Fiance or Spouse Visa

[diashel 0]

I'm looking for some general information and the immigration websites are making my head spin!

I'm a US citizen living in New Zealand for the past two years. I met my fiance here and we plan to get married in the Cook Island's in November. Lately, due to issues with getting my professional license in this country, I have been thinking about going back to the states.

My questions about k-1 are:

If I decided to get married in the states for this reason (so have my reception in Rarotonga but legally get married in the states) is it even possible to have this visa by the end of November?

All the information seems to talk about if the US citizen is in the US and having a long distance relationship. Can I lodge the application if I am also overseas?

My question about the spouse visa is:

I saw something saying that the spouse visa may take 18months to 2 years. Is this accurate?

Are there any differences in the difficulty of this applications or costs involved? What would you do in my situation?

After getting this kind of residence does one have to remain in the country a set amount of time to keep it?

Thanks in advance for any help.

[canadian_wife 1,791]

Take a look at the guides under the "what visa do I need". The comparason guide will help you

It took us 10 months, so approx. 8- 12 is about a fair estimate.

So possibly by November, but that is cutting it close

Good luck

[LeftCoastLady 441]

Be sure to read the Compare Guide to see the differences between the K-1 and the IR-1/CR-1: http://www.visajourney.com/content/compare