K1 or CR1? Covid Situation

[Juliet57 304]

11 hours ago, Bluegirl55 said:

Thanks a lot.

I know people who sent petition for K1 visa in November, and they didnt have any response.

I think CR1 is a much better choice than K1 its the same waiting process, about year.

I hope someone has experience related to incoming, because im student and parents would fill form (sponsor support) for me.

Do you know which office will take papers for our CR1 (texas, nebraska, potomac, california)?

 Does it depend on the location  where i live?

I wouldnt immediately assume that a cr1 would take the same time as a k1 to process. Advise you to check the timelines for the beneficiary's consulate

[SalishSea 16,770]

8 hours ago, Bluegirl55 said:

I read somewhere that it has to be sent for a petition to the embassy where the wedding took place?

Incorrect.  The petitioner will send it to the Texas lockbox.

[Ann Blair 39]

I’m a U.S. citizen petitioning for my U.K. husband. We’re doing CR-1 spouse visa. We talked through both options and decided spouse visa was best for us. Your loved one might get to the U.S. quicker with K1 (typical time was 6 months pre-pandemic), but long term, K1 is more expensive and when your loved one gets to the U.S. they can’t work. If they can’t work and don’t have money saved this leaves you the U.S. fiancé financially supporting them 100%. Once you get married in the U.S. they file for a change of status and eventually they get a work permit. I’ve heard the change of status should take 3-4 months, but know a couple who waited 8 months. With spouse visa, we got married in England and I came back to the U.S. and filed the visa. It’s very difficult being apart, but once he gets approved he’ll get his green card and be able to work immediately. The other thing to keep in mind is the U.S. Embassy in London has posted on their website that they are not processing K1 visas at this time. Whatever you decide read and ask a lot of questions. There are videos on YouTube that guide you through the forms. Best wishes!

[SalishSea 16,770]

8 minutes ago, Ann Blair said:

I’ve heard the change of status should take 3-4 months, but know a couple who waited 8 months

Nowhere does it take 3-4 months.  It is possible to get the EAD/AP card in 4-6 months, but green cards take at least one year, and more now with the COVID backups.

[SteveInBostonI130 3,319]

12 hours ago, SmilingDuck said:

K-1 usually has shorter wait times and money spread out into different forms.  It winds up costing a little more but your fiancé is in the usa quicker and the cost is spread out. You still have to do a lot of the paperwork when they get to the usa bc they don't have their green card / residence permit and you need to pay for the form for them to work.  

 

Cr-1 i think takes about a year before your fiancé is in the USA but all the money and forms are done at once so the cost is all upfront.  When they come they have their green card already.  I think they can work automatically too. 

 

Bc of Coronavirus everything is taking longer and uscis is increasing the price of all their forms.  

 

Idk about the cr-1 requirements bc I'm doing the k-1 Visa.  It's been about a year at this point and he's still not here but that's bc of coronavirus.  Unless the situation with covid 19 improves I'd suggest the cr-1. Idk how you will do it with no income though bc I think the income requirements are higher.  Please look it up and see.  

Not really correct.

 

K1 fees and timelines:

 - I-129F $535 at filing.  Day 1

 - DS-160 fee:, special for K1:  $265.  Just before interview (9-12 months typically)

 - Medical Fee, $Varies by country.($100-$300).  Just before interview (9-12 months typically)

 - AOS/EAD/AP fee, $1225 now, to be $2170 in Oct.  For the OP, it will be $2170   At AOS (Adjustment of Status), after wedding in US.

 

CR1 fees and timelines:

 - I-130 fee, $535 at filing, Day 1

 - AoS fee (Affidavit of Support) $120, NVC stage (3-9 months typically nowadays)

 - IV (Immigrant Visa fee, includes DS-260), $325, NVC stage (3-9 months typically nowadays)

 - Medical Fee, $Varies by country.($100-$300).  Just before interview

 - USCIS Immigrant fee, $220 (to print the green card).  After visa issued, just before or after US arrival.

 

Total for K-1, minus medical fee:  $1825 if AOS before Oct 2020, $2970 if AOS after Oct 2020

 

Total for CR-1, minus medical fee:  $1200

 

 

Not factored in the above is that CR-1 can work starting Day 1 of entry to US.  A K-1 visa has to wait for EAD, which takes 6-9 months.  At best, that is 6 months of wage potential lost.

 

[HRQX 4,145]

31 minutes ago, SteveInBostonI130 said:

 - AOS/EAD/AP fee, $1225 now, to be $2170 in Oct.  For the OP, it will be $2170

New AOS/EAD/AP fee is $2270. Cheaper if less applications are filed:

 

2 hours ago, Jorgedig said:

Incorrect.  The petitioner will send it to the Texas lockbox.

Or Online, since I-130 now has online filing option.

[Diane and Chris 651]

13 hours ago, Bluegirl55 said:

Thank you so much

Just to clarify. You do know that you and your spouse will be separated after marriage, right?  Unless you’re able to get a visitor visa, you will stay in your country until the CR-1 is approved. Best of luck to the two of you. 

[Luu 5]

14 hours ago, JFH said:

We got married in the US and did a
CR-1. I got married while I was visiting. It is possible to have a wedding in the US and not have to do the K-1. 

Well I wish i would have known that before but I'm already a year deep into k1 so it's too late for me now.  

[April M 28]

On 8/9/2020 at 7:05 AM, Bluegirl55 said:

Hi everybody.

I have some questions about visas. 

Which visa is better K1 or CR1? What is situation about COVID.? Which visa is shorter to wait K1 or CR1?

I read somewhere on internet that K1 visa has waiting time like CR1.

What are the requirements for CR1 if a person is not working, but he has a sponsorship support.

Im from Sarajevo. Thanks a lot.

My husband is CR 1 and it has been one thing after another. The covid has been also an issue. Everything is a wait. 

On the bright side there are a lot of CR1 and K1s that have been flying lately. It's a matter of just doing it , being persistent, precise what documents and getting it in. Follow directions. The ones that are good at following directions get it done. 

[Rajan sharma 0]

What about i 130 for spouse its been 15 months the case not been approved yet ??????? No answer from USCIS 

[Bret L Smith 15]

On 8/9/2020 at 7:55 PM, Bluegirl55 said:

Thanks a lot.

I know people who sent petition for K1 visa in November, and they didnt have any response.

I think CR1 is a much better choice than K1 its the same waiting process, about year.

I hope someone has experience related to incoming, because im student and parents would fill form (sponsor support) for me.

Do you know which office will take papers for our CR1 (texas, nebraska, potomac, california)?

 Does it depend on the location  where i live?

You fill out all your Forms and Upload all your Documents Online now.

No more mailing in Applications so you don’t have to worry about which Office it is assigned to.

[Blackbeekeeper 12]

On 8/9/2020 at 10:23 AM, JFH said:

A “little more” is debatable. After the October fee increase the K-1 will cost over $2000 more than the CR-1. Adjustment of status is increasing in cost from $1225 to $2170. There is no adjustment of status for CR-1. That’s an extra $2170 the K-1 people have to pay to be in an “inferior” status for months when they arrive. 
 

I never saw the benefits of a K-1 before the fee increase but even those who previously thought the K-1 was a good idea must now be re-thinking that. 

Where did you see this because I was looking on the site and there is no change to the 129f or do you mean all the forms combined is that total?

[HRQX 4,145]

5 hours ago, Blackbeekeeper said:

do you mean all the forms combined is that total?

JFH meant total cost. After USCIS fee change on October 2nd, see the fees below; https://s3.amazonaws.com/public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2020-16389.pdf

 

K-1

I-129F fee: $510

DS-160 fee: $265

Medical exam fee: Varies, but should be close to CR-1 visa medical exam fee (yet some K-1 cases end up paying even more later for Civil Surgeon exam in the US)

I-485 fee: $1130

(Optional to file) I-765 fee: $550

(Optional to file) I-131 fee: $590

 

CR-1

I-130 fee if filing by paper: $560; $10 discount if filing online instead: $550

DS-260 fee: $325

Affidavit of Support Review fee: $120

Medical exam fee: Varies

USCIS Immigrant Fee: $190

Edited August 17, 2020 by HRQX

[Bluegirl55 0]

Where we can see processing times? Which case is currently in the process for K1 and CR1? 

 

[DaveAndAnastasia 2,078]

2 hours ago, Bluegirl55 said:

Where we can see processing times? Which case is currently in the process for K1 and CR1? 

 

You can't actually see that.

 

You can see nominal official estimates on USCIS' web site, and self-reported averages of VisaJourney users over the last year here.

 

But it's clear USCIS is not using data to determine reported processing times right now (at least not for AOS, where field offices that have never had close to similar processing times are now showing the same absurdly large 9-35.5 month range), and VJ averages pick up speed ups a lot faster than slow downs because if your status isn't changing there's nothing to report.