Cali Processing times/Visiting/ Spanish Embassy...Help!

[SarahxRuby 1]

Hey guys! So I'm here for some guidance, I've been reading around and not finding much to keep my  anxiety at bay. 😂  My fiance and I are still waiting on our NOA2 for our K1 visa and we are trying to go ahead and plan ahead. The big question is him visiting the US on an approved ESTA visa he just received. We got our NOA1 on Aug.18th. Its at the California visa center, which seems to be having about a 3 month turn around. Visajourney seems to predict about Nov. 20 approval date... BUT we are wanting him to visit for 3 months from about Oct 20th.- Jan 11th. Should we cancel his trip? Shorten it? Buy insurance to be able to move his return flight? Our case will go to the Madrid, Spain embassy and I can't find up to date info on interview turn around time... We really want him to visit the US to triple check he wants to actually live here before moving ahead with this massive commitment. (Not with me... just with America!)

 

Can anyone link me any threads or helpful people who have worked with the Embassy in Madrid? As well? I would love to find someone who has recently gone through the process to lean on if at all possible. 

 

I'm at a lost on what to do! Help please friends!

 

[HRQX 4,145]

10 minutes ago, SarahxRuby said:

Its at the California visa center, which seems to be having about a 3 month turn around. Visajourney seems to predict about Nov. 20 approval date... BUT we are wanting him to visit for 3 months from about Oct 20th.- Jan 11th. Should we cancel his trip? Shorten it? Buy insurance to be able to move his return flight? Our case will go to the Madrid, Spain embassy and I can't find up to date info on interview turn around time... We really want him to visit the US to triple check he wants to actually live here before moving ahead with this massive commitment. (Not with me... just with America!)

Or he can enjoy the planned trip and wait to submit DS-160, etc. He can also contact the embassy to verify if they automatically extend the NOA2 validity by 4 month increments.

[SarahxRuby 1]

Just now, HRQX said:

Or he can enjoy the planned trip and wait to submit DS-160, etc. He can also contact the embassy to verify if they automatically extend the NOA2 validity by 4 month increments.

I also thought of this, but we do want this done as soon as possible. We are both teachers and would ideally love for him to have his AOS process completed by next August so he can work in a school. So I think that this isn't an option for us, but good back up for sure. Well probably ask to know anyways.Thanks for the info! 

[HRQX 4,145]

15 minutes ago, SarahxRuby said:

would ideally love for him to have his AOS process completed by next August so he can work in a school.

An alternate option is for you to quickly visit him (e.g. weekend trip) and you marry in Gibraltar. Gibraltar just requires a 1 night stay within Gibraltar: http://www.visitgibraltar.gi/getting-married Or he quickly visits you and you marry in Las Vegas or Reno, NV:

Then you file the I-130 petition at the appropriate lockbox: https://www.uscis.gov/i-130-addresses This has a higher chance of getting the green card quicker than K-1 AOS. Field office processing times: https://egov.uscis.gov/processing-times/ The first number is the time it takes to complete 50% of cases (the median). The second number is the time it takes to complete 93% of cases.

Edited September 2, 2019 by HRQX

[SarahxRuby 1]

1 minute ago, HRQX said:

An alternate option is for you to quickly visit him (e.g. weekend trip) and you marry in Gibraltar. Gibraltar just requires a 1 night stay within Gibraltar: http://www.visitgibraltar.gi/getting-married Then file the I-130 petition at the appropriate lockbox: https://www.uscis.gov/i-130-addresses This has a higher chance of getting the green card quicker than K-1 AOS. Field office processing times: https://egov.uscis.gov/processing-times/ The first number is the time it takes to complete 50% of cases (the median). The second number is the time it takes to complete 93% of cases.

We considered getting married in Spain (Didn't think about Gibraltar) before I relocated back to the states. We couldn't do it though because the process to marry in Spain took 45 days or so and I had to be back in the states to start my new job. Plus we aren't apart as long with the k1 process vs. the C1. We have invested in the k1 and there is no going back now... I think... Plus no way I could get there with a weekend trip, it would be great, but school has started and I don't think my principle will approve of a quick international trip, it would be cool though! Wish I would have asked you about this a couple months ago! 

[HRQX 4,145]

5 minutes ago, SarahxRuby said:

I don't think my principle will approve of a quick international trip

Could he have a short trip instead?

11 minutes ago, HRQX said:

Or he quickly visits you and you marry in Las Vegas or Reno, NV:

 

Since he has an approved ESTA, he can attempt to make multiple short trips so that you don't have to be physically separate the whole CR-1 process time.

Edited September 2, 2019 by HRQX

[SarahxRuby 1]

1 minute ago, HRQX said:

Could he have a short trip instead?

Since he has an approved ESTA, he can attempt to make multiple short trips so that you don't have to be physically separate the whole CR-1 process time.

Ideally yes, but there is no way we can afford it, I mean we could but not willing to dip into our savings for that many international flights. It is why we are so apprehensive about the one trip we have already planned. I assume we would then loose the $535 we did for the K1 and all this time. I just don't think we could handle doing this switch, I rather wait and not complicate things. Our case is really straight forward. These are some wonderful solutions that are good to know though. 

[HRQX 4,145]

13 minutes ago, SarahxRuby said:

I assume we would then loose the $535 we did for the K1 and all this time.

The $535 for the I-129F would be lost; correct. Even so, the total costs in both scenarios would be relatively close for your case.

K-1:

I-129F fee you already paid so no longer relevant

Embassy fee $265

Medical exam fee; same as CR-1 (except if the K-1 exam isn't marked complete and a US civil surgeon is needed during Adjustment of Status, then K-1 becomes more expensive)

Adjustment of Status $1225

 

CR-1:

Airfare, hotel, etc. costs to marriage location; varies

I-130 fee $535

NVC fee $445

Medical exam fee

USCIS Immigrant Fee $220

[DaveAndAnastasia 2,078]

I'd check with other posters with a Spanish fiancé and figure out if there's anything he needs to do in-person in Spain other than showing up for the interview and medical exam. In a lot of countries you can schedule both of those, and get police certificates and the like online.

 

The VJ average from NVC Ready to interview in Madrid is about 2.5 months, and VJ average for NOA2 to NVC ready is about 1.5 months, so you're probably figuring 4 months from NOA2 to interview in any case.

Edited September 2, 2019 by DaveAndAnastasia

[SarahxRuby 1]

49 minutes ago, HRQX said:

The $535 for the I-129F would be lost; correct. Even so, the total costs in both scenarios would be relatively close for your case.

K-1:

I-129F fee you already paid so no longer relevant

Embassy fee $265

Medical exam fee; same as CR-1 (except if the K-1 exam isn't marked complete and a US civil surgeon is needed during Adjustment of Status, then K-1 becomes more expensive)

Adjustment of Status $1225

 

CR-1:

Airfare, hotel, etc. costs to marriage location; varies

I-130 fee $535

NVC fee $445

Medical exam fee

USCIS Immigrant Fee $220

Taking into account the international flights, domestic, the hotel and the original $535... it would far exceed the cost for the K1 and we just can't do that now. Even if we penny pinched you never know what could come up and couldn't risk the time or the money... I think. Considering this complicates everything, I'm high anxiety and the risk of it all just seems too much. 

[SarahxRuby 1]

50 minutes ago, DaveAndAnastasia said:

I'd check with other posters with a Spanish fiancé and figure out if there's anything he needs to do in-person in Spain other than showing up for the interview and medical exam. In a lot of countries you can schedule both of those, and get police certificates and the like online.

 

The VJ average from NVC Ready to interview in Madrid is about 2.5 months, and VJ average for NOA2 to NVC ready is about 1.5 months, so you're probably figuring 4 months from NOA2 to interview in any case.

I am going to see if I can find some other posters with Spanish fiancè, just having trouble locating them exactly, hahaha. Where he is in Spain everything goes really slow... so yes, online would be ideal but they also seem to be living in an ¨in-person¨ past sometimes.

 

As for the interview process times in Madrid... where are you finding this information?! So if we go get our NOA2 around the end of November, him getting back around January 11th would be in the clear? If I can just figured out if the Madrid embassy schedules the interviews or us! Ugh, maybe I'm just not punching in the right key words! 

[DaveAndAnastasia 2,078]

14 hours ago, SarahxRuby said:

As for the interview process times in Madrid... where are you finding this information?! So if we go get our NOA2 around the end of November, him getting back around January 11th would be in the clear? If I can just figured out if the Madrid embassy schedules the interviews or us! Ugh, maybe I'm just not punching in the right key words! 

I'm just going by what other VJ users have posted in their timelines, so here https://www.visajourney.com/timeline/stats.php?cfl= has per-country NVC to interview averages as reported by other posters here (note that this can run into small sample size issues and reporting bias), and here has the average processing times at each step as reported by VJ users: https://www.visajourney.com/content/k1historical/

 

This is not official information, and these are averages; some cases will have been faster, some slower, and some much slower.

[TenderHearted 39]

16 hours ago, SarahxRuby said:

We considered getting married in Spain (Didn't think about Gibraltar) before I relocated back to the states. We couldn't do it though because the process to marry in Spain took 45 days or so and I had to be back in the states to start my new job. Plus we aren't apart as long with the k1 process vs. the C1. We have invested in the k1 and there is no going back now... I think... Plus no way I could get there with a weekend trip, it would be great, but school has started and I don't think my principle will approve of a quick international trip, it would be cool though! Wish I would have asked you about this a couple months ago! 

You could have married in Spain, you would just have to had waited the 45 days or so for the approval by the civil registry, then you could have went back to marry after getting the approval. This is what I am up against now. No doubt we will go the CR-1 route, and since I don't live in Spain (But of course she is a Spaniard by birth and residence), I'll end up making a trip just to get the paperwork applied for, then another a few months later to actually marry her. There are a few things that have to be done in order to marry in Spain, but at least her family would be there, which for me would be a plus.

 

I have considered Gibraltar, but keep in mind, you still need to look on the Gibraltar Ministry's website for all the details. It's not as easy as you might think, but it's not nearly as hard as the paperwork to marry in Spain.

[Melc 138]

18 minutes ago, TenderHearted said:

 

I have considered Gibraltar, but keep in mind, you still need to look on the Gibraltar Ministry's website for all the details. It's not as easy as you might think, but it's not nearly as hard as the paperwork to marry in Spain.

 

I would disagree with it not being easy in Gibraltar. For us it was an absolute breeze, with the staff being helpful on the phone when I had some questions.  

 

We specifically opted NOT to get married in Spain in spite of both living there, and go to Gibraltar instead, because it was that much simpler; especially with no requirement of proving you're allowed to marry, just an affidavit at a local solicitor. 

 

 

Edited September 3, 2019 by Melc

[SarahxRuby 1]

1 hour ago, DaveAndAnastasia said:

I'm just going by what other VJ users have posted in their timelines, so here https://www.visajourney.com/timeline/stats.php?cfl= has per-country NVC to interview averages as reported by other posters here (note that this can run into small sample size issues and reporting bias), and here has the average processing times at each step as reported by VJ users: https://www.visajourney.com/content/k1historical/

 

This is not official information, and these are averages; some cases will have been faster, some slower, and some much slower.

Thanks for the links, ill be investigating.  All in all I guess we just have to guess... buy the tickets with flexible dates and pay a change fee need be. Not having official information makes me nauseous, but I know what I've signed up for.