Hopeless. Crying hard.

[renatesol 13]

I totally agree k1 shouldn't take less time than cr1. The fact that its not a green card is not the point. We are being processed by the same agencies and they complain of lack of resources whilst they send over people who barely know the usc whilst scrutinizing couples that have been together, lived together, have children...for a year or over. Doesn't make sense.

That's exactly the point though - they're processed differently because a K1 and a CR1 applicant aren't applying for the same thing. Also, there is no reason why an engaged couple couldn't have been together, lived together and have children for a year or more, just the same as a married couple.

It's a tough process for all of us, no matter which route we choose, and I don't think the time spent apart is easier on one type of visa applicants than the other. We're all in the same boat here when it comes to having to wait to be with our loved ones.

[Transborderwife 4,666]

That's exactly the point though - they're processed differently because a K1 and a CR1 applicant aren't applying for the same thing. Also, there is no reason why an engaged couple couldn't have been together, lived together and have children for a year or more, just the same as a married couple.

It's a tough process for all of us, no matter which route we choose, and I don't think the time spent apart is easier on one type of visa applicants than the other. We're all in the same boat here when it comes to having to wait to be with our loved ones.

+1

I'm not a big fan of the k1 but it is what it is

[j&ana 363]

Thank you everyone for the encouragement. I just don't feel like it's fair to everyone to be waiting as long as this just to be with someone.

I've seen some fellow Filipinas applying for CR1 visa, took them roughly like 5mos from their submission of documents to get an interview. I know they say that Philippines is one of the easiest country to get a visa as the two countries have good relationship. But it still doesn't change the fact that I've been here waiting for all of this to be over. My husband left me with his eyes on tears and I cried too a lot for months. :(

I know it is frustrating for you but soon it will be over. While it does seems like k-1 visa get priotize over cr-1 visa but if you at the overall picture then you will know that is not true. Yes it is true that a k-1 visa will get to The U.S faster.However there is so much more they have to do when they get here. So it is a really a matter of personel prefrence as to what visa is best

Just know that once you are here you will be LPR right away and if you wanted to you could start working almost right away.

Yes some filipino had been approve fast my wife included , but a lot of it had to do with staying on top of things at the nvc and finding ways to do stuff faster .If you look at both of our timelines you can see a big diffrence on how things was done at the NVC and the diffrence in time that it took.

Even with out doing much to speed up your case at the NVC. your case has still move forward a lot faster then most. I am sure you will be getting a cc soon,there is no need to feel hopeless. sad yes but not hopeless

[Andrea&Henry 311]

Honestly is a choice people makes. When my now husband proposed to me, we started making our research because we naively thought it was "just getting married and go", but after an 30 mins conversation with a lawyer we new we had 2 routes, the k1 visa and the cr1 visa. When we just heard all the waiting time for the cr1 we were like hell know. We know is a little more work and money later on but at least we could be together faster and sooner.

The waiting times for these visas make sense completely... K1 VISA is just a 1 entry visa and the CR1

[mwah1 4]

That's exactly the point though - they're processed differently because a K1 and a CR1 applicant aren't applying for the same thing. Also, there is no reason why an engaged couple couldn't have been together, lived together and have children for a year or more, just the same as a married couple.

It's a tough process for all of us, no matter which route we choose, and I don't think the time spent apart is easier on one type of visa applicants than the other. We're all in the same boat here when it comes to having to wait to be with our loved ones.

You're right. Point taken. The impression I got is a lot of k1 visa applicants meet on the internet and have one or two obligatory visits before applying for this visa then voila 6 months later in the US getting married - which to me screams marriage fraud. Whereas if you've met someone in person, lived with them, got to know them,married etc it kinda says genuine relationship. I think in the immigration process there is very little distinction being made and the people who met yesterday at being given the same rights those with established relationships. We are being treated like criminals for falling in love.

Sorry for the bitterness.

[madtownguy 164]

You're right. Point taken. The impression I got is a lot of k1 visa applicants meet on the internet and have one or two obligatory visits before applying for this visa then voila 6 months later in the US getting married - which to me screams marriage fraud. Whereas if you've met someone in person, lived with them, got to know them,married etc it kinda says genuine relationship. I think in the immigration process there is very little distinction being made and the people who met yesterday at being given the same rights those with established relationships. We are being treated like criminals for falling in love.

Sorry for the bitterness.

Plenty of people get married and not live together, or get married quickly. You're assuming a lot. I could've gotten married in Philippines and filed CR1 instead of K1, it was a choice. If anything I thought the k1 would make more sense in a long term relationship because, how do you know the person will even like the U.S. There's plenty of countries I've been in where no matter who was there with me life would suck and I would want to leave.

[mwah1 4]

Plenty of people get married and not live together, or get married quickly. You're assuming a lot. I could've gotten married in Philippines and filed CR1 instead of K1, it was a choice. If anything I thought the k1 would make more sense in a long term relationship because, how do you know the person will even like the U.S. There's plenty of countries I've been in where no matter who was there with me life would suck and I would want to leave. [/quote

I personally do t think being in a new city/country for 90 days (probably planning the wedding most of that time) is enough time to get to know a place well enough to base the decision to live there. When you marry someone you so it not knowing how things will turn out. Someone can lose their job or get an offer in another country...

My point was that cr1 takes too long not that no one who does k1 can be genuine. If k1 can take 6 months then cr1 can take 6 months. In the UK they take less then a month. They all your paperwork and approve or deny. You either qualify or you don't. US they pretend to do back ground checks and end up giving random people green cards anyway. Not buying that it's a national security thing I think they just want to frustrate as many people as they can each year.

[Mike-eeh and Odie 192]

This whole NVC case completion waiting is ridiculous. How come they prioritize fiance visa while they make married couples away from each other for a long time? Don't they have life partners too? They don't know how it feels, and the burden of waiting.

One of the pro's of a K-1 visa is that you get to be with your loved one sooner. The con of the K-1 visa is that the beneficiary has to wait for their work and travel documents, and later, their green card. K-1 routs are also more expensive than spousal visas.

The pros of the spouse visa is that the beneficiary does not have to wait for anything regarding work or travel, they get their green card a few weeks after POE. It is also cheaper to go the spousal visa route. The con is that the beneficiary has to wait longer before being awarded their visa.

But do not be sad. Once you enter the USA and see your fiance, you will be overjoyed and realize it was worth the wait, especially when you do not have to worry about extra steps on your continuing journey!

[TabeaK 516]

You're right. Point taken. The impression I got is a lot of k1 visa applicants meet on the internet and have one or two obligatory visits before applying for this visa then voila 6 months later in the US getting married - which to me screams marriage fraud. Whereas if you've met someone in person, lived with them, got to know them,married etc it kinda says genuine relationship. I think in the immigration process there is very little distinction being made and the people who met yesterday at being given the same rights those with established relationships. We are being treated like criminals for falling in love.

Sorry for the bitterness.

Yeah, you are being bitter. Have you ever considered there are a bunch of couples who could never be together without a K1? Gay couples where it is impossible to marry abroad and get it recognized? Couples of different religions, who outside the US cannot be married in the beneficiary's home country due to archaic religious laws? Couples, who for whatever reason have to meet up outside the US in third countries just to meet?

Or the more sentimental reason that some of us do not want to get married and live apart and thus go for a K1 accepting the fact that it is twice as expensive and prevents us from getting a Green Card for more than a year in some cases?

Some of us have been doing the long distance relationship for years on end, traveling around the world to meet whenever we could prior to committing to a marriage, some of us may have lived together abroad for years. Are there frauds among K1? Most certainly. But I guarantee you there is a similar number of frauds among the CR-1 bunch as well! Don't you dare imply your relationship is more genuine just because you are married!

We are lucky the US has both K1 and CR-1 visa paths. You are not being punished for falling in love, you simply have the immigration hoops to jump through.

And finally: The approval of the I-129F petition (for K1) vs. the approval of the I-130 (for CR1/IR-1) are the things you have to compare, not the visa process in its entirety. And the Service Centers still process I-130 at least as fast if not faster than I-129Fs. Texas never slowed down I-130 as much as I-129Fs last year. Also, NVC doesn't prioritize I-129Fs, they have no processing to do on them, they simply forward them to the embassy. For K1 the embassy deals with certain steps and the K1 holder has to perform the AOS process after entering the US. This process happens AT NVC for CR-1. Hence, the only real time difference is on entering the US. The benefit of the K1 is that you MAY be with your fiance faster. The drawback is that you have a year's worth of paperwork left in the US and the process is twice as expensive, whereas CR-1s enter as fully fledged LPRs with the right to work and travel. Apples and oranges... But again, there is no prioritization of K1s.

[SunflowerSweet 1,321]

You're right. Point taken. The impression I got is a lot of k1 visa applicants meet on the internet and have one or two obligatory visits before applying for this visa then voila 6 months later in the US getting married - which to me screams marriage fraud. Whereas if you've met someone in person, lived with them, got to know them,married etc it kinda says genuine relationship. I think in the immigration process there is very little distinction being made and the people who met yesterday at being given the same rights those with established relationships. We are being treated like criminals for falling in love.

Sorry for the bitterness.

Wait what?

Just because people are filing for a K-1 doesn't mean that they didn't meet in person or didn't spend time living together or anything like that. I'm sorry if that's how it seems to you but it's not always the case.

A lot of times people go with the K-1 route simply because they did their research on wait times and different requirements and they made an informed choice to wait to get married.

Kind of insulting to insinuate that just because we want to wait to get married that our marriages are more likely to be fraudulent.

You complain about being treated like criminals but you are accusing others of being more criminally inclined? Makes no sense to me.

[Amhara 460]

You're right. Point taken. The impression I got is a lot of k1 visa applicants meet on the internet and have one or two obligatory visits before applying for this visa then voila 6 months later in the US getting married - which to me screams marriage fraud. Whereas if you've met someone in person, lived with them, got to know them,married etc it kinda says genuine relationship. I think in the immigration process there is very little distinction being made and the people who met yesterday at being given the same rights those with established relationships. We are being treated like criminals for falling in love.

Sorry for the bitterness.

I disagree with your perspective, but I understand where it comes from. I know I've seen some couples get their visa, and I am a little surprised. In our situation, it would have been impossible for us to marry. Also, we would not have lived together before getting married. So if we were in the same country together, we would have married, then joined households, which to some could be looked at as marriage fraud. I understand you feel marriages should be given priority, but spouses do step into the US as LPR's.

I agree with your frustration. If the system was working properly, spouses that wanted to should be able to file for the K-3 and arrive sooner. Only they would still face the AOS and two year wait - only it would be a wait together - not apart.

[blondedoc 35]

That´s why I say... We spouses are not a priority... If we were... It could be different...

I´m trying to hurry up my stuff, because if they don´t hurry up, me and my husband will never have a kid... (I have 2 from another marriage), but he doesn´t... I´m getting old and I can´t be abroad and give birth to another kid, since I live in a country with a looooot of crisis... And I don´t want to give birth to a kid after 40 years old... Is dangerous for me and for the kid...

[_Paul&Jesica_ 70]

This whole NVC case completion waiting is ridiculous. How come they prioritize fiance visa while they make married couples away from each other for a long time? Don't they have life partners too? They don't know how it feels, and the burden of waiting.

I am not sure they are explicitly prioritizing K-1s over IR-1/CR-1s per se, but they have been prioritizing petitions from the Philippines, in general, above other countries due to Typhoon Yolanda. But now I understand the Syrian petitions are now a priority.

K-1s are a faster petition (average about 5 months) as the K-1 has to also file after marriage for Adjustment of Status to get their permanent residence (GC). But the AOS process can take anywhere from 6 months to a year or longer and cost another $1070. IRs/CRs get their GC upon entering the US. So if you look a the total length of time to get residency, they are close to the same when it is all over but the K-1 is actually a more expensive process.

Also note that IRs/CRs can work when they enter the US while K-1s can't until they file for AOS/AP/EAD and receive their EAD card, so many K-1s find themselves stuck at home unable to work or do much. Pros and cons to both methods, they are just different sets of circumstances...

While many of us have glimpses into the very slow churning machines at USCIS and NVC, few of us have enough insight to explain why some petitions take much longer than others.

[mwah1 4]

Wait what?

Just because people are filing for a K-1 doesn't mean that they didn't meet in person or didn't spend time living together or anything like that. I'm sorry if that's how it seems to you but it's not always the case.

A lot of times people go with the K-1 route simply because they did their research on wait times and different requirements and they made an informed choice to wait to get married.

Kind of insulting to insinuate that just because we want to wait to get married that our marriages are more likely to be fraudulent.

You complain about being treated like criminals but you are accusing others of being more criminally inclined? Makes no sense to me.

You haven't read my post. I was specifically talking about people who have met the obligatory number of times and then are granted the K1. This is happening but everyone wants to talk about long established relationships/LGBT/ and people from different faiths...talk about apples and oranges! Do we have to go from one extreme to another?

Yes you did your research and chose K1 so you get to be with your partner sooner. I did my research too and chose to have a wedding in my home country with all my relations because that meant something to me.

I've acknowledged Tha I am feeling bitter about my wait so you can't throw that in my face. I don't like how long this process is. Its too long no matter what the end result is it does not have to be so long. The end.

[Amhara 460]

That´s why I say... We spouses are not a priority... If we were... It could be different...

i gotta say, I really don't understand this opinion. I agree the process seems like it can be faster, but according to the law spouses are the priority! An LPR cannot petition for a fiance, only a USC can, but they can petition for a spouse. With this opinion, you are suggesting that someone should be able to get a green card within seven or less months - for the whole process? Really? From start to finish until ROC or naturalization?