Hi everyone, I have noticed when someone has the country Cuba, they have a consulate in Switzerland. Is that correct? And June filers have already been approved and got their NOA2. Some within like 12 days and some within 2 months or so. It´s not that I don´t wish that for them that´s not true. I wish them all good luck and wish everyone´s process could go so fast Just didn´t know if it was correct or a typo or what was going on. Thanks a lot for an info I appreciate it

I dunno...Someone, please!!!??? All I know is that their process is very very fast.

The US has an "economic interest section" in Cuba and not an embassy (communist regime, embargo, Bay of Pigs...) and it is hosted by the Switzerland embassy in Havana. That's as far as my reliable info, the rest is just interpretation of the tense diplomatic situation. It could be that Cuban fiancé(e)s are treat differently as a political gesture against the communist regime there. Someone had mentioned before that it was similar to a sort of asylum treatment, even if it remains a I-129F procedure...

my 2cents

Yes there must be something special about Cuba (not sure why) fiancees from other communist countries get the other sort of special treatment, very long processing times (9 + months) and alot of denials, China and Vietnam for example

That is so unfair!!! I wonder why!!!

We haven't been close friends with Cuba for about 50 years

Treating Cuba this way in 2007 (almost two decades after international communism crumbled and fell) is just silly and makes us come off as belligerent "bad guys" who want to crush a small nation just because it wants self-determination.

Cold War is long over, let's mend the fences. Why not? We are good friends with Vietnam, and Vietnamese killed 60,000 Americans in the war.

I would conjecture that it's because the 100,000s of Cubans who came to the U.S. post-1959 were mostly the former ruling and upper/middle classes of Cuba in the Batista days, and their descendants. Now, if Castro's communist system were to fall in the future, it would presumably be many of these people who would return to lead Cuba again. So, giving preferential treatment to Cuban-Americans in exile is, at the same time, giving preferential treatment to the future economic-political ruling class of Cuba. An investment in future diplomatic relations one might say. That's what the U.S. government has thought for decades. Maybe it's unreasonable to still think that almost 50 years after the cuban revolution.

The above does not apply very much if at all to other communist countries (Vietnam, China), so our government is not so eager to help them. Heck, we're pretty close friends with China and Vietnam these days.

Well I'm not a historian and do not know a lot about politics, but I did some research and I'll let you guys do the thinking and judging. I too also have wondered about it, and have wished that all of us can be processed this way. I mean to be honest, it is WRONG. There should be no special treatments..but only to pay more money if we choose to have the case expedited. It's like applying for a job that the company should not discriminate against the applicant's race age sex whatever..etc etc..i know it's not about employment but just giving an analogy..

well anyways.. here's what I want you to think about.. it could be just coincidence???

2003-2005 Director of USCIS and DHS was Eduardo Aguirre (CUBAN)

CURRENT Director Mr. Gonzales..forgot the first name..ALSO CUBAN..

so i guess the officers at USCIS tends to give special treatments to cubans maybe they DON'T WANT LOSE THEIR JOB hehehe.. lols..remember they have the authority..DIRECTORS.. and if i am correct President Bush is the one who puts them to this position

What yah guys think? if you have more info it will be great to let us know..thanks..

1. Gonzales just resigned.
2. He is Mexican-American, NOT Cuban.

here's a little bit about Eduardo Aguirre.. click here and another one here wikipedia

emilio gonzales wikipedia

Well both were born in Cuba.. so I'm not sure how the laws are in Cuba..like here in the US..if you were naturally born here..you automatically are a US citizen..

You Are right! Cubans are getting approved very quickly, some in just days. I have posted a thread explaining my understandings as to why the quick approval. Cuban Fiance(e)s are not treated as political gesture....Your analogy of "sort of asylum" is not true...K-1 applicants are treated the same as any other applicant from any other country. The processes are just the same, if not a bit more problematic as the Cuban government tries to make it more costly and difficult for any cuban to leave.

Well, I agree that Cuban K-1 applicants follow the same type of procedure than the applicants from the rest of the world, BUT they get approved in days when the rest of the world takes months. It therefore shows that Cuban applicants are treated differently and I only inferred that it *could* have to do with the nature of the political regime in Cuba and the historical tensions between the US and the Cuban regime, possibly to avoid retaliation against applicants trying to leave. Hence my suggestion of a political gesture to speed up the process for them. Even if the hurdles remain the same (standard I-129F), Cubans jump them faster...
Until we get an official explanation, we're just going in circles with a debate over semantics...

I was thinking of Attorney General, since you used the spelling Gonzales (which is different from Gonzalez) in your first post.

I like all my Cuban friends. I'm glad they got here quickly.

I read somewhere on here that the reason Cubans are priority processed is that it takes a long time for them to receive an interview in Switzerland. I'm not sure whether this is a fact, but if you do a timeline search (there are only 34 Cuban K1 applications within the VJ timeline data) the average no of days for the entire process is between 175 and 382 days - with CSC averaging 320 days.

By contrast, the average processing for a UK beneficiary is 143 to 215 days and they don't receive priority processing before receiving an NOA2.
Here's some more (chosen fairly randomly):

Canada 169-237 days
China 233-322 days
Mexico 146-206 days
Turkey 182-208 days
Vietnam 225-286 days

This is not a comprehensive analysis of the data, data skewing could be caused by the total number of applications or incomplete timelines but on balance it looks pretty fair to me. Cubans get processed faster in the early stages but typically end up waiting longer for the whole process to complete.

Plus, I am just guessing here, but I imagine it also causes some logistical and planning issues for the Cuban to get to Switzerland.

That´s true...no fun really having the Embassy on the other side of the world...on the other hand I remember snowangel (I hope I am not mistaken) talking about how poorely they treat people in US Embassy in Egypt... sometimes they don´t receive their passport with visas for another 3, 4, 5, 10 months after the interview...so I dunno...think it would just be fair to say how things are and not to keep saying they take petitions as they come..

What do you mean by saying K1 applicants (you mean the ones from Cuba?) are treated the same as any other applicant from any other country?

Hey All,

Babbelsgirl is correct in that the overall process for Cuban fiancees/es is much longer. For example my finance had his interview 8/8/06 and did receive his k-1 on that day. Now, Cuba is different than most countries in that you must apply and receive permisson to leave the country.
Maybe not all countries but most countries allow you to leave as long as you obtain USA visa.
My fiance applied to leave Cuba on 8/10/06 and did not receive permission to exit until 2/6/07 which was 1 day before his k-1 would expire.
He flew into JFK airport about 12:30am on 2/7/07 with no problems with his entry.
I picked him up at the airport and we stayed in a hotel overnight and applied for the marriage license that morning and were married on 2/8/07.
I think that the conoffs do all they can to approve Cubans ASAP because SOMETIMES they get caught waiting well after the k-1 expires. I think they try to avoid this as much as possible because they absolutely cannot intervene on the Cuban side.

Also, Cubans don't travel to Switzerland for the interview. They interview at the US Interests Section which is housed inside the Swiss Embassy in Havana.

Toria and Salva

but that doesn't quite explain matters; if Cuba is trying to make things hard for people to leave, and waiting til the last minute to give permission, then they would do that anyway, whether the K1 had been granted early or late; it's a separate part of the process

I don't have any issues with the expedition of Cubans, let me hurriedly clarify; I just don't think that aspect of the explanation plays a huge part... may be wrong of course

StillthePrettiest,

Of course you're not wrong!! Most of us aren't and I really don't think we're judging each other this way. I was just sharing our experience and how it fits in with the topic. I was just putting it out there.
I remember when we started our visajourney back in 2002. I was just so eager to get any info at all because there were only 1 or 2 Cuban fiance/couples who were willing to share any info. Now, there are many more and each post helps someone with their research.
Short of actually asking a conoff in HAV, I really don't know how they make their decisions, I just wanted to put our experience out there.

Toria and Salva