My apologies..our post from a couple days earlier did not go thru as my puter locked up during transmission and my question did not post.. So Im trying again..

Hi,

My name is Brad Im from Pittsburgh, Pa. and my fiancee' (Samira) is from Veracruz, Mex. After a 2 year courtship we have decided to get married. Over this time we have visited eachother in both countries about 10 different times. She has a son who will turn 18 on December 17, 2006. We were quite alarmed when we heard from the Immigraton attorney handling our K-1 paperwork that unless we are married before her sons 18th birthday, he will never get a visa to come into the US. Before this time we had just assumed that the "deadline" was his 21st birthday. Our atty says she doesnt forsee a problem getting everything done by December since she had another couple (US/Mex) thru in 4 1/2 months. However this was before the Imbra law.

My question to "yunz guys" ( a little pittsburghese..lol )
If Im understanding the the timelines on this website correctly -
the idea of getting married by December really doesnt seem remotely possible? Is my attorney wrong?
By the way our K1 application package went out on July 13.

Thanks in advance !

Brad and Samira

Brad - glad you reposted and welcome.

Your attorney is unfortunately right. The way things are now, it seems there is just no way you two will be able to get married by December. There is no way to estimate how long the approval on the I-129F petition will take these days - I would estimate 6 months to be on the safe side and not set expectations high. Then the petition goes to the National Visa Center and from there to Ciudad Juarez. CDJ has to put the case in their system and then send you and your fiance a package of information. While the information can be downloaded from their website and your fiance can go to the interview as soon as everything is confirmed at CDJ, it appears they are not all that quick about actually doing it.

On the other hand, your attorney is not correct that her son will never get a visa. If I understand it correctly, he will not be eligible for derivative status if he is over 18 at the time of your marriage. But you should be able to petition for him separately (I believe once your wife has LPR status although it may be US citizenship) or at least a tourist visa.

Good luck!

It's hard to say what will happen with the IMBRA, but the process for my fiancee and I was extremely fast through Mexico. We could have been finished in about 2 months with the interview had we wanted to. However we had planned a religious ceremony in Mexico in May and were in no hurry. As soon as they have your documents in Juarez you can show up for the interview.