IN LOVE - WHERE TO START, WHAT VISA? ahhhh

[Nicole_1228 5]

I am from Canada, my boyfriend is from California .. been dating for a year, been to visit countless times, finally decided that for us to be together we're going to get married and are excited to start this process. Was looking into a K-1, then realized if your from Canada you can just get married and then file for an I-130... which way would be best to go about this? where to start? We're both 22 and hoping that age is not a factor within this process... he does not meet the financial requirements but we do have a friend who's willing to sponsor me....been reading about the I-130 briefly and about interviews in Montreal? I am from Vancouver, whats that all about? Does everyone have to go to Montreal? lol any insight is much appreciated!!

SO MANY QUESTIONS! lol, i have a feeling im going to have a million through out this process, luckily through a lot of reading i have gained some hope that this can work out!

[Shawn and Strata 3]

I am from Canada, my boyfriend is from California .. been dating for a year, been to visit countless times, finally decided that for us to be together we're going to get married and are excited to start this process. Was looking into a K-1, then realized if your from Canada you can just get married and then file for an I-130... which way would be best to go about this? where to start? We're both 22 and hoping that age is not a factor within this process... he does not meet the financial requirements but we do have a friend who's willing to sponsor me....been reading about the I-130 briefly and about interviews in Montreal? I am from Vancouver, whats that all about? Does everyone have to go to Montreal? lol any insight is much appreciated!!

SO MANY QUESTIONS! lol, i have a feeling im going to have a million through out this process, luckily through a lot of reading i have gained some hope that this can work out!

A couple things to consider, that are good to know:

1. if you go with an I-130, you have to go to the Montreal consulate. If you go with a K-1 you can simply go to the Vancouver consulate.

2. I-130 allows you to work as soon as you get there.

3. K-1 might be slightly faster, in your situation.

Your age being 22 shouldn't be a factor at all, as long as one of you isn't 52

Other than that, do a whole bunch of searching.

[Flames9_RN 358]

Comapres the Visas---http://www.visajourney.com/content/compare

[codygrace 14]

Did you really want to get married right away in order to file for the I-130? I'm happy my fiance and I ended up going with I-129f route. We were able to file right away and know we wouldn't have to get married immediately. I'm 23, so I didn't want to rush right into it. It's given our parents time to digest it, too! It was hard to convince my parents that this was right for me, not that it matters in the end, but I personally wanted their blessing. I also didn't want to be separate from him while we were first married. If you're ready to get married though, the I-130 has the advantage of being able to travel freely without having to apply for the advance parole paperwork. Good luck! I still have tonnes of questions, but people here are amazing Sorry, I don't know much about the differences, but other more experienced members will definitely shed good light! Now I'm getting jittery about my upcoming interview again! Ahh! Good luck again!

Edited October 3, 2012 by codygrace

[Udella&Wiz 325]

Something to consider - if you file for the K1 your interview will be in Vancouver, however if you're married your interview will be in Montreal because they are the only consulate which does Marriage based VISAs

Something to consider, why pay more money and have to fly to Montreal for your interview...plus all the points made above.

[NikLR 13,220]

Even though it costs almost twice as much, and the wait time to work, I wish we had filed a K1 visa vs the CR1. I think by the time you factor in plane tickets, etc, it possibly works out the same cost wise. But the location of my wedding, who was the officiant along with other things made us choose our route. Use the comparison chart, and do a pros and cons for you guys as a couple. All the best to you!!

[Nicole_1228 5]

Thank you for all the insight! Got lots of research to do

With the I-130 do you also need to file a k3 as well? And do you need to apply for an EAD for this route or is that while your waiting for the I130 to be approved if you want to work?

Processing times is the I130/k3 route faster?

Love hearing people's personal experiences!

Thank you for all the insight! Got lots of research to do

With the I-130 do you also need to file a k3 as well? And do you need to apply for an EAD for this route or is that while your waiting for the I130 to be approved if you want to work?

Processing times is the I130/k3 route faster?

Love hearing people's personal experiences!

[VeeNDee 44]

Definitely use the comparison chart linked by Flames9_Rn - it was very helpful to us in deciding.

We choose the K1 visa route for various reasons. I live near Vancouver so I could interview there for the fiance visa instead of fly to Montreal for the married visa. We wanted to get started soon instead of wait to file the visa and we would've had to wait to file the marriage visa since we had to have an engagement period for our families and our churches. We also didn't like the idea of having to live separately while first married and preferred to get that over with before the marriage. At the time (and possibly still now), the projected timeline for filing K1 visa was faster than the marriage visa and the shorter the whole process took for us, the better.

The drawbacks are that it will cost us more money in the long run for forms (although we save ourselves a trip to Montreal), and once I do enter we have to jump through more paperwork hoops to remain legal - aka file for AOS/EAD/AP whereas on the marriage visa I would've been able to work and travel out of country right away after moving to the USA and with this fiance option that will take more time.

[Flames9_RN 358]

Everyone situation is different! If one has lots of time on their side Like I did as I could not be released from the military right away, we went the cr-1 route

If one has to work right away--go the cr-1 route! If you have to leave the USA (including to Canada) Maybe better to go the cr-1 route

If you just want the faster route---normally its the k1 route. I say normally as every now and then a CR-1 gets extremely lucky and finishes around 6 months. if you don't need to work for 2-3 months, then go then go the k1 route! One can leave the USA with Advance parole (AP) and one can get it expedited in an emergency situation!!

Comparison chart explains it fairly well!!

[NikLR 13,220]

Don't even bother with the k3. It's pretty much obsolete past the uscis stage.

[Nicole_1228 5]

Just gunna have to write out our personal rose and cons by the sounds of it!! Thank you for all the Insight, love hearing personal stories!!!

[pocheros 101]

The K3 is basically a dead visa, you either go with the K1 (fiance) or the CR1/IR1 (spousal) visa.

All CR1s, regardless of where they live in Canada, must go through Montreal. Fiances living in eastern Canada go to Montreal and ones living in western Canada go to Vancouver.

The K1 is slightly faster than the CR1, especially if you go through Vancouver because Montreal gets the most interviews and therefore has the longest waiting time. Overall it seems to take about 7-12ish months, with 7 being a very fast K1 issuance and 12 months a slightly slower CR1 issuance.

HOWEVER: The difference between the spousal and fiance visa is that upon the receipt of the spousal visa you basically automatically can work and travel outside the US, because it's basically issued concurrently with the green card. However, with the K1 you must first enter the US, get married within 90 days of entering the US, and then adjust your status (AOS) to permanent resident. When you enter the US on a K1 you are not a permanent resident like a CR1 is, you are simply a legal alien residing in the US. AOS costs $1090 and you file it with USCIS and it takes about 3 months or so to receive your green card/EAD/AP, though sometimes it takes longer. (The CR1 basically costs the same; expect to drop around $2-3K on the whole immigration process.) You can file for an EAD and AP the same time you AOS; often they will issue a temporary EAD before the green card so you can get a headstart on employment. AP is advanced parole and allows you to exit and re-enter the US if you need to go to leave the country for some reason. Again the green card also allows you to exit and re-enter the US but you might get a temporary AP issued before the green card arrives.

Until you receive your green card or EAD/AP, however, as a K1 you cannot work in the US or exit and re-enter the country, because the K1 is a ONE TIME USE visa. Once you activate it you cannot re-use it. Since AOS takes about 3 months, as a K1 you can expect to spend at least the first 3 months in the US unable to work and unable to visit Canada. That's also if you get married and file for AOS right away.

I would endorse the K1 route because it's much faster and less of a headache to go through the Vancouver consulate, but consider if you're comfortable with being unable to work and unable to visit Canada for a few months once you immigrate to the US. This is a really uncomfortable scenario to consider, but do you have any loved ones who are ill in Canada? What if you must see them suddenly? And can your boyfriend financially support you until you are able to work?

Edited October 4, 2012 by pocheros