After seven years together, Jon and Rachel Walters of 90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days announced this week that they have ended their relationship and will no longer be pursuing Jon’s K-1 visa.
Fans may remember Jon (of England) and Rachel (of New Mexico) from Season 2 of the 90 Day Fiance spin-off which aired in 2018. The couple began dating after meeting on a karaoke app (as you do), and at the time, Rachel was a single mom of one who was expecting her second child.
During the season, viewers watched as Rachel (and her baby) traveled overseas to visit Jon, where she eventually learned that he had been keeping his criminal record a secret from her. Despite this, the two ultimately tied the knot at the end of the season and continued their long-distance relationship while awaiting Jon’s K-1 visa.
Fast forward to this week, when Jon took to Facebook Tuesday, telling fans “it’s over” and that his plans to join his wife and her daughters in the U.S. have ceased.
“The future we wanted for so long isn’t the future we will have,” Jon wrote. “We knew before we started that it would be hard but we always had hope to keep us going when things got tough.
“Our situation is hopeless and I don’t know what the next chapter in our life will look like,” he added.
“I’m a husband and father by invitation and have never taken that for granted,” he continued. “We aren’t the perfect couple, I know I’m far from the husband and father I want to be or wish I could be but long-distance relationships are only ever meant to be temporary.”
Jon added that he and Rachel “need time and space” in order to figure out what happens next, before thanking those who have supported the two of them over the years.
On Tuesday, Rachel posted a video to her personal Instagram page titled, “Final Visa Update,” in which she also shared the news with followers.
“It absolutely pains me to post this,” her post read. “This isn’t the update we wanted to share. This isn’t the ending we were hoping for, nor is it the finale we were thinking would happen. Long-distance relationships can be brutal on the toughest of couples. We fought hard for a long time and stayed strong for over 7 years, waiting.
“However, the distance for so many years…and so much consecutive time spent apart, time after time, has taken its toll,” she continued. “We have, unfortunately, grown too far apart. The decision has been made, on our end, to not continue. The visa journey is sadly over.”
Rachel told followers that ending things was not an easy decision for her and Jon, before asking that people give them both “privacy and time to adjust to our new reality.”
“Thank you to everyone who has stuck it out with us through all of these years,” she added. “Here’s to the cherished read pages and to new chapters.”
Jon and Rachel have continued to keep fans updated on the status of Jon’s visa over the years, while also sharing photos of past visits. In December, Rachel shared on Instagram that she and Jon had “hit a roadblock” in the visa process and would be required to submit additional paperwork.
“It’s estimated now, probably another 8 or 9 months for an answer,” she said at the time, before firing back at comments blaming the visa delay on Jon’s criminal record.
“ … Jon is no ‘criminal,’” she wrote. “It was a spontaneous bar fight. Do I condone fighting? No, not really. But we are human and sometimes we make mistakes, some worse than others. And that’s Jon in a nutshell. He was young, dumb and reactive.
“He’s 40 now and hardly [has] the energy to tie his shoes. He’s no threat to anyone,” she continued, before reminding fans that Jon never served any time in jail for the incident.
Amid their efforts to get Jon to the U.S., the couple has been accepting donations to cover costs for his visa appeal and legal fees. As of now, they are still selling “long distance relationship” merchandise on social media; however, their joint-Instagram page has since been deleted.
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(Photos: Instagram; Facebook)
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