IR1 versus CR1 confusion + questions

[Innocence 1]

Hello everyone!

Let me give you the back story to perhaps help you answer my questions better.

My husband and I met online a little over 6 years ago, he has traveled to my country multiple times and stayed with my family and me for sometimes 2-3 months, we talked every single day, often for many many hours. Then last year we finally decided to get married because the long-distance relationship was really starting to wear us down and we felt enough time had passed and we knew each other sufficiently. So summer of last year (2013) he came back again and we got married in my country, officially, with certificate and all that. He went back home to the US shortly after the marriage and submitted our petition to the USCIS (or NVC, I always get them confused). We didn't hear anything back from them at all for about 7 months (is this normal or an abberration?).

Then finally the process seemed to slowly get started. When we got to the portion with the affidavit of financial support he asked his parents to pitch in with their tax returns and help us out because at the time his job didn't pay enough to meet their requirements and he was also living back home helping to take care of his mother whose health had been ailing for the last couple of years. When something on the affidavit was submitted incorrectly, we finally decided to bite the bullet and get help from a local immigration lawyer. She resubmitted the corrected affidavit as well as some of my papers (police certificate, birth certificate and some others). This was at the beginning of December so I'd really love to know how long we're still looking at having to wait to hear something back.

Something I almost forgot to mention but feel might have bearing on the entire process. Almost 8 years ago I overstayed an F1 visa by a little over a year. I was engaged and very young at the time (we did not file any fiance paperwork) but things took a wrong turn romantically and I decided to leave. I did not know much about the way immigration rules worked at the time or I surely would not have made such a dumb mistake. I was not deported or otherwise contacted by any authority, I left back home by myself, and I did not otherwise get into any sort of trouble legally or financially during my time in the US. The lawyer we hired looked up my previous visa in their database and says that because it was an F1 visa, I do not need a pardon for overstaying, but I'd rather find out for sure from more than one source. And if I do need a pardon after all, how long and complicated is that process generally? Does it matter that it has been almost 8 years since then or is that not relevant?

My main questions are:

1. Is it normal for the process of applying for a spouse visa to take this long? (It's been almost a year and a half since we first petitioned and next summer we will have been married for 2 years).

2. Because I read that at the 2 year anniversary you can apply for IR1 visa instead of CR1 visa, is it better to wait until we pass our 2 year anniversary for me to enter the US or it doesn't ultimately matter and won't affect how long things take in the long run?

3. How long will it take to be eligible for citizenship AFTER entering the US legally on a CR1 or IR1 status and staying in legal status throughout? Is it longer if you're on CR1 status or same length as long as you follow up on change of status at the 2 year mark after entry?

4. When I do enter the US on a spouse visa, will I be eligible for work, insurance etc or am I going to be stuck at home for a while? Maybe a better question is what WON'T I be eligible for on an immigrant visa?

5. What comes after the affidavit of support is approved by the NVC? Is that when they give me my interview date and give me instructions about obtaining the medical examination records or is there another step(s) in between?

6. What is the interview process like generally for this type of visa? I know my husband very well, but sometimes I worry if they ask me something silly like what color his toothbrush is, I won't be able to answer. What types of questions do they generally ask? I don't even have an interview date yet, but I'm nervous about it anyway.

7. What type of evidence is preferred by the embassy to validate that this is not a sham marriage? We have wire transfer records from this year, years of skype logs and I'm pretty sure he can obtain phone records from Verizon showing how many days we've logged on international calls. Also we have pictures together, wedding pictures, personal emails. He has been to visit me about 6 or 7 times now, should we provide that as proof too? I'd rather be overprepared than underprepared.

Thanks for reading this long post and thanks in advance for trying to help, it is much appreciated.

[Dave&Roza 748]

My main questions are:

1. Is it normal for the process of applying for a spouse visa to take this long? (It's been almost a year and a half since we first petitioned and next summer we will have been married for 2 years). Yes, the spousal visa takes around 1 year to obtain. Sometimes even longer depending on the country of the foreign spouse.

2. Because I read that at the 2 year anniversary you can apply for IR1 visa instead of CR1 visa, is it better to wait until we pass our 2 year anniversary for me to enter the US or it doesn't ultimately matter and won't affect how long things take in the long run? The CR-1 is a conditional resident which means you have been married for less than 2 years. It also means you have another expense step of filing for removal of conditions (ROC) after having your GC for 2 years. If possible I would recommend you wait to enter the US until after your 2 year wedding anniversary so you qualify for the IR-1 and get a 10 year GC.

3. How long will it take to be eligible for citizenship AFTER entering the US legally on a CR1 or IR1 status and staying in legal status throughout? Is it longer if you're on CR1 status or same length as long as you follow up on change of status at the 2 year mark after entry? 3 years if you remain marreid to your USC spouse. It is the times as a LPR AND your wedding. Both must be 3 years so you must be a LPR for 3 years. If you should happen to get divorced it becomes 5 years as a LPR before you can file for USC>

4. When I do enter the US on a spouse visa, will I be eligible for work, insurance etc or am I going to be stuck at home for a while? Maybe a better question is what WON'T I be eligible for on an immigrant visa? When you enter teh CR-1/IR-1 visa is stamped and becomes a temporary I-551 which is the smae document number as a GC. So you can work and travel outside the US after entering. You will need a SSN for your employer which should arrive within 3 weeks. If not, go to your local SSA office and apply in person.

5. What comes after the affidavit of support is approved by the NVC? Is that when they give me my interview date and give me instructions about obtaining the medical examination records or is there another step(s) in between? Instructions for obtaining the medical, scheduling the interview and what forms you will need to complete.

6. What is the interview process like generally for this type of visa? I know my husband very well, but sometimes I worry if they ask me something silly like what color his toothbrush is, I won't be able to answer. What types of questions do they generally ask? I don't even have an interview date yet, but I'm nervous about it anyway. Usually it is very straight forward and very short if the evidence you submitted shows a bona fide relationship. Typically they have already made their decision before you get to teh Embassy.

7. What type of evidence is preferred by the embassy to validate that this is not a sham marriage? We have wire transfer records from this year, years of skype logs and I'm pretty sure he can obtain phone records from Verizon showing how many days we've logged on international calls. Also we have pictures together, wedding pictures, personal emails. He has been to visit me about 6 or 7 times now, should we provide that as proof too? I'd rather be overprepared than underprepared. All of that is good evidence. Do you have wills or joint accounts or anything else showing you are starting to combine your lives even if you are in two seperate coountries? Has he been filing taxes as married? It sounds like you have enough evidence.

Thanks for reading this long post and thanks in advance for trying to help, it is much appreciated.

Good luck,

Dave

[Saylin 1,605]

1. Depending on a few factors, yes it can take 1-2+ years to get through this process. It depends if you get any RFEs at USCIS or any checklists at NVC. What country the beneficiary is from also plays a part. There's also quite a bit amount of luck involved as well.

2. The only difference between the IR-1 and CR-1 visa is that when you receive the green card after you get into the US, someone that crossed under an IR-1 visa will received a 10 year green card, whereas someone who crossed with a CR-1 visa will obtain a conditional 2 year visa. This means that after 2 years, the Removal of Conditions process will take place which costs about $600 and can take another year or so to complete (although, this time around, you'll at least be together in the US). So, depending when your interview is and how close it is to your two year anniversary, you may want to consider waiting until AFTER you've been married two years before crossing into the US, to save the money and time. But, this would mean being apart for however much longer. So, it's up to you. Might be better to make a decision once you've gotten approved at the interview and have the visa in hand.

3. If you stay married, you'll be eligible to apply for naturalization after THREE YEARS of becoming a US resident. If for whatever reason you divorce, you'll be able to apply for citizenship after FIVE YEARS of being a US resident. And remember, this is an OPTIONAL process. So, once you become eligible, you can take your time applying if you don't want to do it right away. For example, if you're still married and you reach your three years, you can wait until 4 years to apply. Or heck, you can wait until 5 years and apply just as being a US resident and not under the special rule of being married for 3 years (there's a lot less required if you apply under the five years as you won't need to prove your relationship again). And it doesn't matter if you crossed under an IR-1 or CR-1 visa. It's just dependent on how long you've been a resident. For CR-1, you'll need to remove your conditions (at the two year mark), before you can apply for citizenship (at the 3+ year mark).

4. You'll be eligible for everything once you cross. That's one benefit of coming on a spousal visa (compared to a fiance visa). You should get your green card within a few weeks of crossing (although the stamp and visa in your passport will act as a temporary green card for up to one year) and the SSN (if you choose on the DS-260 [submitted at the NVC stage] for the SSA to automatically assign you one) should come within a few weeks as well, but if it doesn't, you can go apply in person. So, although you'll be eligible to work right away, some employers may require you to have a SSN before they can hire and/or pay you.

5. Once your case is complete, NVC will put your file into queue for an interview date to be assigned. Once it's assigned, within a few days, your case will be shipped to the consulate/embassy. You can obtain what you need to do in regards to the medical on NVC's website. You'll have to schedule the medical yourself. And I don't know if it's applicable to your country, but you may also have to sign up for some kind of courier service to receive your visa after the interview.

6. The interview process varies by country. Obviously, you'll have over the required documents, but as to what questions they ask and how many, that's what varies. In Montreal for example, it's typically just a few questions, just basic stuff like how you met, etc. In other places though, like in MENA countries, you can be grilled for hours and even be asked questions such as what color your spouse's toothbrush is. I suggest you go to your country's portal and read other people's interview reviews. You'll get a good idea then of how the interviews are like. If you'd like, there's a great wiki here with a bunch of possible questions that can be asked. You should run through it with your spouse so you know the answers to everything. Here's the link: http://www.visajourney.com/wiki/index.php/Consular_Interview_Questions

7. This also varies by country. Some countries, like Canada, won't ask for any evidence (or if they do, only require a little), whereas others, ask for everything under the sun to be submitted. It's always best to be over-prepared in this process, so you're on the right track thinking that. I highly suggest you read this entire thread (not just the first post, but the entire thing, as there's many great ideas throughout) for ideas on evidence: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/284203-evidences-of-bona-fide-marriage-relationship/

[Innocence 1]

Thanks a lot for such a quick response, Dave.

It's nice to have the information spelled out for us laypeople, because I haven't spoken with the lawyer personally, and when I tried calling to get some answers today, the answering machine said they're closed for the holidays and won't be at work until the 6th of January so that's another 2 weeks just to get in touch.

We might wait until our 2nd marriage anniversary for me to enter, although that's another half a year and we've been waiting so long already to finally live together. The upside is that he was made a VIP client by Delta for how many skymiles he's racked up in these years flying here. Is the fee to get the conditions removed very high? If not, I might just enter right after getting my visa approved because being apart has been traumatic enough these last few years.

As for joint accounts, last time he came he brought me a credit card making me an authorized user for his account. However, I still have to call Capital 1 to activate it and I'm afraid they'll ask for my SSN which I, of course, do not have yet. So that might be a no-go. He hasn't filed taxes while married yet because in the last two years he hasn't needed to file due to the fact that he hasn't been permanently employed outside of the home. It's not a very great situation for us but taking care of parents is very important to both of us.

Thanks again for taking the time out of your day to read and answer.

[Saylin 1,605]

Some additional links for you (in case you don't know where to find them):

Ukraine portal: http://www.visajourney.com/consulates/index.php?ctry=Ukraine&cty=Kiev(be careful, this info may be outdated)

Ukraine reviews (for interviews): http://www.visajourney.com/reviews/index.php?cnty=Ukraine(make sure to focus on those of IR-1/CR-1 applicants as the process may be different for other visa types, although it's still a good idea to read to get a feel of the place)

Regional forum (for Russia, Ukraine, Belarus): http://www.visajourney.com/forums/forum/98-russia-ukraine-and-belarus/(for country-specific questions)

NVC wiki I wrote: http://www.visajourney.com/wiki/index.php/NVC_Process(this will not only cover the entire NVC process, but afterwards as well, including links to medical and interview info)

Also It'll help everyone out Your timeline can be found here: http://www.visajourney.com/timeline/profile.php?id=199314

[Innocence 1]

Wow, thanks a lot, Saylin. That's a lot of useful information.

I went through the possible interview question list, and I can answer pretty much 99% of it. The only thing I feel we have really made a mistake with is not opening any joint accounts for finances or anything like that. I'd feel a lot better going into the interview armed with those. Can we open a joint bank account now so I could use that as further proof at the interview or will that look too fishy (the recent date)?

My other concern is how I'm supposed to provide police certificate and original birth certificate at the time of my interview when both of them are currently at the NVC in the States. Will they send these papers straight to the embassy so I don't need to worry? Do I need to obtain yet another police certificate?

The 600 dollar fee is not a huge deal, unless of course the timeline is such that it would be days or a couple weeks before our 2nd anniversary, then I'd just wait and get the 10 year GC.

[Saylin 1,605]

Wow, thanks a lot, Saylin. That's a lot of useful information.

I went through the possible interview question list, and I can answer pretty much 99% of it. The only thing I feel we have really made a mistake with is not opening any joint accounts for finances or anything like that. I'd feel a lot better going into the interview armed with those. Can we open a joint bank account now so I could use that as further proof at the interview or will that look too fishy (the recent date)?

My other concern is how I'm supposed to provide police certificate and original birth certificate at the time of my interview when both of them are currently at the NVC in the States. Will they send these papers straight to the embassy so I don't need to worry? Do I need to obtain yet another police certificate?

The 600 dollar fee is not a huge deal, unless of course the timeline is such that it would be days or a couple weeks before our 2nd anniversary, then I'd just wait and get the 10 year GC.

You're welcome!

Don't stress too much about the joint bank accounts. My husband and I only joined bank accounts two years AFTER I moved to the US I'd say have your spouse try to get your name on his, but I know some banks require an SSN, whereas others don't. But, it's worth a shot. If you can't, the officers at the embassy should understand since you don't have a SSN yet. If possible, bring proof that there were attempts made at adding your name, like a letter from the bank manager or something stating that a SSN is required to join accounts. That would at least show that you attempted to begin co-mingling. Just a thought

NVC will forward everything they received from you onto the embassy once an interview date is assigned, so the embassy should have everything on file at the time of your interview. It's still an excellent idea to being photocopies of all certificates. And also, if your police certificate will expire before your interview, yes, you'll need to obtain a new one. But, the validity period differs by country. If it's not written directly on your police certificate, I'd look in the regional forum I linked above and see if you can find a thread about it. For Canada, police certificates are good for a year, but this isn't the same everywhere.

Yeah, like I said, wait until your interview date is assigned before you start making any final decisions. And, I don't want to scare you, but obviously there's no guarantee you'll get approved at the interview, or approved right away. Not to mention you don't get the visa instantly. So there may still be a few weeks between your interview date and when you have the visa on hand, legally allowing you to cross into the US. But perhaps start discussing with your spouse on a maximum amount of time you'd both be willing to wait to cross after the 2 year wedding mark. Whether that's a few days, a few weeks, a few months. Might help later on

What part of the NVC process are you at? Have you submitted both packages and filled out the DS-260? Are you just waiting for NVC to review your papers?

[Innocence 1]

I tried to fill out as much of the timeline as I can remember off the top of my head, but I will need to ask my husband for many of the dates as they are mostly in his email (I only have several copies in mine).

[Innocence 1]

I didn't check if there was an expiration date on the little piece of paper they issued me at the local police HQs, but I will call them tomorrow and ask how long it is. If it expires fast I'll just go request another one right away since the last one took like 3 weeks to receive. As far as I know, we sent in all the forms required by the NVC already, but I will again have to ask my husband about the DS-260 since he was filling it all out on his computer and I do not remember the form names now. I know the last few pieces we gave to the lawyer to send in where the corrected affidavits and IRS records for him and his dad, my birth cert, police cert. and copies of my passport pages.

Since Ukraine didn't give my husband a visa during entry at any point, can I show them a printout of his Delta account with all the flights to Ukraine in the last few years? I'll have to ask him if he has any stamps from Ukrainian customs in his passport and send me a copy of that page if he does too.

Because we hired a lawyer, are we still supposed to receive emails from NVC or is she in charge of that now? Because I honestly don't think we've received anything from them in the emails since late September, which is starting to worry me.

[Saylin 1,605]

I didn't check if there was an expiration date on the little piece of paper they issued me at the local police HQs, but I will call them tomorrow and ask how long it is. If it expires fast I'll just go request another one right away since the last one took like 3 weeks to receive. As far as I know, we sent in all the forms required by the NVC already, but I will again have to ask my husband about the DS-260 since he was filling it all out on his computer and I do not remember the form names now. I know the last few pieces we gave to the lawyer to send in where the corrected affidavits and IRS records for him and his dad, my birth cert, police cert. and copies of my passport pages.

Since Ukraine didn't give my husband a visa during entry at any point, can I show them a printout of his Delta account with all the flights to Ukraine in the last few years? I'll have to ask him if he has any stamps from Ukrainian customs in his passport and send me a copy of that page if he does too.

Because we hired a lawyer, are we still supposed to receive emails from NVC or is she in charge of that now? Because I honestly don't think we've received anything from them in the emails since late September, which is starting to worry me.

Wait until it's closer to the interview date to request a new one (if you even need one). Typically, there's usually a month or two between getting the interview date assigned and the actual interview date. So, it sounds like you got a checklist for the AOS package and need to send a response to that, as well as sending the IV package. Once NVC gets all that, it's currently taking around 60 days to get to your package and review them. If everything is complete, they'll close your case and put it in queue for an interview date.

Yup, that sounds like a good idea. And if he's got any stamps in his passport, a copy of those would be great too

If you've received emails from NVC in the past, you should still continue getting them. But, after the bills are invoiced, there's really no more communication from NVC unless you get a checklist. The only two emails you'll get after that are the case complete email (which is delayed about 7 days from the actual case complete date) and the interview letter.

[NikLR 13,227]

Also one more thing to mention, after the visa is granted, and before your 1 year of residency is up, you need to pay another $165 fee to get the hard copy green card. This can be done either before or after arriving in the USA. Your hard copy green card will not be produced without the fee being paid, but it normally only takes 1-3 months to get it after POE or payment, whichever is later.

http://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Resources/How%20Do%20I%20Guides/F4en.pdf

But don't really worry about this fee until after you have your visa in your hands and are jumping around for joy.

Edited December 24, 2014 by NLR

[Innocence 1]

I just called up my husband and confirmed that we did, in fact, submit the DS-260 and the packages. I guess I'm not expecting to hear from them ridiculously fast because we submitted the last few pieces of documents through the lawyer around Dec 11 so I'm guessing I have plenty of time before I even get assigned the interview date.

He'll go to the bank after they open back up after Christmas and try to get me on his checking account or at least get a letter from a manager explaining that we tried but need a SSN. I'm gonna have to browse the links about Ukraine processing experiences more closely to figure out how long it will take after they review the case to be assigned an interview. I hope we don't get this "checklist" stuff again, especially since we now have an actual lawyer handling the case and if that happens, I feel the lawyer fees are not justified. And those links on organizing the stuff for the interview have also been very helpful so thanks for that too. It really helps to get actual people to talk to, because I was feeling pretty down and confused about this whole thing, especially with it being the holiday season and being apart really sucks especially at times like these.

So thanks for all the replies, I now understand it a lot more clearly and feel much better and have a game plan. I'll try to fill the timeline more soon and keep your posted on developments. Have a great night (or whatever time of day it is where you are).

[Saylin 1,605]

I just called up my husband and confirmed that we did, in fact, submit the DS-260 and the packages. I guess I'm not expecting to hear from them ridiculously fast because we submitted the last few pieces of documents through the lawyer around Dec 11 so I'm guessing I have plenty of time before I even get assigned the interview date.

He'll go to the bank after they open back up after Christmas and try to get me on his checking account or at least get a letter from a manager explaining that we tried but need a SSN. I'm gonna have to browse the links about Ukraine processing experiences more closely to figure out how long it will take after they review the case to be assigned an interview. I hope we don't get this "checklist" stuff again, especially since we now have an actual lawyer handling the case and if that happens, I feel the lawyer fees are not justified. And those links on organizing the stuff for the interview have also been very helpful so thanks for that too. It really helps to get actual people to talk to, because I was feeling pretty down and confused about this whole thing, especially with it being the holiday season and being apart really sucks especially at times like these.

So thanks for all the replies, I now understand it a lot more clearly and feel much better and have a game plan. I'll try to fill the timeline more soon and keep your posted on developments. Have a great night (or whatever time of day it is where you are).

Yeah, if they were just sent on Dec 11, then you probably won't hear anything until sometime in February. If everything is correct and your case is complete, then I expect you'll get your interview date assigned sometime late February or in March, for a date most likely in May or June (I'm applying the global average of 2 months from case complete date to interview date).

And sadly, I see all the time in the monthly NVC threads where lawyers make tons of mistakes and are the cause of many a checklist. Which is unfortunate.

Glad to have helped sort some things out. It's definitely less stressful, in my opinion, when you know what's going on and what to expect.

And thanks! Yes, it's night time here. Off to dreamland I go!

[ariani 71]

As for joint accounts, last time he came he brought me a credit card making me an authorized user for his account. However, I still have to call Capital 1 to activate it and I'm afraid they'll ask for my SSN which I, of course, do not have yet...

From experience I can tell you that they will not ask for a SSN for the authorized user. Ask your spouse to include you in utility bills, car(s) titles, insurance, emergency contacts, etc.

[Innocence 1]

From experience I can tell you that they will not ask for a SSN for the authorized user. Ask your spouse to include you in utility bills, car(s) titles, insurance, emergency contacts, etc.

Maybe I misunderstood how it works, but when I called Cap 1 to activate the card, it asked for the last 4 digits of my SSN. Maybe it's different for different banks?