Why should K1 visa applicants get interview date before I-130 applicants!

[Lemonslice 4,559]

Boston-Montreal hear the sarcasm but funny hahaha!!!

No sarcasm, sorry. Wishing you the best in your journey, CR1 might be a little longer, but I sincerely wish you a smooth ride.

Hey, there was a guy a while back who was so upset about it in the Canada forum he wanted to get divorced and remarry to save a bit of time. Not sure what he did in the end...

Found it: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/276082-get-divorced-to-remarry-in-ny-state-due-to-on-certificate-wait-time/

Was not CR1-K1, but delay to get the marriage certificate.

[Renee2016 14]

Really everyone the k1 isn't as great as you think. We got to the interview process quick but have been in admin processing since Nov 30 not even told if we were approved. No status changed still says ready for interview. Wish I would of been married already like all of you. Since I have kids from a previous marriage I wanted everyone to spend time together first. No matter what we do the process really is so long and upsetting

[vpalermo85 62]

We all have it tough and I think that's what everyone is ultimately getting at. Immigration is stressful no matter which side of the coin you're on but in the end we're all after the same thing and that's to be with our significant others. Both CR-1 and K-1 are very different visas and we all chose our paths for different reasons. Some people are lucky in that their file just happened to cross the right person's desk at a certain time or someone else's case has no red flags that would prevent them from being denied. We're all different and we all know what makes our cases different.

I imagine the CR-1 takes longer because you have to prove everything upfront before you come here and K-1s prove it after marriage on the provision that if we can't prove the marriage and we don't get married in 90 days from entry there will be no green card which then causes a slew of other problems. The others are right though, K-1 you live in limbo for the entire process. We can't make marriage plans or long term plans until we know where our application stands in the process. CR-1s you don't necessarily have the same uncertainty. So there's pros and cons.

Edited March 13, 2016 by vpalermo85

[NikLR 13,220]

I would have never have taken the K1 route, no matter how much faster it can be. The inability to jump on a plane a moment's notice if my daughter needs me is not something I was ever willing to worry about. Also like others, I'm not a housewife. I enjoy working outside the home. I still do most (read pretty much all) of the cleaning and cooking too.

Try to think of positives of your visa type and stop worrying about others. Really, concentrating on someone else's journey in a negative light only hurts you. It makes you angry and bitter. Think forward. Look ahead. Be positive.

[k_stacky 65]

I always thought that the IR-1/CR-1 takes "longer" than the K-1 because you have to do all of your waiting up front before you enter, but you get most of the privileges of living in the United States upon landing, whereas K-1 has to wait for it and essentially can't start their new life in America until they have it.

So really, everyone waits. Everyone has their own hoops to jump through and no one here on VJ should wish ill of another's journey when we're all fighting and working towards the same goal of being with our loved ones.

[*Snowdrop* 603]

Having been here on these boards seeing the processing times ebb and flow for many years now, I don't think that the K1s are considerably faster because of the visa type, it's more to do with USCIS and their terribly disorganised structure.

The workloads are not balanced in any visibly fair way. Some years the K1s at one service center are faster than everything else. The next year they try to deal with backlogs of the CR1s and make that a priority and suddenly the K1s all slow down. Then the CR1s on one side of the country are really really slow and then suddenly they speed up again.

It seems as though every time they try to fix one issue, it causes problems in another place. Spousal visa are very very slow for big sections of people at the moment and it's a horrible wait. I know how it feels I had a ten month wait for my NOA2 back in 2008.

The K1s might be a tiny bit faster because of less processing needed at the NVC but the long waits the spousal visa applicants are experiencing at the moment are not about processing times - it's about the waiting times to get processed.

[Unlockable 7,306]

Mellowkitty,

Listen to Transborderwife, NLR, Boston-Canadian, and the others alike. The K1 visa is not all people think it is. It is a very limited visa. Yes you can work and travel but it can take up to 90 days to get authorization. With the spouse visa a person can go job hunting a day after they arrive in the US with their visa in hand. And if they want to turn around and go back home a week later it will be no problem.

There are many couples (including my wife and I) that took the K1 visa route that would do the spouse visa if could go back and do it again.

If you take away the entrance into the US part the issuance of the green card is roughly the same amount of time. And trust me, being able to immediately obtain a drivers license, get a job, and travel immediately after migrating to the US is a huge advantage.

[AmAjjD 33]

This has been explained time and time again. The k1 is faster because we don't immediately get a green card so we don't have to go through the initial hoops spousal visas do. We go through those later. We don't immediately get to work, to travel, to do everything that we would on a spousal visa. Yeah, we get to be with our spouses sooner but why waste time being bitter about it when it's not going to do anything? Being frustrated, angry and upset about this process, crying out that it's unfair isn't going to do anything. Be happy for those who made it there, because you'd want them to be happy for you. Be understanding of the process, knowing that by the time they even reach their POE the process has barely begun for them, whereas you're over the hump for yours. There are so many k1 applicants who fall into marital problems because of the financial burden placed on them due to the fact that the government won't authorize your spouse to work for who knows how long after arrival in the US. And drivers licenses? Good luck! Half the battle is just getting people to understand that yes, you can be legally living in the US without a green card. And let's not forget the dilemma of no AP/Green Card but a family member overseas is sick/has died and you need to go home. Yes the K1 is faster but it is by no means less stressful.

[Unidentified 2,930]

We all choose different paths for different reasons. We picked K1 because when we were deciding we didn't know much about the differences in the processes and USCIS.gov made them sound pretty similar. You either waited on Green Card in the US (K1) or in your home country (CR1).

If I had known the differences (CR1 getting GC and being able to work right away etc) I'd still pick K1 and this is despite the fact that it took us almost 1 year before we actually got the visa. For me it just didn't matter if I had to wait 3 months without a job. I had already lived in the US for 3 years and didn't have a job in Sweden so I'd be unemployed either way.

When you arrive you'll have your GC and be a legal resident. I've already waited almost 7 months and is not predicted to have my interview until August (it will have been 1 year by then). Both visas have their pros and cons.

The thing that I really envy the CR1's is the fact that they can travel out of the country as soon as they get here. I wish we K1's could do the same. The day before we got married I found out my dad had cancer. By the time I had managed to get my Emergency Travel Authorization and got on a plane it was too late. I arrived 1 hour after my father died. If I had gotten my GC upon arrival I had gotten at least 1 week with him.

Edited March 14, 2016 by Maria&Seve

[Adil & Jeanne 296]

i know how you feel and why but as the USCIS says a visa is not guaranteed just because you are married . if it was, a lot of unwanted indivuduals would be coming in. OUrs took 6 years to get. Most of what i see from talking to others here and in Morocco and at the embassy is USCIS trys to weed out the ones just looking for "what you call wanting a visa" and those of us willing to do the work (on both sides) are successful.

/since a CR 1 is more permanent than a K 1, there is much more background work involved.

We went theu our own personal HELL waiting and my 5 trips to Morocco but i wouldn't want undesirables into the country just as i am wiling to go thru the process of security at airports now.

i wish you good luck

this is a good place to vent and ask WHY

[Cathi 5,610]

I understand your frustration. But there is nothing we can do. It takes as long as it takes.

A CR-1 is a "superior" visa, for want of a better description, in that it is a permanent residency upon arrival with the ability to work and come and go as you please. I imagine you had the option of K-1 before you were married? We did. And we pursued that path initially. But we changed our minds when we realised that I would be not much more than a housewife for some months. I couldn't handle not working. There was also the financial side. I also don't like the idea of being in some sort of "limbo" status - when I arrive I will be a permanent resident through marriage. That suits me better. I feel more comfortable with that.

I do understand the frustration when you hear the K-1 argument of "well we have AOS to do when we arrive but CR-1 people don't have to do anything" (except maybe ROC within 2 years). I hate hearing that too. I'd do AOS a million times over if it meant I could be with my husband. I'd do this paperwork a million times over for him. But getting angry with people who have chosen a different path is not beneficial. Or healthy. This process is stressful enough - don't make it worse for yourself. And when it really seems all too much, just ignore the K-1 posts and threads. There are plenty of CR-1 threads and discussions to keep us all busy while we wait.

There is nothing wrong with being a housewife. By far it is the most difficult job on the planet, and there is no pay, vacation, breaks. Obviously you have never held this position.

[Transborderwife 4,666]

There is nothing wrong with being a housewife. By far it is the most difficult job on the planet, and there is no pay, vacation, breaks. Obviously you have never held this position.

Preach it sister

[rochelel 5]

I know everyone want their other half to be united with them but I find if unfair that people like myself who file our I-130 for our spouse have to wait longer for a scheduled interview than people who do the K1 visa. It just seem so unfair that some of these K1 visa applicants can get through so quickly and they don't even have a strong marital union. Some if not most of these cases are just for green card purposes. My point is how can these cases be approved for interviews while people who have I-130 cannot get a schedule interview more quickly. I am speaking on behalf of the marital unions who have been married for sometime and have to prove that our marriage is indeed true and not some quick made up (untrue) union. Why is it our interview approval get such a long waiting time as oppose to K1 visa applicants. We need our spouse with us in the states too and the process should either be less than K1 visa applicants or the same.

Pray to God to help thought this process, he hears and answers prayers talk to him. In the mean time if you can buy a ticket to to Jamaica spend a week or two, but most of all just pray!!!!

[Boiler 43,499]

I would have adjusted from the VWP.

[cdneh 3,112]

It's like standing in the queue at the bank, in a way. The other line always looks as though it's moving faster.