Concern About Green Card

[Sunny_Skies123 33]

Hello all,

 

I heard something from a FB group that made me concerned about mine and my fiancé's visa process, and so I'm posting here to get a piece of mind.

 

My fiancé (who is Canadian) and I are about to send in our I-129F packet. A FB member of a group I've joined told me that her sister, as well as many friends of hers, are all Canadian and married to Americans. She stated that is has taken them years to get their green cards. Her sister, who is married to an American, has spent 2 years trying to get her green card and is waiting for her interview at the embassy. I wasn't aware that this would really happen going the k-1 route. Does it really take years to get your green card? Is your fiancé allowed to live in the US with you until then? She did not know the process that any of them had used but her sister is married to an American and they are currently in Canada. Thanks for any advice in advance!

[K1visaHopeful 2,655]

It will depend on the processing times of your local field office. Yes, many urban centers with lots of immigrants can take 30plus months to actually be interviewed for the greencard.

Once you have applied for AOS you will enter a period of authorized stay.

In the mean time you can apply for work authorization and Advanced Parole. Those will allow you to work, drive in most states and leave and return to the US. Those too take time to process. Luckily they are estimated at 2.5 to 5 months currently but in recent months it was 6.5 to 8.5 months.

So yes, the K1 process to adjust status is a lengthy one. If you needed to work, drive, leave and return as soon as you arrived in the US, the better option would be to marry and file a Spousal Visa instead.

Edited August 5, 2019 by K1visaHopeful

[Sunny_Skies123 33]

3 minutes ago, K1visaHopeful said:

It will depend on the processing times of your local field office. Yes, many urban centers with lots of immigrants can take 30plus months to actually be interviewed for the greencard.

Once you have applied for AOS you will enter a period of authorized stay.

In the mean time you can apply for work authorization and Advanced Parole. Those will allow you to work, drive in most states and leave and return to the US. Those too take time to process. Luckily they are estimated at 2.5 to 5 months currently but in recent months it was 6.5 to 8.5 months.

So yes, the K1 process to adjust status is a lengthy one. If you needed to work, drive, leave and return as soon as you arrived in the US, the better option would be to marry and file a Spousal Visa instead.

Is there any way to find out what my local field office is ahead of time? We are about to send our packet and we are concerned. We are making sure to do everything right, and we don't want our hard work to be for nothing. He doesn't have to work and drive right away, I have no issues with that, we just want to know that we will be approved. 

[K1visaHopeful 2,655]

Input your zip code in the top blank and tell me what it says. 

 

https://www.uscis.gov/about-us/find-uscis-office/field-offices

 

I can show you your estimated processing times for that LFO once you do.

[MeghanK 625]

Since it seems like you might be a little unclear, are you aware you get a visa first? The visa through Canada takes like 6 months right now. With the K1 visa you come live in the USA and then apply for the green card... so you live in the USA while you are waiting for the pending green card. A CR1 visa for already married couples takes longer, so if you are taking advice from people who married PRIOR to applying for a visa the timelines are a bit different.

 

You can check your AOS office here: https://egov.uscis.gov/processing-times/ but again, your first step is getting the K1 visa which you get from the consulate in Montreal after your fiances I-129f petition is approved. You won't be applying for AOS for a while if you are only at the I-129f petition stage. 

[Sunny_Skies123 33]

14 minutes ago, K1visaHopeful said:

Input your zip code in the top blank and tell me what it says. 

 

https://www.uscis.gov/about-us/find-uscis-office/field-offices

 

I can show you your estimated processing times for that LFO once you do.

As I suspected, my field office is PHILADELPHIA. And they are moving some of theirs to other offices to speed it up....

[Sunny_Skies123 33]

18 minutes ago, MeghanK said:

Since it seems like you might be a little unclear, are you aware you get a visa first? The visa through Canada takes like 6 months right now. With the K1 visa you come live in the USA and then apply for the green card... so you live in the USA while you are waiting for the pending green card. A CR1 visa for already married couples takes longer, so if you are taking advice from people who married PRIOR to applying for a visa the timelines are a bit different.

 

You can check your AOS office here: https://egov.uscis.gov/processing-times/ but again, your first step is getting the K1 visa which you get from the consulate in Montreal after your fiances I-129f petition is approved. You won't be applying for AOS for a while if you are only at the I-129f petition stage. 

So the 6 month timeline, is that from the date USCIS receives it to when they get the K-1 approved? Do you know if most Canadians get approved? Thank you so much!

[MeghanK 625]

12 minutes ago, Sunny_Skies123 said:

So the 6 month timeline, is that from the date USCIS receives it to when they get the K-1 approved? Do you know if most Canadians get approved? Thank you so much!

Yes, and it could be quicker, could be slower. Every case is unique. Right now, I-129f petitions are being approved pretty quickly, some as quick as 3 months (this is through USCIS). Once that is approved it takes about a month or so to get to the consulate in Montreal (which is Dept of State, so USCIS is not involved in this step) where there will be a few steps for you to do before they invite you to schedule your Visa interview. Once approved for the visa, you typically get the visa returned to you in your passport in less than a week and can immigrate down to the USA. At that point you would have 90 days to marry and apply for your green card (back to USCIS processing). That's when the potential long wait starts, but at least you are with your partner for that.  

Most Canadians are approved for K1, but a lot of factors come in to play. It all depends on your individual case and the histories of both you and your fiance. Feel free to message me if you have more questions on the process, as me and my husband are currently in the "wait for green card" stage after going through K1 process in Canada, happy to offer more advice 

 

EDIT i mixed up who is the US citizen, I'm too lazy to edit it all, but you get the idea

Edited August 5, 2019 by MeghanK

[K1visaHopeful 2,655]

Philadelphia is actually about medium fast in comparison to a lot of other LFO's for AOS. There are quite a lot of others who are way slower. 10.5 to 20.5 is average.

 

https://egov.uscis.gov/processing-times/

 

[Sunny_Skies123 33]

19 minutes ago, K1visaHopeful said:

Philadelphia is actually about medium fast in comparison to a lot of other LFO's for AOS. There are quite a lot of others who are way slower. 10.5 to 20.5 is average.

 

https://egov.uscis.gov/processing-times/

 

Thank you for letting me know!

[K1visaHopeful 2,655]

1 hour ago, Sunny_Skies123 said:

Thank you for letting me know!

Do know that processing times change drastically over night. So what is happening now might not be relevant by the time you get to that stage in a year or so.

[Lebanese23 303]

On 8/5/2019 at 11:42 AM, Sunny_Skies123 said:

Her sister, who is married to an American, has spent 2 years trying to get her green card and is waiting for her interview at the embassy

I  honestly think you might have misunderstood her or she didn't provide enough details about her sister's case.. so NO it doesn't take years, the average is 6 months to get visa interview at US Embassy in Canada.  The Green card interview happens way after your fiance moves to the US and applies for it.  if this girl is living in Canada with her husband, perhaps they got denied the fiance visa and maybe now they are going through the spousal visa which probably elongated their timeline. she didnt give you enough details, so dont believe everything they say. talk with a canadian member or go visit the Canadian portal https://www.visajourney.com/portals/index.php?country=Canada for more accurate timelines from members currently going through it.