K1 Visa Process clarity?

[Crazy Cat 39,879]

Just as a recap:

 

Every couple has their own priorities, and each couple must decide which visa is better for their situation.

K-1
    Slightly faster arrival in the US    
    More expensive than CR-1    
    Requires Adjustment of Status after marriage (expensive and requires a lot of paperwork)    
    Spouse can not leave the US until she/he receives approved Advance Parole (approx 5-6 months)    
    Spouse can not work until she/he receives EAD (approx 5-6 months)    
    Some people have had problems with driver licenses, Social Security cards, leases, bank account during this period    
    Spouse will not receive Green Card for many months after Adjustment of Status is filed.

  

CR-1
    Slightly slower arrival in the US 

    Less expensive than K-1    
    No Adjustment of Status(I-485, I-131, I-765) required.    
    Spouse can immediately travel outside the US    
    Spouse is authorized to work immediately upon arrival.    
    Spouse receives Social Security Card and Green Card within 2 or 3 weeks after entering the US    
    Opening a bank account, getting a driver's license, etc. are very easily accomplished with GC, SS card, and passport.

    Spouse has legal permanent Resident status IMMEDIATELY upon entry to US.
  �

 

[Fe.Ta 859]

1 minute ago, CoriandPhilemon said:

What’s the difference between CR-1 and a regular spouse visa? 
 

If you look up in VJ, there are plenty of discussions and posts. Also, under “guides” and information, you can read up on both. 

[CoriandPhilemon 9]

1 minute ago, Fe.Ta said:

Once you are married, you submit the AOS (Adjustment of Status), the EAD (Employment Authorization Document), and AP (Advance Parole, which is for travel) applications (three in total). He cannot work until he received approval for EAD. We submitted ours in September 2019 and did got get the card itself until March 2020. Now, he can start working. For a CR1, they come with that already when they come to the US (if approved), so they can work from day one. Definitely read up on both options and get educated.

So when we file for AOS would that be when we choose CR1? Our opportunity to be married beforehand has come and gone so we are kind of stuck with the K-1 at this point. As far as I know. 

[Fe.Ta 859]

Just now, CoriandPhilemon said:

So when we file for AOS would that be when we choose CR1? Our opportunity to be married beforehand has come and gone so we are kind of stuck with the K-1 at this point. As far as I know. 

No, CR1 does not need an AOS application once they are here, only K1 needs it. Read what Lucky Cat shared above.

[CoriandPhilemon 9]

2 minutes ago, Lucky Cat said:

Just as a recap:

 

Every couple has their own priorities, and each couple must decide which visa is better for their situation.

K-1
    Slightly faster arrival in the US    
    More expensive than CR-1    
    Requires Adjustment of Status after marriage (expensive and requires a lot of paperwork)    
    Spouse can not leave the US until she/he receives approved Advance Parole (approx 5-6 months)    
    Spouse can not work until she/he receives EAD (approx 5-6 months)    
    Some people have had problems with driver licenses, Social Security cards, leases, bank account during this period    
    Spouse will not receive Green Card for many months after Adjustment of Status is filed.

  

CR-1
    Slightly slower arrival in the US 

    Less expensive than K-1    
    No Adjustment of Status(I-485, I-131, I-765) required.    
    Spouse can immediately travel outside the US    
    Spouse is authorized to work immediately upon arrival.    
    Spouse receives Social Security Card and Green Card within 2 or 3 weeks after entering the US    
    Opening a bank account, getting a driver's license, etc. are very easily accomplished with GC, SS card, and passport.

    Spouse has legal permanent Resident status IMMEDIATELY upon entry to US.
  �

 

THANK YOU. 🙏🏻

[SalishSea 16,984]

Nigeria is a high-fraud, high-risk country when it comes to US immigration.  You will want to do lots and lots of reading and research.

 

Have you only had the one in-person meeting?  If so, that will be an obstacle.

 

I believe K-1s are currently subject to the travel ban as well, but who knows how long that will last.

 

Good luck!

[Del A. 44]

11 hours ago, CoriandPhilemon said:

*what are some concrete examples of “proof of intent to marry”?

*what are some things YOU learned going through the process that you wish someone had told you? 

1. Proof of Intent to Marry:
In my case I am the beneficiary and I prepared our K1 packet. I made a "Proof of Intent to Marry" section and, in addition to Letters of Intent from both of us, I included the following:
a) Photos of my engagement ring, plus screenshots of our correspondence with the jeweler
b) Photos that other people took of my then-fiance (now husband) proposing to me
c) Screenshots of our online chat conversations where we talked about wedding plans and such (I used the "search" option and used marriage related keywords we both might have used so I got to pull up conversations from months back even). I labeled each screenshot with the corresponding date of conversation. 
d) A draft of our wedding plans - My husband and I got into it in detail, as in, itemized list of the reception menu, the wedding party, possible florists and caterers, music, etc. I also indicated a tentative wedding date of what I think would fall within the 90 days, serving as some kind of "assurance" that we intend to abide by the rules.

This photo is one page from our packet, showing item c) above:



It might seem a lot but I'm from the Philippines so I guess I can say there's a lot of fraud here, too. Hence my going the extra mile, lol.

2. Things I Learned
I can't say this is "I wish someone told me" but rather, "I wish I did it". So more like a regret, lol. I regret not making at least 2 photocopies of our entire K1 packet, including evidence documents and such, front to back. While filing for AOS I noticed the forms asked similar questions and I thought, "I wish I could refer to the K1 forms to make sure my info matched." Technically I knew how to fill out the AOS forms, but I just wanted to make absolutely certain that I wouldn't contradict anything I've previously submitted because that might come across as fraud. However, it could also be more situational in my case because 1) My husband and I have awful memory, lol and 2) Our info involves dates and years I didn't jot down (facepalm). By that I mean job history and history of residence. My husband has moved houses more than once, been through different employers, etc. And my mistake was I just asked him for the info in person, wrote it down on the form, and filed it. He didn't know it by heart either, he had to get a hold of previous employers to ask, it wasn't easy. And when we got the info, he didn't write it down anywhere else. So when we were asked again later on it was hard for us to recall. 😅

More importantly, having a duplicate copy of the K1 packet would help as your personal reference for subsequent interviews.

On another note, my husband and I chose K1 over CR1 despite all its flaws because frankly, we couldn't bear to be away from each other any longer and so to us, it was worth it. It really is case-to-case preference in my opinion, depending on how you guys weigh advantages and disadvantages. 😊

I hope this helps. Good luck on your journey!

Edited March 10, 2020 by Del A.

[Laotianbeauty 1]

20 hours ago, CoriandPhilemon said:

Hello! 
I am just beginning the K1 process and I have some questions, what are your go-to sources for information and FAQs about this process? 

*do I (the U.S. citizen) interview? If so, where?

*is the K1 visa affected by the (Nigerian) travel ban, despite it being a non immigrant visa? If so, will we be eligible for a waiver?

*what happens after it’s approved? How do we orchestrate the adjustment of status so that he doesn’t have to go back home? 
*what are some concrete examples of “proof of intent to marry”?

*what are some things YOU learned going through the process that you wish someone had told you? 

Hey there. I'm actually going through the process as well. 

1. You don't interview, just make sure you send a petition that is strong! 

2. From my understanding K1's aren't affected by the travel ban... thank god. It's just taking forever to process. 

3. If you're asking about if the visa is approved, he would have to come to the US within 6 months and you guys have to get married and file an AOS. 

4. Proof of intent to marry is basically a letter saying you guys will marry within 90 days of his arrival. 

5. I'm still waiting on my NOA 2... It's been a long wait. good luck! Also make doubles of everything. 

Edited March 10, 2020 by Laotianbeauty

[CoriandPhilemon 9]

14 hours ago, Jorgedig said:

Nigeria is a high-fraud, high-risk country when it comes to US immigration.  You will want to do lots and lots of reading and research.

 

Have you only had the one in-person meeting?  If so, that will be an obstacle.

 

I believe K-1s are currently subject to the travel ban as well, but who knows how long that will last.

 

Good luck!

Yes, so far we’ve had the 1 meeting. We were diligent to save as much paperwork and took lots of pictures,  the cost of travel has made that difficult for us. What can we do to address that obstacle?

[DaveAndAnastasia 2,079]

16 hours ago, CoriandPhilemon said:

What’s the difference between CR-1 and a regular spouse visa?

A CR-1/IR-1 is a regular spouse visa (it's an IR-1 if you've been married more than two years when the visa issued, so you get a non-conditional ten year green card; that's the only difference between the two).

 

The other kinds of spouse visas that exist are an F2A (I think) for spouses of green card holders rather than citizens, and K-3s, which are very rarely issued (only 5 all of last year or something like that, and the last few years have been similar; almost all K-3 applications get turned into CR-1 applications administratively) and go through a process similar to K-1s.

[NikLR 13,220]

50 minutes ago, CoriandPhilemon said:

Yes, so far we’ve had the 1 meeting. We were diligent to save as much paperwork and took lots of pictures,  the cost of travel has made that difficult for us. What can we do to address that obstacle?

Another visit.  And to be there when the interview is scheduled.  While you cannot attend the interview, previous members have taken their spouse's passports into the embassy to show their spouse was present in Nigeria at interview. 

[CoriandPhilemon 9]

30 minutes ago, NikLR said:

Another visit.  And to be there when the interview is scheduled.  While you cannot attend the interview, previous members have taken their spouse's passports into the embassy to show their spouse was present in Nigeria at interview. 

If we file the K-1 and then have another visit while it is processing, would that suffice? This information makes me feel discouraged. 😔

[CoriandPhilemon 9]

16 hours ago, Jorgedig said:

Nigeria is a high-fraud, high-risk country when it comes to US immigration.  You will want to do lots and lots of reading and research.

 

Have you only had the one in-person meeting?  If so, that will be an obstacle.

 

I believe K-1s are currently subject to the travel ban as well, but who knows how long that will last.

 

Good luck!

Also, when you say “lots of reading and research” what exactly do I need to be looking for? I am scouring this site for all the information I can find but is there something specific I should watch for? 

[SalishSea 16,984]

2 minutes ago, CoriandPhilemon said:

Also, when you say “lots of reading and research” what exactly do I need to be looking for? I am scouring this site for all the information I can find but is there something specific I should watch for? 

Read everything you can about the processes for Lagos.  It is in a class of its own when it comes to US immigration.  It has a high rate of K-1 denials due to the long history of immigration fraud there.

 

You will need  more time spent in person than couples from other countries.

[NikLR 13,220]

25 minutes ago, CoriandPhilemon said:

Also, when you say “lots of reading and research” what exactly do I need to be looking for? I am scouring this site for all the information I can find but is there something specific I should watch for? 

Part of what you're not seeing is your country portal because you don't have one selected.  Country portals are very important for learning US immigration nuances.