Spouse Visa

[Martha&Alex 5]

Hi Everyone,,,

I'm a USC doing a K-1 Visa for my fiancee but my friend is also doing papers but for her husband.

This is concerning her, she is not a USC and was told that if she starts the process without

being a USC and then puts the petition to become one it would speed the IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process.

Shes a Permanent resident, i believe this is wrong information since USCIS and NVC have enough cases to

make an exception on one individual and start an investigating to confirm whether she started the citizen process or not.

can being a permanent resident be a hold back on her spouse visa since shes not a USC?

would you recommend doing the citizenship and then doing his papers or just begin the visa process

and then become a USC?

What would be the fastest and best way to do this?

Thank You. && Hope someone can help.

[Inky 1,111]

Being a LPR does put a slow on the case because she is not a USC.

If she puts the papers in and then upgrades the petition when she becomes a USC they then will start working faster on the case. This is the same for all LPR who obtain citizenship and have a petition for a spouse.

She can do whatever she wants - apply now then upgrade the status on the petition later Or apply later when she is a USC.

There is no information here on when she will apply and take an oath to be a US Citizen so cant really give estimates on " which is faster "

But Obviously if she waits until shes a USC - she will have lost all that time waiting when she could have put the petition in.

[VanessaTony 3,567]

my friend is also doing papers but for her husband.

This is concerning her, she is not a USC and was told that if she starts the process without being a USC and then puts the petition to become one it would speed the IR-1/CR-1 Spouse Visa Process.

Shes a Permanent resident, i believe this is wrong information since USCIS and NVC have enough cases to make an exception on one individual and start an investigating to confirm whether she started the citizen process or not.

1. can being a permanent resident be a hold back on her spouse visa since shes not a USC?

2. would you recommend doing the citizenship and then doing his papers or just begin the visa process and then become a USC?

3. What would be the fastest and best way to do this?

1. Yes it can. A USC would file for a CR-1/IR-1 visa for their spouse, but a permanent resident files for a different visa, called a F2A. Unlike the CR-1/IR-1 visa her case won't start being processed until it reaches her "priority date". Her NOA1 would have her priority date on it. The wait time for those kinds of visas can be tracked via the visa bulletin: http://travel.state.gov/visa/bulletin/bulletin_1360.html They are currently processing ones from 22 April 2009. The visa bulletin is updated every month. So for instance in December they were processing 22 March 2009. So assuming it is updated per month then she could expect his petition to start being processed in September 2014... that's START being processed. Wait time for the actual petition and visa is around 12 months so he could be here in the US in Sept 2015, maybe a little earlier, maybe a little later.

2. USC takes several months. By the time she's approved the fee for the visa could have been increased so I would start the process now. Once she obtains USC she can upgrade the petition to a CR-1/IR-1 (spouse of a USC). There is no fee to do this.