013, seeing her for the first time,” Hitch told “Nightline.”
Tavares said she gets bored living in Hitch’s small town, but she won the heart of her father-in-law, who lives in the home with the couple. But she has a problem with Hitch’s friends.
“I think they are disrespectful, immature. They text him pictures of naked women,” Tavares told “Nightline.”
Despite the problems, the couple said their relationship is real, but Hitch did have his doubts.
“It did cross my mind that she may have [ulterior] motives. That’s why I didn’t want to do anything rash on my first visit,” Hitch said.
Hitch said this is not about getting Tavares a green card, and they have all their documents to prove to immigration officials.
To prove their relationship, Frieshmuth and Africa have their Facebook messages and pictures to show the government.
The 90-day trial period hasn’t come cheap and has cost Frieshmuth around $3,000. “We didn’t hire our immigration lawyer because we don’t have that money, so we did everything ourselves,” he said.
Even after they are married, they still have to prove the marriage is real. Some immigrants have sought legal entrance into the United States through sham marriages.
“A lot of times it is for a green card, and the show itself, like a lot of times, is just out for good drama,” Frieshmuth said.
“But with us, our story… it’s real.”
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