K1 or K3/CR1

[♥Stiggy♥ 0]

Which do you think is faster thru the Vermont Service Center?

K1 or K3/CR1?

Ive been trying to look at the timelines, and what Im gathering, is that the K1 is usually around 6 months from sending in the petition to visa at hand (montreal)? And the K3/CR1 takes about 10 months for that?

[Flames9_RN 358]

K3 and cr-1 seem to run around the same time. I did both and my CR-1 was a lot faster, but that was back in 2004. K3 should be faster, but not always the case. There is no rhyme or reason a lot of time with immigration,its a ####### shoot. There are some Cdn k1's that take a year as well.

[YuAndDan 153]

K-1 tends to be faster.

If considering K-3 or CR-1 you need to factor in the fact that you need to marry first before being able to file the I-130 petition.

If considering K-3 think carefully about it. CR-1 and K-3 tend to take about the same time, K-3 may save you about a month, however the K-3 has the added pain of adjustment of status, and it NOT a work authorized visa, so also has the added period of limbo waiting for EAD to be able to do things like take a job, get SSN, etc...

For the most part CR-1 tends to take a bit longer than K-3 to get if you prepare for NVC when they request I-864 fee, and Visa fee, as well as documents requested by NVC. In many cases the CR-1 petition reaches the consulate just before K-3 interview, which causes K-3 to get dropped and the interview becomes a CR-1 visa interview.

K-3:

I-130: $355

I-129F: NONE

Consulate: $131

AOS: $1010

($1496)

CR-1

I-130: $355

NVC I-864: $70

NVC Visa fee: $400 ($355+$45)

($825)

I see many posts from K-3 holders stating, "Wow this sucks, I am stuck at home because I don't have EAD, DL, etc, or I am having hard time getting added to bank accounts because of NO SSN." K-3 has a 90 day or longer period of limbo while waiting for EAD or Green-card.

K-3 was developed at a time when CR-1 was taking much longer that today, NVC has greatly streamlined the CR-1 process to the point where K-3 becomes irrelevant.

[SapphireDreams 71]

The K1 these days takes anywhere from 6-12 months, so it's a bit faster, but not necessarily. We applied in June and I anticipate that we'll get an interview in March, maybe even April. So we're in the 10 month range. The summer and Christmas holidays seemed to have slowed us down a lot.

For us it boiled down to not wanting to be apart while married. So we went with the K1.... we would've done the K1 even if it was longer.