K1 versus K3

[JAGandMSB 0]

My fiance and I are trying to decide the best way from him to come to the USA. Is it better for him to come over on a K1 visa and us get married in the USA or is it better for us to get married in the UK and bring him over here on a K3 visa?

Any ideas would be appreciated.

Thank you.

[pushbrk 13,073]

My fiance and I are trying to decide the best way from him to come to the USA. Is it better for him to come over on a K1 visa and us get married in the USA or is it better for us to get married in the UK and bring him over here on a K3 visa?

Any ideas would be appreciated.

Thank you.

K3 is officially dead. The viable Spouse visa is the CR1. Both are excellent choices. Pick the one that matches your life plan.

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

The question is generally one of time vs money. The K1 is faster than the CR1, but upon arrival in the US your fiance would be unable to work until adjustment of status (AOS) is completed. AOS is well over $1000 and generally takes about 3 months to complete. With a CR1, the waiting time to get the visa to the US is longer, but upon entry your husband would have the status of a permanent resident and all the benefits that accrues, like being able to work, get a driver's licence easily, etc etc. The CR1 is cheaper overall because you do not have to pay for AOS.

One word of advice: if you do decide to get married and go for a CR1, you will have to jump through hoops to get married in the UK because you will be required to obtain a fiancee visa to marry. This is the case even if you have no intention to remain in the UK! It is perfectly possible for the two of you to get married in the US as long as your husband returns to the UK after the wedding. Another possibility would be to get married in a third country with no requirement for fiancee visas. Of course if you are dead set on getting married in the UK it can be done -- just get ready to wave bye-bye to £585.

Moving to General Immigration forum from K3 as the OP has not yet decided which visa to file for.

[VanessaTony 3,567]

The question is generally one of time vs money. The K1 is faster than the CR1, but upon arrival in the US your fiance would be unable to work until adjustment of status (AOS) is completed. AOS is well over $1000 and generally takes about 3 months to complete. With a CR1, the waiting time to get the visa to the US is longer, but upon entry your husband would have the status of a permanent resident and all the benefits that accrues, like being able to work, get a driver's licence easily, etc etc. The CR1 is cheaper overall because you do not have to pay for AOS.

One word of advice: if you do decide to get married and go for a CR1, you will have to jump through hoops to get married in the UK because you will be required to obtain a fiancee visa to marry. This is the case even if you have no intention to remain in the UK! It is perfectly possible for the two of you to get married in the US as long as your husband returns to the UK after the wedding. Another possibility would be to get married in a third country with no requirement for fiancee visas. Of course if you are dead set on getting married in the UK it can be done -- just get ready to wave bye-bye to £585.

Moving to General Immigration forum from K3 as the OP has not yet decided which visa to file for.

AOS costs $1010. Not exactly "well over $1000". but otherwise I agree.

Had I known more about CR1 i would have gone that route rather than the way we went.. however we didn't start reading about visas till after I visited my then boyfriend so I didn't get married while I was there which meant another flight for either of us to get married so with the price of flights it ended up being cheaper to go the K1 way in the long run.

one of the worst parts of the K1 is the waiting for AOS and being unable to work while sitting around. If you get married the week you arrive and file for AOS immediatly, you COULD be working in 2 months (if you file EAD as well) but typically it's usually 3 months processing time. Also in that time you cannot travel home unless you have an AP documents. If you're a CR-1, you can come and go as you please (as long as you remain in the US long enough to maintain status).

In short:

- While K1 is more expensive, if you're not already married then K1 will be cheaper than CR1 as flights aren't exactly cheap (unless you get a good flight deal)

- CR1 means immediate greencard on entry and ability to get a job. K1 means waiting around 3 months.. unable to work and it's pretty damn boring

- K1 gives you more time to plan a wedding and give your family and his a chance to attend. CR1 means a quickie wedding otherwise your visa will be waiting longer

In either case you can visit your loved one as long as in either case you show ties to your home country.

Hope that makes sense.

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

Sorry for not being EXACTLY correct on that $1010.

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

K1 has one distinct advantage over CR1, though it doesn't affect most people - a K1 beneficiary's unmarried children who are 18 (or over) but under 21 ARE eligible for derivative K2 visas. A CR1 beneficiary's children of the same age are NOT eligible as derivatives unless the marriage took place before they were 18 years old.

[HeatDeath 430]

Another advantage of the K1, that matters to some people, is that you get to only have one, real wedding (no having to worry about celebrating anniversaries for both your legal wedding and a later "real" ceremony, and deciding when were you "really" [as opposed to legally] married) and more importantly, NO period of separation after the wedding.

Your mileage may vary, but these are definitely points that should be discussed with your significant other before any serious decision is made.

Edited February 14, 2010 by HeatDeath

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

Sorry for not being EXACTLY correct on that $1010.

Considering the inability to work while waiting for EAD I'd put that number "well over" $1010 myself.

The visa to get married the UK is pretty straightforward and quick.

[*Snowdrop* 604]

We did the CR1 visa - mostly as I wanted to have my wedding in the UK rather than the US. My other concern was with the K1 you cannot leave the US until you get married and apply for and receive a document which allows you to leave the country. (Of course you can leave without this but you abandon the process and have to start again) It can only take three months to do this but I didn't want to be in a situation where I couldn't fly back if I needed to without abandoning the process.

The hard part with the CR1 was being apart after the wedding until the visa came through. We got stuck in a backlog in the US immigration system and our visa took 14 months to be processed - it's not normally that long. Both before and after us it's taking 6-8 months from the UK. But you have to be prepared for the possibility of a wait. However I did visit him throughout the process - once for nearly three months so that helped.

The bonus of the CR1 is that you have the green card instantly - can come and go back home as you please and can work immediately without any further wait. If your fiance is the type of guy who would feel bad sitting around for three months without being able to contribute to the household you may want to consider the CR1 visa.

As for getting married in the UK - you do have to apply for a special visa from the UK government for it but it was SO quick and simple and painless compared to the US process (in my opinion) that I wouldn't worry about that too much. It costs about $100.

[StillThePrettiest 3]

Considering the inability to work while waiting for EAD I'd put that number "well over" $1010 myself.

I completely agree... even a few months without work makes it an expensive option; any delays and you're looking at half a year or more without a salary; I'd say that's 'well over' $1000 as well... and I don't even have a high-paying job

[Tapman 0]

I'd like confirmation from more experienced people, but I believe another advantage of a CR1 over a K1 is the ability of the USC to immediately file their taxes jointly while waiting for the visa. The USC would need to include their overseas spouse's income in their return but in a lot of cases the USC earns substantially more, so this would be a tax savings. In my case, I save $5k while waiting for her CR1.