Hey gang, hope you are all staying encouraged today...the journey has an end!

I wanted to know what happens if the I-130 gets approved before the I-129F ?

Can someone give me a step by step process of how this will proceded.

Anyone who has had this happen and actaully completed the I-130 ahead of the I-129F

Thanks again for all the great information here

Rob

Looking at your timeline I cannot imagine how your I-130 would be processed ahead of your I-129F. Even if the service centers approve both at the same time, your I-130 is going to sit at NVC a lot longer than your I-129F will. I have been caught up in IMBRA and think my I-130 will be completed before my I-129F and we will be so happy if that happens because my wife will arrive in the US with everything completed and behind her and there will be no AOS at our local office.

Rob,

See the VJ Guides and the NVC pages of the DoS web site.

Yodrak

Well, if the I-130 and I-129F get approved within 1-2 week apart, then it is worth pursuing I-129F. But if the I-130 is approved a month before I-129F, then I-129 won't be that useful. I-130 stays at the NVC for about 2-3 months, whereas the I-129F stays at the NVC only for about 1-2 weeks. Of course, the goal of I-129F is to bring the spouse sooner in USA, but the spouse has to go through the adjustment of status after arriving in the USA. The advantage of I-130 is, the spouse does not have to do any adjustment of status as soon as he/she comes to USA.

For now, you can just continue the both routes and see what happens in future. In the meantime, please be familirize with the CR-1/IR-1 (I-130) and K-3 (I-129F) processes. Good luck!