confused......please help

[Sam_Zel 1]

We set the wedding date for late march , what now????????????

i get soo confused, k3 visa , cr1 visa?

We are marrying in the philippines at her moms insistance so k1 visa is not an option , that much i do understand , also my partents love my fiancee very much and have agreed to sponsor her , so where do I start? what do I do ?

Please any help would be greatful

I have allowed approximatly 3 months to be in the philippines so I can get throught the process over there and all the interviews but im at a loss for where to start

[TeapotGirl 66]

see this link below...

Marriage Based Immigration Choices

[jkelly07 120]

if you get married then you need the form 1-130 cr-1 along with all your documents,you realy need to read the guides on top of this page. the 1-130 time to approval 8 to 10 months,the k=1 visa is for fiance.e not married, you file the 1-129f after the approval she comes to the u.s must get married in 90 days and then needs to file aos 1-485and 1-765-1-131pay the fees do the medical. the cr-1 is much cheaper, but you aer not togather until shes approved,do some research.read the guides,

[dirtsquirter 7]

3 months isn't going to be enough time. After you get married in the Philippines, then you can file the petition for your wife's immigrant visa. I used a service that specializes in this, and no matter what ANYBODY says, it saved me many many many months of bullshit. Sure you can do it yourself - do you want to wait 4, 5 or 6 months for your petition to be approved? Mine was approved in 30 days. It's just the beginning, but it sure helps bring the end that much faster! Good Luck

[DouglasFiel 53]

3 months isn't going to be enough time. After you get married in the Philippines, then you can file the petition for your wife's immigrant visa. I used a service that specializes in this, and no matter what ANYBODY says, it saved me many many many months of bullshit. Sure you can do it yourself - do you want to wait 4, 5 or 6 months for your petition to be approved? Mine was approved in 30 days. It's just the beginning, but it sure helps bring the end that much faster! Good Luck

I am sure you will get several arguments on the use of a service... I submitted the I130 around 4/7/09 and she interviewed on 8/13/09... No fuss no muss no RFEs and

ours is not a particularly straight forward petition. So,,, YMMV. I preferred to keep the extra money in my pocket.

Regards,

[Sam_Zel 1]

im still confused , i DO KNOW k1 visa is not an option

what is RFE?

so 3 months is not long enough for me to be there? i guess i will have to make a return trip but i cant stay any long than 3 months this time

[dirtsquirter 7]

I am sure you will get several arguments on the use of a service... I submitted the I130 around 4/7/09 and she interviewed on 8/13/09... No fuss no muss no RFEs and

ours is not a particularly straight forward petition. So,,, YMMV. I preferred to keep the extra money in my pocket.

Regards,

YMMV? I don't know what that means, nor do I WANT to know what that means! Arguing over something like saving time to be with your loved one is ludicrous to say the very least. You say you did it all yourself in 4 months time - I'm impressed. I did not want to take the chance on waiting, waiting, waiting like most do here on VJ. I am a perfectionist, with great attention to detail, and even I would not have been able to get those papers perfect for USCIS the first time. SOMETHING would have been slightly off, and that's what slows things down. So the 225 bucks is the best money I have ever spent. If the OP wants to do it himself, more power to him. I for one would rather spend the very short money for the professional service - than sit in front of my computer for months on end wishing for word on my petition, and calling endlessly every day about the status. Maybe you should start a service for the folks here who need help - seems you wouldn't be lacking for customers. To the OP: an RFE is a Request for Evidence, and when that happens it just means you need to submit whatever additional evidence they request. It just slows down your case, until the evidence is received by the requesting agency and they review your case again. You also don't need to be in your wife's country, it can all be done from the US.

[ceadsearc 516]

A CR-1 is generally a better option as the k-3 is effectively dead. The CR-1 is cheaper, processing time is similar, and your wife will enter as a LPR instead of needing to adjust upon arrival.

3 months is plenty of time to get married and file the paperwork but it's not enough time for her to get her visa. Once you file you are looking at 6-9 months before she can enter the US regardless of what visa you file for.

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

YMMV? I don't know what that means, nor do I WANT to know what that means! Arguing over something like saving time to be with your loved one is ludicrous to say the very least. You say you did it all yourself in 4 months time - I'm impressed. I did not want to take the chance on waiting, waiting, waiting like most do here on VJ. I am a perfectionist, with great attention to detail, and even I would not have been able to get those papers perfect for USCIS the first time. SOMETHING would have been slightly off, and that's what slows things down. So the 225 bucks is the best money I have ever spent. If the OP wants to do it himself, more power to him. I for one would rather spend the very short money for the professional service - than sit in front of my computer for months on end wishing for word on my petition, and calling endlessly every day about the status. Maybe you should start a service for the folks here who need help - seems you wouldn't be lacking for customers. To the OP: an RFE is a Request for Evidence, and when that happens it just means you need to submit whatever additional evidence they request. It just slows down your case, until the evidence is received by the requesting agency and they review your case again. You also don't need to be in your wife's country, it can all be done from the US.

YMMV = Your Mileage May Vary. It just means that general advice may not apply to everyone. It's not derogatory in any way.

You're suggesting that using a visa service is practically guaranteed to save time. Douglas was telling you that this isn't true, and I'm agreeing with him. A visa service CANNOT do anything to make USCIS process a visa petition any faster. Your petition is going to sit in a box waiting for an adjudicator to get to it no matter who prepares and submits it. There isn't an "express lane" for petitions prepared by professional visa services or immigration attorneys.

No doubt that people who go the "do-it-yourself" route often make serious mistakes that end up costing them time. However, the same is true of visa services and immigration lawyers. There are enough horror stories from people who've used those professional services here in VJ to justify that statement.

I did everything myself. My petition was approved without any RFE's or unusual delays. My wife's visa was approved at the consulate after only four questions, and the US consulate in her country is one of the toughest in the world. There are a LOT of people who have used professional visa services or immigration attorneys who have fared much worse at that consulate.

[dirtsquirter 7]

YMMV = Your Mileage May Vary. It just means that general advice may not apply to everyone. It's not derogatory in any way.

You're suggesting that using a visa service is practically guaranteed to save time. Douglas was telling you that this isn't true, and I'm agreeing with him. A visa service CANNOT do anything to make USCIS process a visa petition any faster. Your petition is going to sit in a box waiting for an adjudicator to get to it no matter who prepares and submits it. There isn't an "express lane" for petitions prepared by professional visa services or immigration attorneys.

No doubt that people who go the "do-it-yourself" route often make serious mistakes that end up costing them time. However, the same is true of visa services and immigration lawyers. There are enough horror stories from people who've used those professional services here in VJ to justify that statement.

I did everything myself. My petition was approved without any RFE's or unusual delays. My wife's visa was approved at the consulate after only four questions, and the US consulate in her country is one of the toughest in the world. There are a LOT of people who have used professional visa services or immigration attorneys who have fared much worse at that consulate.

I never said a visa service is guaranteed to save time. I said I would never have done it perfect the first time, so using the service I used saved me time. Besides, not all services are equal for sure, I just happened to find a company that I felt confident with and the results speak for themselves. My point is if you find a good service, one that keeps up to date on the process changes that are always happening, then you just may save a lot of time. " An Adjudicators job performance is based on several factors. 1) how many files (petitions) you process everyday" - this is information I got right here on this forum, from a former adjudicator. After reading that USCIS, being just like any other business, and wanting their employees to perform the best and fastest that they can, would rate job performance on the number of petitions processed - I had to believe it. I found a service that specializes in filling up paperwork for visa's from Philippines, then after researching the hell out of them, I hired them. They only send the package when it's perfect, and using all their experience as a tool, I agreed to everything they asked for. It took an extra week or so to send them everything they asked for, but they insisted and I am glad they did. Now you can sit there and tell me that when perfect packages arrive into USCIS adjudicator's hands from this certain service that specializes in doing this, with experience behind them, and most likely a track record with the people who work at these USCIS offices, (and yes, they are people just like you and me - employees who get graded on their job performance on the number of petitions processed in a day) when they scan the day's work and see the return address on the package being from the same visa service that has helped them in the past boost their number of petitions processed in a single day because their isn't a single error, they just toss it aside and say I will open up this one later - let's do the hardest one's first. You can believe whatever you want, if it wasn't for my big hurry to get the paperwork to NVC, I would have first sent it to the service I hired and they would have caught both RFE's before they happened to me. I overlooked a couple things, and that cost me time. I could have been done and approved in 4 months time. I am not complaining, I am just stating facts. Done right, and if I had just sent everything to the service I used instead of trying to save a few days mailing time, I really would have flew through this process. I hope this helps someone, I am no expert by any means, but waiting around for most of a year or more really sucks.

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

I never said a visa service is guaranteed to save time. I said I would never have done it perfect the first time, so using the service I used saved me time. Besides, not all services are equal for sure, I just happened to find a company that I felt confident with and the results speak for themselves. My point is if you find a good service, one that keeps up to date on the process changes that are always happening, then you just may save a lot of time. " An Adjudicators job performance is based on several factors. 1) how many files (petitions) you process everyday" - this is information I got right here on this forum, from a former adjudicator. After reading that USCIS, being just like any other business, and wanting their employees to perform the best and fastest that they can, would rate job performance on the number of petitions processed - I had to believe it. I found a service that specializes in filling up paperwork for visa's from Philippines, then after researching the hell out of them, I hired them. They only send the package when it's perfect, and using all their experience as a tool, I agreed to everything they asked for. It took an extra week or so to send them everything they asked for, but they insisted and I am glad they did. Now you can sit there and tell me that when perfect packages arrive into USCIS adjudicator's hands from this certain service that specializes in doing this, with experience behind them, and most likely a track record with the people who work at these USCIS offices, (and yes, they are people just like you and me - employees who get graded on their job performance on the number of petitions processed in a day) when they scan the day's work and see the return address on the package being from the same visa service that has helped them in the past boost their number of petitions processed in a single day because their isn't a single error, they just toss it aside and say I will open up this one later - let's do the hardest one's first. You can believe whatever you want, if it wasn't for my big hurry to get the paperwork to NVC, I would have first sent it to the service I hired and they would have caught both RFE's before they happened to me. I overlooked a couple things, and that cost me time. I could have been done and approved in 4 months time. I am not complaining, I am just stating facts. Done right, and if I had just sent everything to the service I used instead of trying to save a few days mailing time, I really would have flew through this process. I hope this helps someone, I am no expert by any means, but waiting around for most of a year or more really sucks.

And I'm saying that someone who is of average intelligence, and who is willing to commit some time to learning and understanding the process and it's requirements, has just as much chance of having their petition sail through USCIS as anyone who uses a professional service. Most people have the time to learn this stuff because most people start thinking about the immigration process months or years before they're actually ready to submit a petition, just as most people think about marriage long before they actually get married.

For anyone who doesn't have the time or the patience to learn the process I would definitely recommend they get some help. A visa service or immigration lawyer is bound to do better than they would do on their own. For anyone who is taking the time to develop their relationship, and can spare some time to learn about the immigration process, they can probably do just as well on their own.

[ceadsearc 516]

For anyone who doesn't have the time or the patience to learn the process I would definitely recommend they get some help. A visa service or immigration lawyer is bound to do better than they would do on their own. For anyone who is taking the time to develop their relationship, and can spare some time to learn about the immigration process, they can probably do just as well on their own.

Well said. I wish we would have found VJ (or just done more research) before we hired and filed with a lawyer, as I'd be about a thousand bucks richer right now and probably would have had less of a headache!

[dirtsquirter 7]

And I'm saying that someone who is of average intelligence, and who is willing to commit some time to learning and understanding the process and it's requirements, has just as much chance of having their petition sail through USCIS as anyone who uses a professional service. Most people have the time to learn this stuff because most people start thinking about the immigration process months or years before they're actually ready to submit a petition, just as most people think about marriage long before they actually get married.

For anyone who doesn't have the time or the patience to learn the process I would definitely recommend they get some help. A visa service or immigration lawyer is bound to do better than they would do on their own. For anyone who is taking the time to develop their relationship, and can spare some time to learn about the immigration process, they can probably do just as well on their own.

Your the resident expert, so get on with having the last word - as for me, I wouldn't have changed a thing I did - and you telling me it didn't help one bit makes me sure of one thing, you probably don't know what your talking about, and are so full of yourself that you just might explode if your not careful. Happy New Year

[ceadsearc 516]

Your the resident expert, so get on with having the last word - as for me, I wouldn't have changed a thing I did - and you telling me it didn't help one bit makes me sure of one thing, you probably don't know what your talking about, and are so full of yourself that you just might explode if your not careful. Happy New Year

Edited December 27, 2011 by ceadsearc

[jojolicious 38]

Using an attorney or not using an attorney is a personal preference. There is no reason to argue about it.