Hey everybody.

Me and my fiance still don't know what visa is the best for us. So could anybody please tell me which one is faster, which one is easier to do, and which one is cheaper? I would really appreciate your help.

If you can fill out forms and follow instructions then both are similarly easy or difficult

Cost is about the same..... K-1 maybe $100 more give or take

Total time can be slightly different because I-129F petition for fiance(e) visa you can conceptually file today and a petiion for K-3 requires first a marriage, then a filed I-130 and then the I-129f.

K-1 is traditionally the quickest, K-3 is a bit longer, but if you are considering K-3, take a good look at the CR-1,

CR-1 at one time was the longest to process but lately that seems to not be the case, CR-1 is taking slightly longer than K-3. CR-1 is much less expensive than K-3, and NO FILING FOR EAD OR ADJUSTING STATUS), CR-1 is an immigrant visa that generates green-card upon entry to the USA.

Adjusting status from K-3 is $1010.

If I had a choice I would avoid the K-3 and just do the CR-1 for a spouse, even in the case of K-1 I would go CR-1 now with the high cost of AOS ($1010).

alright, thank you. so obviously no K-3. it doesn't really matter if CR-1 takes longer since i have to stay 2 more years in germany anyway. we just don't know if we should get a K-1 and wait till we can get married or just get married now like we want to and get the visa after it. because it would help if we wouldn't have to do AOS....less stress and money saved. but i read that you need like bills with both of your names on it and stuff like that for CR-1 or K-3. but we actually have never lived together. so what about that? all we have is pictures, a plane ticket and chat logs.....

If you are living in Germany yes go CR-1 visa, you can file for it at the embassy or consulate there in Germany (DCF), If you do you must maintain USA domicile, and continue to file IRS returns every year.

Actually if you are married for 2 years at the time of visa approval or time of GC issuance you'll get a IR visa which is the best, cheapest and easiest spouse visa you can get.
You'll receive a 10 year GC and SS Card shortly after arrival in the US. Plus IRs don't have to apply to remove conditions in 21 months saving more dough and a possible interview and stress.

The visa prices have increased; therefore, the K-1 visa is more expensive. However, I feel like you will get through more quickly. Good luck!




The visa prices have increased; therefore, the K-1 visa is more expensive. However, I feel like you will get through more quickly. Good luck!

Visa prices for non-immigrant visas remain the same at $100 each, it is the petition prices that recently took an increase...

Well me and my fiance decided to get k-3 visa cuz of the one main reason that its getting me faster to her, but k-3 visa has some disadvnatges like: that i cant get work before i spnd 3 months there and i should go to work dept, to get permission to work and renew that papers every 6 months and the petation cant get a driving licnes not before 10 months and thats the time to get approval on the I-130 application, at least 10 months,,, but its the best way to make 2 loved hearts close to each other ;0

You want to get married now and need to stay in Germany two more years. That makes it a no brainer. Get married now and go the CR1, IR1 route. Once the visa is in hand though, she has only six months to use it. It would be good for either the visa issue or her US entry to occur ofter your two-year wedding anniversary. It saves you the hassle and expense of removing conditions on the green card.

My problem here is that i have a contract at work for another 2 years. sure i could quit but i wouldn't have any education then. just a high school diploma. so, just in case i will come back to germany in some years i would have to start all over again. okay, actually i would have to do that anyway. is there a difference between cr-1 and ir-1? i don't really get it at the moment and how long will it take? like 9 months or something? and i also can't visit my husband in that time? but that's obviously the same in every visa process. i really don't know which way we should pick. since i don't have any idea of all the visa crap i would still prefer the getting married spontaneous and just stay way. but that's pretty risky thing when it was absolutely not apontaneous. confusing

Hello. I think everyone has been thinking that you are the USC half of the couple, but actually it sounds like you're the German half of the couple, right?

If I were you, I would look into a visa for him to live in Germany. My guess is that it would not take as long to process for him to immigrate from the US to Germany. Then he could live with you while you finish your work contract, and about 8 months before you want to move to the US together, he could apply (as long as nothing has changed by then) directly at the embassy in Germany for you.

EDIT - You could probably get married in the US and then apply for the German visa for him right away at a German consulate in the states and return to Germany together. That certainly worked out for my husband and I, but it was the UK not Germany.

that's a good idea but won't work for us because he's in the army. so he can't go anywhere. except for iraq maybe. that's another question. can we start with the visa while he's in iraq because i guess i would need a lot of things from him....and he probably won't be able to send me everything....it's not sure if he has to go back there but i should still think about it in my plans. so you all say getting married now and start the Cr1 or IR1 whatever process sometime at the end of next year so i'll have my visa as soon as my contract is over? sounds like a good idea. but when we are married and i don't have a visa yet and didn't start with it. can i still visit him in the states without any problems? there are sooooo many things you have to think about

Hmm... his being in the army does add some complications on top of the complication with your two-year work contract. I'm sorry I can't think of any further advice at the moment.

However, I can say that yes you are definitely allowed to visit him in the US even after you've started the visa process. Be sure to bring of your ties to Germany - ie, a copy of your two-year work contract, copy of a lease/mortgage, your return ticket etc. as they'll be more cautious about allowing someone to enter who is married to a USC.

he actually is done with the army in may but they will send some more troops to iraq before may so he might get stoplossed and has to go to iraq again for another 15 months. so we don't know if we should get married in december. because once we did it we have to get a K3 or CR1. but if we don't get married first and he will be out in may i could still get a K1 and quit my job. But K1 seems expensive. but it allows us to be together faster and I heard that K1 visas are almost never denied. so right now i'm totally lost with all the visa stuff and the problems with it. there's no perfect option, no matter which way we will chose, it will pretty much suck

I'm sorry to hear about that further complication.

The K3 is just as expensive as the K1 actually, especially if you don't need to leave the US before getting your green card. It's the CR1, which takes longer than the K3, which costs the least and has the most advantages.

You might take a look at the immigration timelines at the top of the page for your service center and enbassy for each type visa, that might help you understand the amount of time each requires. Good luck

hm, the timelines don't really help me a lot. i also don't know our future service center yet because we both have no idea where he will live when it comes to applying for my visa. but it looks like the timelines are pretty much the same at every service center. just some days more orr less. so if i understood that right....a cr1 will take like 1 year? but i have to stay here till august 2009 anyway so i could just start a bit earlier. that's not the problem. because it would help a lot that it's not that expensive and we wouldn't have to do the AOS and EAD anymore. i also see that it has only one minus and that's the travelling while in process thing. also not a problem. he can visit me instead. so CR1 looks like the best option. even if it takes so long. but it looks like only a few people go the CR1 way. what reasons could we be denied for? i might be annoying with my questions i'm sorry. but all i want to do is find the best way of doing that with my fiance and we finally want to be together in 2 years without bigger complications in our visa process.

Get married now and consider the best immigration course when you are closer to being ready to move. You have too many unknowns for advice.