Why did you file for a K-1 visa and not a spouse visa, or vice-versa? (merged)

[avital 34]

main reason is that there are no civil marriage in israel.

also, we both feel like we should spend more time together in real before getting married.

[londongal 17]

At the time we applied for the K1 we had lived together in Canada for 5 years. We didn't want to ever live separately at that point.

I'm sorry if I'm asking something blindingly obvious, but I've seen many people mention now that they didn't want to live separately. Is there a requirement when applying for the spouse visa to live separately, even if you had been living together previously?

[londongal 17]

I would not a US citizen at the time and I wanted to have the wedding where my wife lives so her family could attend.

I also was hoping that my wife could visit which wouldn't make the process has hard as it has been. Unfortunately even before marriage they killed that idea.

What do you mean they killed the idea, what happened?

My husband and I initially got married by proxy, I was present, he (the USC) was not. When we were talking about me moving over, we chose between the K-1 (as proxy marriages are not acceptable for immigration purposes) or renewing our vows in a ceremony we were both present at and doing the CR-1 visa.

For us, we chose the CR-1 visa because I would then be able to work straight away after entering the US. Also, like Ryan H said, the process seemed much more straight forward. In hindsight, we probably would have gone the K-1 route, just so we wouldn't have to deal with NVC.

Did you experience issues dealing with NVC?

[yuna628 9,528]

I'm sorry if I'm asking something blindingly obvious, but I've seen many people mention now that they didn't want to live separately. Is there a requirement when applying for the spouse visa to live separately, even if you had been living together previously?

Let's say you married your spouse and your spouse lives in the UK and you live in the US. Your UK spouse must stay in their home country while you file for a spousal visa. That means living apart until the process is complete.

[kareelina 42]

The spouse visa takes loner time but costs less money than K-1 visa , when you apply for a spouse visa regardless the time it takes, your spouse grants the green card upon arrival ( valid for 10 years) and social security and able to get a job immediately and will get the US citizenship after 3 years , but with the K-1 yes it takes shorter time , but costs more money , because the spouse will not grants PGR , and he/she has to go back home for medical .

[Shauneg 762]

The spouse visa takes loner time but costs less money than K-1 visa , when you apply for a spouse visa regardless the time it takes, your spouse grants the green card upon arrival ( valid for 10 years) and social security and able to get a job immediately and will get the US citizenship after 3 years , but with the K-1 yes it takes shorter time , but costs more money , because the spouse will not grants PGR , and he/she has to go back home for medical .

Only 10 years if they've already been married two years, otherwise it's a cr green card (2 years).;

[Michael and Ganna 103]

We are going the CR-1 route, mainly it keeps us together. In Ukraine for a USC, it is 90 days in, 90 out. During the 90 out she visits the US, but only three weeks at a time because of her job.

The taxi bill is getting expensive if you know what I mean

Also getting married in Ukraine lets me file for TRP which lets me stay. I will have TRP in two weeks and can stay while the CR-1 takes it's course

[PaddyGirl13 75]

We wanted to get married in a neutral venue, so neither family got upset, it was just him and I and we honeymooned in the Scottish Highlands.

I also want to be able to work as soon as possible, we have 3 kids between us so a double income is needed.

Even though the process is longer it's cheaper and it's fairly easy for us to visit while waiting.

Edited August 11, 2015 by PaddyGirl13

[Adil & Jeanne 296]

some countries like Morocco just do not approve very many K1 visas / everyone ends up going back and getting married

CR 1 allows person a green card faster and in the end fees to immigration are cheaper

[LionessDeon 2,060]

I'm sorry if I'm asking something blindingly obvious, but I've seen many people mention now that they didn't want to live separately. Is there a requirement when applying for the spouse visa to live separately, even if you had been living together previously?

There is no requirement to live separately from your spouse or fiance(e) during the visa process. However, I believe the majority of us here are unable to live in our foreign spouses country otherwise why would we need a visa?

[Unidentified 2,930]

K1 visa meant we got to spend more time with each other. If we had gone with the spousal visa I would have been stuck in Sweden approximately a year and Seve wouldn't have been able to visit much due to his job and very limited days off. As I didn't really have a job during our K1 process I was pretty much doing 90 days US, 90 days Sweden.

[Nich-Nick 3,353]

A mirror-image thread has already been moved from the K-1 Process forum to General Immigration Discussion, so this one probably belongs there, too, for consistency. Moving thread from CR-1 forum.

The merge confuses. Before the OP asked CR1s why did you go this way...spouse visa. And separately he asked K1s why did you pick your way...fiance visa. Now the title seems to only address K1s. The one meant for the CR1 audience got swallowed up.

[NikLR 13,220]

The merge confuses. Before the OP asked CR1s why did you go this way...spouse visa. And separately he asked K1s why did you pick your way...fiance visa. Now the title seems to only address K1s. The one meant for the CR1 audience got swallowed up.

Agreed. Title needs to be fixed or unmerged.

[Unidentified 2,930]

I agree. I didn't know about the other thread and I got a bit confused reading through the thread and seeing people posting why they decided to file for spousal visa. Please change the tile or have it unmerged.

[Pennycat 880]

I'm sorry if I'm asking something blindingly obvious, but I've seen many people mention now that they didn't want to live separately. Is there a requirement when applying for the spouse visa to live separately, even if you had been living together previously?

I think that most people are answering this as if the couple is currently living in two different countries, which seems to be the most common situation here. If you are currently residing apart, and deciding which visa to apply for, the processing time for the visa can be a major, if not THE major factor.

If you're living abroad together, I think it is much less of a big deal. Particularly if you can choose to move to the US whenever you want to (you don't need to relocate by a certain date or anything). In that case, unless you *really really* want to have your legal marriage in the US for whatever reason, there is little use for the fiance visa, and the best course of action is to marry abroad and apply for CR1.

(Also note, there are many countries that do not recognize gay marriage and so for gay couples, the fiance visa is the only option).