Out of Country - I-130 vs. I-129F

[drewcaro 0]

My fiance and I met in Buenos Aires last August. She is from Colombia on a student VISA and I am from the US on a tourist VISA (you can easily renew the 90-day VISA here by visiting Uruguay for a day).

We decided to get married and I moved to Buenos Aires to be with her. We have a wedding date set for December 19, 2009 in Colombia. But we've decided that we'd like to move to the United States after our wedding - in January 2010. We decided that it would be best to apply for the I-130 so she could travel in and out of the US with ease and the process would move faster for her to get citizenship and ultimately (quickly) apply for work there. We are going to Colombia next month - June - and plan to take care of all of the paperwork there and receive our marriage license. I am then planning a short trip to the US in July and plan to file all of the paperwork.

For my address, I plan on using my mother's address in San Diego and she'll send any documentation to me to sign, I'll send it to her and she'll send it in. I also have a local US number that forwards to me here. But I'm a bit concerned with all of this and I want to be legit.

Some questions:

1. Will I need to state that my address in Buenos Aires is where I am living (even though I'm on a tourist VISA)?

2. Can I use my mother's address as my address in the US instead?

3. When my fiance is given her interview date, does it have to be in Bogotá or can it be at the Colombian embassy in Buenos Aires?

4. Should I also apply for the I-129F? If so, what's the benefit?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Andrew & Carolina

[imaisha 0]

Hmm... a few concerns first. Are you going to get your marriage license in June, or actually get married? You cannot file the I-130 until you have the physical marriage certificate. A marriage license is simply proof that you are allowed to be married, not that you ARE married.

Second, is January 2010 a finite date for a move? I think it is unlikely that you will get the visa by then. You should plan on about a year for the whole process, maybe a bit less if you get lucky every step of the way.

You might consider getting married now and filing for DCF if you are a legal resident there. It would be much faster- you might make it by January in that case.

[imaisha 0]

Oops. I see now that you are there on a tourist visa, so you will not be eligible for DCF. Sorry.

[drewcaro 0]

Hmm... a few concerns first. Are you going to get your marriage license in June, or actually get married? You cannot file the I-130 until you have the physical marriage certificate. A marriage license is simply proof that you are allowed to be married, not that you ARE married.

Second, is January 2010 a finite date for a move? I think it is unlikely that you will get the visa by then. You should plan on about a year for the whole process, maybe a bit less if you get lucky every step of the way.

You might consider getting married now and filing for DCF if you are a legal resident there. It would be much faster- you might make it by January in that case.

Thanks imaisha. We will be getting married... I meant to say that we will have our marriage certificate at that time.

January 2010 is not a finite date - it's a hopeful date. But one thing I didn't mention is that we are not sure whether we will come back to Buenos Aires after our wedding ceremony or if we'll simply stay in Colombia until we get our VISA. How do we inform the USCIS where she is so that we can make sure she gets an interview at the correct consulate (either in BsAs or Bogota)?

Nope... can't get a DCF because I'm a tourist. Also, the US Embassy in Argentina (Buenos Aires) doesn't provide DCFs. Just an FYI

[imaisha 0]

I think that you'd just have to call USCIS to have the address changed but if it's at all possible I'd avoid doing that. Since you won't be filing until after you're married hopefully you'll have more concrete plans by the time you mail everything. Because USCIS is usually difficult to deal with, I'd say give them all the information first and don't try to change it later. You don't want to give them the opportunity to mess something up because they will take you up on it.

As for where the interview is, if you go the CR-1 route (I-130 only) it will be in the country she lives in. If you go the K-3 route (I-130 + I-129f) it will be the country where the marriage took place.

You may want to file the I-129f just because it might go a bit quicker. That's a big might though. If you follow all the shortcuts on here, the CR-1 and K-3 will take about the same amount of time (depending on how quickly your country schedules interviews- check the timelines above for an idea of that).

Overall the CR-1 is less expensive and you avoid the hassle of having to deal with USCIS again to file to adjust status after arrival. She'll also be able to work as soon as she arrives, rather than wait three months for her EAD.

In general I think most people these days go the CR-1 route but because you'd like to move pretty quickly, maybe you should go ahead and try the I-129f as well, follow both tracks and choose later on.