Hello everybody!!!! my boyfriend and I are planning getting married here in my country. But we are not sure about starting the filing with the K3 or the CR-1?? I read the guidelines but I need to know exactly how it works (the CR-1). How long should I wait in order to het my visa when married??

Thanks in advance

Victoria

Quick answer: CR1.

why? it's cheaper, you don't have to adjust status, and it is an immigrant visa.

sorry - double answer

there both about the same amount of wait the cr-1 is a better visa you will get your green card right away so you can work and travel it is cheaper in the long run.with k-3 dont expect to work for min of 90 days is what i heard.

but you have to be married to file . or there is the k-1 fiancee visa where you get married here

CR

Thanks for asking this question and thanks to everyone who answered. It is exactly what I wanted to know. Now I have my answer. I'm not going to bother with the K-3.

Thank you very much!!!!! I will do the CR-1 then. If I start in March, when would I get the visa?? next year??.....now my boyfriend is telling me about starting the k1 filing....I dont know what to do!!!!!! we want to be together and the fastest way i think is the K1 visa (6 months appox)

That's right, I agree with vbtbmrt .
.............................
10/07/2005 - met on line
01/21/2007 - first trip to Thailand
06/30/2007 - second trip to Thailand
07/02/2007 - got married in Bangkok
07/28/2007 - sent I-130
09/11/2007 - I-130 reached USCIS
09/18/2007 - NOA1 received by mail

CR-1 and K-3 now take almost the same amount of time. with CR you don't have adjust status, free work as soon as you come in US, etc. and CR costs less than K3. If you are filling K-1, please make sure you show enough evidence of ongoing relationship. AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, DO NOT GET MARRIED WHILE K-1 (FIANCE VISA) IS STILL IN PROGRESS. If you DO K-1, then you both can get married in US within 90 days of when your fiance entered US.

Hope it helps

Thank you so much!!!! there are so amny questions and doubts about all these processes I dont know what to do!!!....I just read a visa was denied in Lima and that embassy has that reputation: they are "#$%&&!!!!!!!!.....now my boyfriend is telling me he will file for me through the K1...... I guess i have to keep my fingers crossed

Victoria

I had the same question before beginning my process for my wife and I (before we were married). We decided to go with the CR1 visa for the sole purpose of her being able to work and being a permanent resident upon entry. We just got married on Feb. 15th. We worked on her package and got the I-130 package in the mail last Monday. It has been received by the USCIS 2 days later. So now we wait for the next step.

If you want to be together then get a tourist visa if you do not have one already. You can stay together as long as you obey your stay limit and leave the country before it expires. If you get multiple entries then you can go visit home for a weekend and come back and stay with him again.

Just my two cents. I agree it is a tough decision to make, but in my opinion the CR-1 is the way to go.

I always thought K-3 was a silly visa category when Congress created it about 7 years ago. It is a multi-entry nonimmigrant visa for spouses of U.S. citizens to use to come to the U.S.A. and apply for temporary work permission. While here, the non-citizen spouse may, but does not have to, adjust status to permanent resident within a 2-year initial period of admission, or continue to pursue consular processing for an immigrant visa from a U.S. embassy abroad (they will have to leave the U.S. to go to the embassy for the visa interview in that case), or they may simply depart the U.S. at the end of the 2-year admission period and return to a residence abroad. The 2-year period of admission can also be extended, in limited circumstances, if the non-citizen spouse can show that they have begun the process of obtaining permanent resident status and are still actively pursuing it.

In contrast, the so-called CR-1/IR-1 visa is an immigrant visa where the holder is lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the United States upon arrival. Permanent residents have the right to live and work in the U.S. permanently and may apply for naturalization when they have lived here a certain amount of time. However, permanent residents are also required to maintain an actual and true permanent residence in the United States at all times following their U.S. admission, and can only go abroad for temporary visits. If a permanent resident spends too much time outside the U.S. and does not have credible evidence that they intended, at the time of U.S. departure and at all times while abroad, to maintain and return to their U.S. permanent residence, they can be found to have abandoned their permanent resident status when attempting to return to the U.S. without a new visa.

The K-3 visa was created with the intention to allow spouses of U.S. citizens to get a visa to come to the U.S. faster than waiting for an immigrant visa to become available. However, for spouses of U.S. citizens, there is no annual limit to the number of immigrant visas that can be issued each year, so an immigrant visa is said to always be immediately available. Therefore, the only difference in time between getting the two visas is just processing time. And with USCIS needing to apply the exact same adjudication standards to both the I-130 immigrant visa petition for spouses of USC's and the I-129F nonimmigrant K-3 visa petition for spouses of USC's, the difference in time turns out to just be the extra NVC processing time for immigrant visas (2-3 months typically if you are diligently responding to requests and paying bills as they are received).

Given these alternatives, while the K-3 visa may still be somewhat of an expedited visa, however its advantages have always been very minimal and now come at an extremely high cost and more processing delays later in the adjustment process to obtain the same ultimate status of permanent resident. Therefore, in my unqualified opinion, this K-3 visa is really only useful to those few couples who either are extremely wealthy and want to get to the U.S. as soon as possible no matter what the cost, or (for the rest of us) those who want to move to U.S.A. but aren't sure if they will want to stay here permanently. The K-3 status does not pressure you to remain in the U.S. or risk losing your status, rather it gives you 2 years to decide if you really want to live here permanently or not. If you decide, as most usually do, to remain permanently, then only after your adjustment of status application is approved or you re-enter with an immigrant visa, will your permanent residency actually begin to count toward the next milestone in the immigration process---naturalization.

Given these pros & cons, you need to be the judge of which visa is right for your particular situation.

Wow thank you very much for the explanation. I have it clear now.....the CR1 is the perfect way to be together with my boyfriend (soon husband) again.

Victoria

If you're not married yet, K-1 is another way to come to U.S.A. just before you get married and then adjust status to remain permanently.

Vicky,
Neither, have a beautiful celebration of your love and verse your vows to each other for you family and friend to hear and relish. Then file for a K1 "fiancé" visa. The K1 is so much quicker and less complicated.

Hello All,

If filing the IR1/CR1, should the applicant file I-130s (along with the $355 processing fee) for each child who will accompany the beneficiary? Should this be done at the same time the I-130 is filed for the spouse?

Under the K3 visa, the children have derivative status so they automatically are included as K4s as long as they are listed on the I129f application. Once they arrive in the US, the I130 can be filed along witht he adjustment of status for around $1000 per person. If the I-130s for the children are filed after the I-130/I-129f have been filed for the spouse, would that delay the K3 processing?

If the processing time is extended by 2-3 months at the NVC for the IR1/CR1 vs. the K3, then I would rather pay the additional fees and be reunited with my wife and children earlier.

Immediate Relative visa petitions (spouse,minor children/stepchildren, and parents of U.S. citizens) do not provide additional visas for "derivatives." Each visa applicant needs a separately approved petition in order to receive a visa. I-129F petitions for K1 and K3 nonimmigrant visas, on the other hand and as you are aware, do provide for derivatives and that is why only one petition is needed. (actually, in the case of a child over age 18, he/she cannot be petitioned for by the U.S. citizen but can nevertheless qualify for a K2 or K4 visa, and in the case of a K2 visa when the parent actually married the U.S. citizen petitioner within 90 days of entry with the K1 visa, the child also can qualify for adjustment of status on that basis alone).

Most other types of immigrant visas (lottery,employer-sponsored,family-preference,refugee) do allow for derivatives to be included in the same petition, and that is why there is that confusing space in line 17 on the I-130 petition to list children of the beneficiary. For IR1/CR1 petitions, only the named principal on page 1 can apply for a visa based on the petition approval. For children of the principal to receive a visa, they must have separate petitions approved as the "stepchildren" of the U.S. citizen and qualify on that basis alone.

I hope that helps answer your question.

Sorry to barge in on this post but on average from start to finish of a cr1 (filing the I-130 to the time a visa is issued) how long will it acually take. Take into account all the required paper work is filed correctly, in a very timely manner and payments made when requested. I know it can be different for each case....I am getting married April 7th to my love in the Phillipines and we are going to go the CR1 route. I have read and read till I am blue in the face and my butt is tired from sitting and I still cant figure this out. Thank you and sorry if this looks like a hijack attempt...its not. I think the OP did ask this question.

do a search on CR1 timelines and get an idea of how long it is taking for your circumstances -- figure out who would process you - California or Vermont - based on where you live, and look at your fiance's country and you'll find out what the recent trend has been.

Ok I did a cearch and it say this Philippines 51 23 28 208 ......so its 208 day between NOA 2 and interview and 20 days for first NOA and between NOA1 and NOA2 149 for a grand total of 377 days? How long after that can she have her visa?

If you check our timeline, we were supposed to go the CR1 route because our I130 was approved earlier than expected and the I129 was taking a loong time to approve. But Cr1 takes longer to process until our I129 caught up with it last December so we decided to go that route. I had my K3 interview already and until now our CR1 is still not completed.

Although Cr1 takes longer, it has more advantages than the K3 like getting a conditional green card as soon as your fiancee arrives. But you both have to weigh which is more important for you, to be together ASAP or to wait maybe 2months to a year longer for those benefits.

Hello,

I am just wondering how to figure that out, I did go through the guides and all the readings but seems I have missed that part.

If it helps my husband(petitioner) lives in Indiana.

I do gather that Vermont is faster.

Thanks

Now I am confused LOL. With a stand alone I-130 Cr1 visa doesn't the applicant/USC still have to file an adjustment of status before 2 years of entry?

No adjustment of status when you enter with an immigrant visa (standalone I-130 spousal visa CR1/IR1).

Perhaps you are getting confused with removal of conditions, which is supposed to be filed jointly with USC spouse at the 2 year anniversary of the entry with an CR1 immigrant visa.

Find out how fast the CR1 process is in your country. If it's faster than K3 than go for it. K3 is known to be faster though.