Hello, I'm a new member. I am a US citizen living in the USA. I married a Brazilian girl in Brazil on April 20th, 2007. Now I returned to Texas to file the necessary papers for her visa and have a few questions:

1) The American consular agent in Brazil gave me a written notice that says..."Effective immediately, the immediate relative petition (I-130) must be filed with the USCIS office responsible for the U.S. citizen's place of residence...." Note: I live in Texas and therefore the USCIS web page indicates I need to use the Texas Service Center. Now the confusing part, the next para of the same notice says...."Responsibility for acceptance and approval of immigrant visa petitions rests solely with USCIS. The USCIS office responsible for adjudicating petitions from Brazil is located in St. Albans, Vermont. Please submit petitions directly to them....

So they say to use the service center responsible for your place of residence and then turn around and say submit the petition directly to the Vermont center - you have to wonder who's writing these notices. Anyway, I called several attorneys who were not aware of the change to Vermont for Texas residents, so I called the 800 number for the USCIS and the indeed informed me that the Texas Service Center is no longer processing I-130 petitions and to submit directly to Vermont. Then I told some attorney's about this and half agreed to submit directly to Vermont, but the other half said the petition still needs to be submitted to Texas and they will forward it to Vermont. I then called the 800 number again and the girl was confused and could not give me an answer but said she thinks it needs to be submitted directly to Vermont. Can you believe this? Does anyone have the correct info? Do Texas residents now need to submit the I-130 petition directly to Vermont or submit to Texas service center?

2) I have been told that the K-3 is a waste of time because it takes just as long as the immigrant visa. Is this true for a spouse coming from Brazil? Also, the old rule was that the k-3 had to be filed in the country where the marriage took place which in my case is Brazil. Now that the new rule is in effect that the petitions now need to be filed in the USA, does this void the old rule that the k-3 must be filed in the country where the marriage took place? If the K-3 can now be filed in the USA can the immigrant visa be filed simultaneously with the K-3? It seems this would benefit the petitioner as it would allow the spouse to enter quicker depending on which one gets approved first the k-3 or immigration visa.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

- u have to send ur application to Texas Service Center and after that they will transfer it to Vermont.
- the k3 visa APLICANT must apply for the visa in the country which marriage took place ,not FILING

You are in the US filing from Texas. Follow domestic USCIS procedure.

Generally the fastest way to get your wife here will be the K3, by several months. I suggest you file the I-130 as soon as possible, then read, study and ask as many questions as you need to determine whether filing an I-129f petition for a K3 visa will benefit you in you situation. There are many factors to consider but you don't have to decide right away. The first step is the same either way. You file the I-130 with the Texas service center. It is likely to be transferred and processed elsewhere.

Congradulations on your marriage Tayglo and welcome to VJ !

We had the same problem when we filed for the K1 and our attorney did not have a clue where to file so we filed at CSC and TSC which gave us two NOA1s and two NOA2s. It turned out to be a very giant problem which one petition had to be withdrawn and subsequently both were withdrawn and resulted in canclation of our interview at the consulates office at the last minute - which was later reinstated and all turned out well, no thanks to our IL.

I do not have any experiance on K3 visa. Therefore my opinion ONLY:

My inclination due to my own personal experiance with immigration lawyers is be careful with what they say because what they say could actually be wrong.

Second, the American Consular Agent in Brasil may not have up to date information. My instinct would be to go by what the USCIS website instructions state - but just to make sure it may be worth the wait to be on hold for a while to find out from someone at USCIS just to make sure. I would call more than once to see if you get consistent information from them because you could get information that can be contrary.

Then again someone else here may have better information than my opinion. Especially about the K3.

Good luck.

I just got off the phone with the 800 customer service again. She also said that the Texas service center is no longer processing I-130's but she was unsure as to whether or not this would allow me to bypass the Texas service center and send directly to the Vermont service center which is responsible for Brazil petitions. She advised for me to make an appointment at my Texas service center before filing my petition. Any bets on how long this will take? Sounds like a good way to waste a week or two. The only sure bet until I get an answer is to submit to Texas but since they are no longer processing K1 and I-130's this will also be a waste of valuable time as it will sit there until they forward it to Vermont.....hmmmmmm what to do? Anyone know a good attorney familiar with Brazil petitions?

Also, thanks for the answers so far.

Many I-130 petitions are sent to TSC daily and quickly forwarded to the appropriate service center. This is the most efficient and secure way to file your petition. They haven't changed the instructions on the form because their workload shifting procedures could change again at any time.

If you want to waist your money on an attorney, it's up to you. Expect it to cost you significantly more both time (away from your wife) and money.

Start here. Just who told you K3 was a waist of time? Check and compare the timelines here for confirmation you got bad information.

I have to agree, our immigration attorney did not lift a finger until she recieved my personal check (Plastic was not an option plus I wanted the returned check as proof), made sure it cleared and then I had to wait another week (about 3 weeks total after I sent the check) before I received her K1 Package. Once you get an attorny, you will find that he/she may not have your petition be the top priority as you would do for yourself.

The service center transfered ours within days so I would safely say that the transfer from one to the other if they do is fast and I believe they will confirm it as well when and if they do transfer.

PLEASE FOLLOW ALL FILING INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE I-130 FROM THE USCIS WEBSITE. IT HAS ALL THE ADDRESSES TO SEND AND THEY SEND TO THE APPROPRIATE LOCATIONS.

AS SOON AS YOU GET THE NOA1 SEND IN YOUR I-129 IF YOU WANT TO GET THE K-3 PATH GOING AS WELL AS THE CR1.

FILING ALL OF THIS INFORMATION AND FOLLOWING THE DIRECTIONS EXACTLY IS VERY IMPORTANT OR YOU RISK DELAYS. THIS SITE IS EXTREMELY HELPFUL TO MAKE SURE YOUR QUESTIONS GET ANSWERS. DONT TRUST WHAT EVEN A USCIS REP SAYS AS BEING FACT. READ READ READ AND VERIFY HERE WITH MULTIPLE MEMBERS.