Trump Administration Plans to Close Key Immigration Operations Abroad(merged)

[Hemutian 68]

2 minutes ago, Mr. Data said:

DCF stands for Direct Consular Filing. It is a process that allows qualifying immigration petitioners who are living outside the U.S. to file certain forms and petitions directly with USCIS units housed within US Consulates and Embassies abroad, instead of filing with the lockbox in the U.S. To qualify for DCF you will usually need to prove that the petitioner has legal residence status in the jurisdiction covered by the consular USCIS unit, and isn’t just traveling. For example, I’m an American living and working in China, I had to first show the Guangzhou Consulate that I had a valid Chinese residence permit before they accepted our I-130 petition and related documents. The upside of DCF is that (at least in my experience) it is much, much faster than filing in the U.S. Our I-130 was approved in four days.

 

I’m not sure how the process differs for K1 visas. Based on my quick glance at the Wikipedia article, it seems like maybe DCF is not available for K1 applications, since the petition required is different? Maybe someone else can chime in here.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_Consular_Filing

Thanks for the explanation.

I'm an American living in China, too, but I'm here on a 10-year tourist visa, no Chinese residence permit. Hopefully since mine's a K1 not a CR1 application, this won't affect me.

[Mr. Data 26]

2 minutes ago, Hemutian said:

Thanks for the explanation.

I'm an American living in China, too, but I'm here on a 10-year tourist visa, no Chinese residence permit. Hopefully since mine's a K1 not a CR1 application, this won't affect me.

I would assume that if you are on a tourist visa, you will not be able to take advantage of DCF and will need to file your fiancé’s petition with the USCIS lockbox in the U.S. In which case, this policy change wouldn't affect you since you won't be interfacing with any China-based USCIS units. 

 

That’s just my own uninformed read on the situation though – you might want to consider starting your own thread on the forum to ask a DCF expert.

[Cyberfx1024 7,978]

13 minutes ago, Hemutian said:

Thanks for the explanation.

I'm an American living in China, too, but I'm here on a 10-year tourist visa, no Chinese residence permit. Hopefully since mine's a K1 not a CR1 application, this won't affect me.

Well unless you are trying to file for the K1 visa using DCF then this will not affect you at all.

[Hemutian 68]

1 hour ago, Mr. Data said:

I would assume that if you are on a tourist visa, you will not be able to take advantage of DCF and will need to file your fiancé’s petition with the USCIS lockbox in the U.S. In which case, this policy change wouldn't affect you since you won't be interfacing with any China-based USCIS units. 

 

That’s just my own uninformed read on the situation though – you might want to consider starting your own thread on the forum to ask a DCF expert.

That's exactly what I did, so I guess I'm okay...

Thanks

[Hypnos 6,576]

18 hours ago, Cyberfx1024 said:

Well unless you are trying to file for the K1 visa using DCF

There is no such thing as K-1 DCF. DCF is for immediate relatives only.

[geowrian 22,335]

To confirm DCF for an I-129F is not available, here's the relevant part of the FAM that the COs use:

https://fam.state.gov/fam/09FAM/09FAM050207.html#M502_7_5

9 FAM 502.7-3(B)(d)(1)(a):

"Fiancé(e) Petition:  Form I-129F, Petition for Alien Fiancé(e), may not be filed with, or approved or denied by, a consular officer or an immigration officer stationed abroad.  All K visa petitions must be filed with USCIS in the United States.  If the citizen fiancé́(e) is abroad at the time the K visa petition is filed, you should advise the petitioner to review USCIS' website for information on how to submit the completed petition, supporting documents, and appropriate fee to USCIS.  After the petition is approved, USCIS will transmit it to NVC, which will alert the appropriate post."

[Just Paul 4,591]

On 3/19/2019 at 6:17 PM, Hemutian said:

I'm an American living in China, too, but I'm here on a 10-year tourist visa

Isn't a Chinese Tourist visa only good for 90 days at a time?  I have a 10 year business visa and it is only good for 60 days at a time.

[Hemutian 68]

On 3/29/2019 at 4:28 PM, Paul & Mary said:

Isn't a Chinese Tourist visa only good for 90 days at a time?  I have a 10 year business visa and it is only good for 60 days at a time.

My tourist visa is the same as your business visa. It's only good for stays of 60 days' length at a time.

But technically the visa is still for "10 years", it's just the stay time that's limited.

I live near Hong Kong, so visa runs every 60 days are easy.