Hello,

We want to get marry and need to know which is the best way and faster. Is the best way going to Algeria and get marry there (K-3) or apply for a K1? How we can make the arragement? Do we need to contact a lawyer? I have a lot of questions. Please, let us know if any of you can help us to find out the best way to do this. This is our first step, beside asked around and surf the internet.

k-1 and use alex halow.....great attorney

k1 very ffast......k3 is one year

K-1 is fast....but I would highly recommend the CR1 (getting married first)
It takes longer but they get the green card right away and can WORK right away.

I definitely regret not going that route!

its hard getting married in algeria...it cost me thousads toget married in tunisia...if she does a k1,hell be here in 7 months....cr1s are over a year...nightmare city...id never recommend my route

think of more than speed, think ahead to the steps after here and the expenses as they compare

exactly. i still stand by my recommendation for a CR1. expensive? maybe. takes longer? yes. but the amount of time they'd be rotting here at home bored waiting for their EAD versus at home in their home country (maybe even working there hopefully!) would be well worth it. i just speak from my personal experience. even though i missed my husband terribly, i think it would have better to do a CR1 than hurry and get him here like I did.

I agree 100%....my husband was miserable here waiting..and that created problems for both of us...I would mos def suggest CR1...

but getting married in algeria is very very hard...it took henia months and months and it took me 2 weeks going through tunis and cost thousands...you have to take that into consideration...its NOT like morocco...it s very very very hard to marry in algeria...

well i think you can give them extra money to let you marry or try bribe. That's how alot of people do it. I'm guessing youre not algerian so they kind of dont want that thing happening extra money should do it or if your spouse knws people there. it might be the route you will take and it's faster to get married in algeria. File for a I-130 immigration and when you get your 797C reciept file the fiance visa 129F if you're a usa citizen. sorry if it didnt make sense.

my husband had a well connected job...you are ALGERIAN ......with AlGErIAN parents...It s easy for you...there is a familybook....but for americans its not a walk in the park...its very very very hard...henia another poster worked non stop at it and it was like 4 months to marry ......I married in tunis whhich is where most couples marry....but honestly having gone through this personally,GO FIANCEE>..he can get an ead stamp if you fly to JFK and wrok right away......the wait is hell,nvc is 6 months...I had an expedite and i was still there 4 months....approvals are taking a long time...

sara,you are from there...its different...and you cant always bribe your way through every part of algeria....maybe in your small town...they are tightening up ad no way when there is a usc involved

Some people are able to marry without a problem in Algeria while some people are given a never ending runaround. Most laws there are applied capriciously so it really can be hit or miss. Just because others (but not everyone) have had a difficult time does not guarantee that you will. Ask your fiance if he knows what papers are required and if he is willing to do the runaround to try. If he is, I say it is worth a try. Were it me, the possibility of a CR1 would be worth the effort.

If I had listened to what everyone told me about how hard it was to get Algerian residency I would have been stuck flying back and forth to the US to renew my visa every three months. But for me, once we gathered all the papers required, residency was no problem at all. Didn't pay anyone a penny, was treated kindly by the police who interviewed me and got my residency quickly.

So, if you ask me, there is no harm in trying. What is the very worst case scenerio? You can't get married in Algeria so you go back and file for the K1.

she needs to be ready for either scenario...easy is not the norm nor is residency....its who you know and where you live as well....its a near impossibility in the west...algiers may be simpler..k1s come out of uscis fast and they reunite fast...im an overseas cr1 not a dcf and its been sheer hell........

i guess you'll never know why i suggest the CR1 over a K-1 if at all possible to do. but at least they should TRY to get married, if not, they can do the k-1 after like jpaula said.

For me it would depend on what type of job he expected to do when he gets here.

If he is going to try to work for a big company or a profession that requires a degree, the K-1 route is very difficult bc alot of employers don't know the type of visa and even if you get a temp EAD at JFK they might not be willing to hire him until he gets the green card. It would probably be worth it to try to get married in Algeria and go for CR-1 (not K-3, basically same thing as K-1)

If he is willing to do any work, construction, manual labor, a trade, ect... then K-1 might not be a bad option. This was the case with my husband and he was working within two weeks with a temp EAD from JFK. We got the green card quickly (we married the day he arrived and I applied right away) and he never had to leave work. These types of jobs generally don't check when the visa expires and are willing to let guys work off the books for awhile until they are legal again.

Just my 2 cents

Well I mean...I'm aware since I'm algerian it's why everythings probably gone so fast and smoothly (with security checks/background checks), but if there's a will there's a way. You just have to find someone you can pay extra or see if your fiance knows anybody that can help you out or if you have a muslim family to testify there are muslims in the family your fiance will marry into. I'm american citizen and my husband put christianity on our papers they didn't say anything so it really does depend who you are dealing with there. If you go physically infront of them with your fiance and you guys don't have huge age gaps they should proceed with the marriage. Anything to prevent fraud basically is their mentality. God bless you and if you are really really in love I wouldn't lose hope. Just make sure your fiance is aware it will be a year or 2 before you guys will migrate here. It's tough being far away from a spouse!

age gaps have NOTHING to do with the permission to marry....there s is a girl on this board and she is younger and it took her 4 months...They kept telling me get this then get that then get this...then wait 3 months...etc etc...You cant say something ignorant like this sara...you have algerian parents.......it has NOTHING to do with background checks either...my case moved faster through USCis than yours did by 60 days...(i had an expedite through nvc so that doesnt count....but with your logic you should have been done faster and your i130 took220 days and mine only 160....

You dont seem to get it.Getting married as a foreign national is hit or miss....I cannot in good faith tell someone to waste their 2 week trip to algeria tormenting themselves to get married...I did that on 2 seperate trips and ended up in tunis...easily doing it but wasting thousands...Fraud isnt the issue and they dont dcf anymore and Im the only long distance long wait cr1 on the boards and i wholeheartedly DO NOT RECOMMEND IT.Period.You know what ?A k1 can go through JFK and get an ead...a k3 cant...the k1s will be working faster than your husband with his k3...and they got here faster too....this damn cr1 was a waste of a year

I don't quite understand your last post sorry about the I-130/I-129F time line contrasting part. I filed in June I think for the I-130 and they did a fee mistake I sent 190.00 (old fee) and they said to send 355.00 or whatever and when I sent that in they sent my money back! Then they returned my whole money order and apologized sent a letter to show to my bank and said please send 190.00 Only since we filed before the new fee. That set me back couple of months! Moving my files too much to take care of other people. Also with the I-129F same exact thing happened with that. We only waited a week in NVC with the k3 I don't know if that info is relevant but thats the good thing with a k3. I can't believe he won't get the work Visa but it's ok he'll still work. 8 months ago my spouse dropped gossip to me about a 40 yr old marrying a 27 year old and them getting rejected so that's where I assumed age would've been a problem with an American marrying a national. It makes alot of sense since they rejected and they look for that when people file. I guess it is pretty hard marrying in Algeria I don't see the harm in trying though. If that doesn't work then go to Tunisia to marry or file here like the past posters say. There's couple of routes to take I believe.

its not...its relevant to being from another country...its simply easier to marry an algerian....because they have the family book....and records of who you are...its just difficult to get the required clearances as a westerner if you dont have time to wait in country.....if you have time to go from office to office cool


even with algerians...they have to wait for a license to arrive...it can take a while...especially the family book...it also depends on the level of bureaucracy as well

Thanks to all who answer our question. We are need to evaluate everything in detail. Your experience give us hope. If someone else has more information, please pass on.

K-1 is the fastest way and if I had to do it all over again I would still go with the K-1.

All in all it took only 5 months for my husband's case to be process and approved from the time we had filed our papers, but every case is different.

Good Luck in your visa journey and Welcome to VJ!