My I-130 and K3 were both approved on the same day and are now processing in parallel. My wife just got her K3 interview appointment date from the consulate. Now my lawyer just received the AOS and IV fee bills for her CR1. I would prefer not to give up my K3 option. Just tired of waiting. But I would like to pursue the CR1 if we can get that case completed in time and forwarded to the embassy before her K3 appointment. So if we pay the fee bills and keep pursuing the CR1 will that affect our K3 process? I certainly don't want my K3 to stall. Please advise.

Paying the CR-1 fees will not interfere with the K-3 process.

You can interview for the K-3 and then wait a bit for CR-1 case to reach the consulate and then interview for the CR-1.

K-3 was originally intended for this, to allow the foreign spouse the option to travel to USA and wait for the immigrant visa case to complete, and then return home to interview for the immigrant visa.

Thanks. But at a later stage if I change my mind to pursue AOS can I abandon consular processing or will paying the fee bills lock me in?

You can abandon the counselor processing, the bill fees will not lock you in, I know a K-3 that did just that.

Paying the fees doesn't lock you into Consular processing but you don't get a refund either.

The best of both worlds it for your I-130 to arrive at the Consulate even a day before your K3 interview. In that event, your interview can be for a CR1 visa.

To see if this is possble, you'll need to carefully examine and compare timelines. Some have delayed the return of P3 documents to help facilitate this but it's not always practical.