US/UK Couple - Beginning CR1 Journey

[Feiticera 0]

Hi there,

We are just looking to clear up a couple of minor questions we had when looking through the CR1 process.

Our situation:

We got married a couple of months ago and my wife (the US citizen) has moved to the UK under a student visa, living with me (British citizen). When she finishes her course we aim to move back to the US together

The questions:

-As I understand it, we do not qualify for DCF because she is in the UK on a student visa, therefore CR1 is the way to go?

-For the I-130 it asks for the petitioners address, should we use her US address, or the address we are currently at in the UK?

I think aside from that we are generally ok, thanks for your help.

Owen & Vanessa

[lost_at_sea 995]

I was under the impression that those on student visas DID now qualify for DCF (they used to explicitly say no students or tourists, but now they say just tourists on their website). You may want to email the USCIS at the London consulate to confirm before crossing off that path (see email address in the guide linked to in my signature).

If you email them and ask, please let us know what you hear back.

CR-1 is what you'll be following DCF or not - the difference is simply where you are able to submit your I-130 petition package to (DCF would be direct to London - therefore faster -, else it goes to the Chicago Lockbox).

You bio information says you're a K1 applicant at the moment - I assume this is in error.

Edited November 12, 2013 by lost_at_sea

[Feiticera 0]

We originally filed a I-129 for a K1, because we thought we were gonna have to wait to get me over there. But a position for her course came up here so we changed plans kinda last minute There were lots of factors involved but it meant we had a bit more control of our wedding. Ill update the info

Thanks for the response - I will email and report back when I have an answer.

[Feiticera 0]

Will post here as I don't think its worth a new thread:

We are ready to send off our I130 for the CR1. As my wife lives with me in the UK we can potentially send it to the consulate here in England or to the Chicago Lockbox. We were wondering if anyone has any feedback on that process? i.e is going directly to the London consulate going to be quicker/more reliable? It certainly is easier of course rather than posting internationally, but we only want to do it if it wont present any more problems.

Regards

Owen & Vanessa

[lost_at_sea 995]

Will post here as I don't think its worth a new thread:

We are ready to send off our I130 for the CR1. As my wife lives with me in the UK we can potentially send it to the consulate here in England or to the Chicago Lockbox. We were wondering if anyone has any feedback on that process? i.e is going directly to the London consulate going to be quicker/more reliable? It certainly is easier of course rather than posting internationally, but we only want to do it if it wont present any more problems.

Regards

Owen & Vanessa

If you qualify for DCF, I'd highly recommend it over the Chicago lockbox option. DCF normally takes 3-6 months whereas the other path can easily take a year.

Edited December 16, 2013 by lost_at_sea

[Feiticera 0]

I heard that we may well be applicable for DCF (she is on the UK on a student visa and I hear this is valid now). But we dont really need the faster processing - as she is here studying we dont need it to be ready until the end of next year when she finishes her course. Therefore perhaps we should just go with the regular Chicago lockbox option.

[lost_at_sea 995]

I heard that we may well be applicable for DCF (she is on the UK on a student visa and I hear this is valid now). But we dont really need the faster processing - as she is here studying we dont need it to be ready until the end of next year when she finishes her course. Therefore perhaps we should just go with the regular Chicago lockbox option.

OK, but your other option would be to just hang on a bit and then file DCF a little bit into the UK stay. The visa that gets issued will be valid for 6 months from whenever the medical was.

If you want to go the Chicago lockbox way, I'd file ASAP. Lots of people wait a year to get that, and if you want to leave together at the end of next year, filing sooner would improve the odds.

Edited December 16, 2013 by lost_at_sea

[Feiticera 0]

Yup, think we will do it that way, we would rather have it ticking away in the background than having to worry about it in the last few months or if any rules change for DCF..

Thanks for your advice