Where do I begin?

[Lucy_Nani 0]

Since the CR-1 visa takes about 10 months the idea is to get married as soon as possible to start the process and then have a wedding in about 6-7 months. I live in Peru, illegally but I will have to leave and come back with a tourist visa (my tourist visa is expired) in order to get married here. Peruvian government says I need a birth certificate and a poof of being single certificate. Which I have no idea how to even get those while living abroad. I know that the process can be expedited but I am not sure how that works for USC living outside the US. Anyway, aside from the two things above, once we do get the paperwork together and since a marriage license or whatever it is called, then what? I have no idea what steps to take. Thanks!

[Lucy_Nani 0]

I can't even find information on the CR-1 visa on the embassy website. Does it still exist??

[gstrength 20]

I can't even find information on the CR-1 visa on the embassy website. Does it still exist??

hi there, you can start by reading the guides in this website, then follow this link:

http://lima.usembassy.gov/iv/apply.html

[yachachiq12 43]

Since the CR-1 visa takes about 10 months the idea is to get married as soon as possible to start the process and then have a wedding in about 6-7 months. I live in Peru, illegally but I will have to leave and come back with a tourist visa (my tourist visa is expired) in order to get married here. Peruvian government says I need a birth certificate and a poof of being single certificate. Which I have no idea how to even get those while living abroad. I know that the process can be expedited but I am not sure how that works for USC living outside the US. Anyway, aside from the two things above, once we do get the paperwork together and since a marriage license or whatever it is called, then what? I have no idea what steps to take. Thanks!

This is the guide we used so that we could get married in Peru in 2009: http://www.streetsoflima.com/2009/02/how-to-get-married-in-peru.html

To get the birth certificate, I had my mom mail it to me from the US. For the certificate of singlehood, I did that at the US Embassy in Lima.

We had a civil wedding first and then took our time to have a later religious wedding with the whole family and the bells and whistles.

If you're residing in Peru (regardless of visa type in the case of Lima), you should be able to file CR-1 via DCF at the Consulate in Lima.

As soon as you're civilly married, you can file the I-130 at the consulate in Lima.

Edited October 19, 2012 by yachachiq12

[yachachiq12 43]

I can't even find information on the CR-1 visa on the embassy website. Does it still exist??

Also, if you file via DCF, the whole visa process should only take 3 months or so, without any hiccups.