First post - Questions about K-1 vs. IR-1/CR-1

[John & Rose 7,239]

7 hours ago, VegasJohn said:

 

This is the kind of thing that scares me... We were leaning the K-1 route because it would get her to the States faster -- but of course if we are unlucky like you and it takes just as long anyway, and THEN she still can't work and has to wait for the work permit and green card, that would be a nightmare scenario.  Just curious - did you have to complete an RFE or have anything else come up that has delayed your application, that you know of?  Of just simply checking and waiting.  Sorry to hear you've been waiting almost 10 months. I hope you get that NOA2 tomorrow!  Thanks for the reply, and good luck. 

First off, my case and that of many other May and June filers are well outside the norm. I don’t think many will see the delays that we are seeing. Things are much better now. 

 

We did have an RFE sent on February 21. They received their response on February 28.   There are May filers waiting who haven’t receive an RFE. There doesn’t seem to be a rhyme or reason. September filers are seeing approvals and late June and early July are already at POE. 

[NikLR 13,220]

4 hours ago, John & Rose said:

First off, my case and that of many other May and June filers are well outside the norm. I don’t think many will see the delays that we are seeing. Things are much better now. 

 

We did have an RFE sent on February 21. They received their response on February 28.   There are May filers waiting who haven’t receive an RFE. There doesn’t seem to be a rhyme or reason. September filers are seeing approvals and late June and early July are already at POE. 

July filers able to POE.  Jeez the whole K1 process used to take 4-6 months.  It was the only reason to look at it really.  

[John & Rose 7,239]

1 minute ago, NikLR said:

July filers able to POE.  Jeez the whole K1 process used to take 4-6 months.  It was the only reason to look at it really.  

True.  If I would have known we would have gotten married last April and filed a CR-1.  It would have saved me about $1000 and the AOS hassles.  Now it is possible that I will receive my hardcopy approval today but there is still the timetable to schedule interviews and take care of other requirements.  If lucky they can make POE by May.  That would only be 1 to 3 months quicker than CR-1 but I eliminate the AOS/EAD/GC process which will be another year.

[yuna628 9,539]

8 hours ago, VegasJohn said:

OP here -- I'm going to respond directly to a few posts above, but first of all I just wanted to say THANK YOU so much to everyone who has chimed in, shared their insight and experiences, and offered their thoughts. So glad I found this forum! When talking to friends and family about the trade-offs and difficulty of the choices/process, I think after hearing a few sentences they just kind of stare at you blankly and the terms mean nothing to them -- it's so great to interact with so many people who have been through or are going through the process. So, thanks!

 

Many of the comments have really gotten right to the crux of the issue for us -- while we do want her to get to the US as soon as possible... we might be willing to wait a couple extra months on her arrival in order to save the extra fees and avoid the extra waiting period for the work permit and eventually the green card.  However, if the K-1 visa got her here faster it wouldn't be terrible for her to wait the 4 months to get a work permit. I do a lot of my work from home, and have a flexible schedule as the owner of my own law practice, so she wouldn't be stranded alone all day like some of the comments mention. So we are lucky there.  So I guess what we really need to decide is whether we want to go through the hassle of getting married in Colombia when I'm there in 3 weeks from now, or just go ahead right now and submit the K-1 papers. (As one poster mentioned, the civil marriage process in Colombia is a little complicated - I'd need to start getting certified copies of my birth certificate and divorce decreed translated into Spanish by an official translator and get the documents apostilled right now; kind of a pain and some expense there....then get the marriage certificate translated into English by an official translator too), so realistically we probably could not apply for the CR-1 until more like May 1.  More than anything we really just want to be able to live together ASAP, and as soon after the new year as possible.  So I think from what I'm hearing we are probably going to stick with the K-1 process and hope for the best in terms of processing times, and we can get married in the civil courts here in Vegas very quickly (fortunately for us, Las Vegas has kind of perfected the super fast marriage thing down to a science, haha - we'd have our certificate the day we get married and could immediately apply for the green card)....  I just hope I don't end up in some never ending unkown waiting period of a year for the K-1. That would really suck. 

 

The reality was for us that we couldn't marry in his home country, he worked and saved throughout our K1 filing process, and I also had a good support system with savings myself. It took far longer than we anticipated, but we still pretty much managed to pull off the wedding we wanted. After the wedding, the combination of our funds and stable home life worked well for us, once we had married and applied for AOS. I am a housewife and care for my elderly mom, so during the period he could not work we had plenty of time to spend together. He managed to continue driving for a period of time, and not too long after that the EAD had arrived. We quickly got his license so he was all set. We had a minor RFE involving our AOS, this was not our fault but something on their end. We quickly resolved it and they approved it shortly after. The biggest problem that we did not anticipate was the job rejection. He's an educated man with excellent skill-sets, but it wasn't until some weeks after his GC arrived everyone wanted him. I can't really say what the issue was in this regard - maybe businesses were waiting to hire, perhaps it was that we lived in a tiny town and jobs didn't want to take a chance on someone that would need to commute an hour, or they didn't know what a EAD was.. etc. The hiring practice at his current employer took months. That added onto our waiting time, and the high cost of insurance started draining our savings. He was only offered part time, but within a few months was accepted in a full time position. I just want to stress that when it comes to jobs and immigrants, even educated and specialized ones, there is never any guarantee the jobs will come. It was initially humiliating for him, but I tried to keep him occupied and content while he waited at home. As long as she understands the reality of not being able to work, and you have support for any moments of being lonely or feeling the need to do something that might crop up, then a K1 works for many. Vegas will certainly give you options for marriage. When it comes to the immigration process, hope for the best, but expect that things will suck. That way you'll either be pleasantly surprised or never disappointed. ;-)