Is there any point on waiting for a K-1 in China anymore.

[stuckonyou 75]

18 hours ago, Kaleb8082 said:

It seems that the travel ban will continue for a long, long time and that K-1's won't resume until late 2021/early 2022.

 

WHAT? From where did you get that information? 😩

 

I'm not in China, but Sweden is under the Schengen travel ban so still a travel ban that started because of the pandemic. I already had my interview in March, right when the travel ban came for us, so all I'm really waiting for is for the visa to be issued so that I can get going. But still... the thought that that won't happen for perhaps a year or more is devastating... We had preliminary plans for getting married in April this year, and it has already been 6 months past that... 😢💔

[Cheburashka34 228]

33 minutes ago, Kaleb8082 said:

Wow. This is really encouraging news. I hope they keep this pace going for the foreseeable future. If Biden becomes president, chances are it might even happen faster. Thanks for the stats!

Because biden has a magic wand?

17 minutes ago, stuckonyou said:

 

WHAT? From where did you get that information? 😩

 

I'm not in China, but Sweden is under the Schengen travel ban so still a travel ban that started because of the pandemic. I already had my interview in March, right when the travel ban came for us, so all I'm really waiting for is for the visa to be issued so that I can get going. But still... the thought that that won't happen for perhaps a year or more is devastating... We had preliminary plans for getting married in April this year, and it has already been 6 months past that... 😢💔

That is not accurate information. How could anyone know this?

[Kaleb8082 7]

1 minute ago, Cheburashka34 said:

Because biden has a magic wand?

That is not accurate information. How could anyone know this?

No, Biden does not have a magic wand. It was pure speculation, which is why I said "might". 

[Kaleb8082 7]

20 minutes ago, stuckonyou said:

 

WHAT? From where did you get that information? 😩

 

I'm not in China, but Sweden is under the Schengen travel ban so still a travel ban that started because of the pandemic. I already had my interview in March, right when the travel ban came for us, so all I'm really waiting for is for the visa to be issued so that I can get going. But still... the thought that that won't happen for perhaps a year or more is devastating... We had preliminary plans for getting married in April this year, and it has already been 6 months past that... 😢💔

I am speculating based on the timelines for the vaccine and the fact that the travel ban will most likely continue until the virus is under control, which seems like it won't be until the end of 2021. I know that the Philippines said they won't even consider opening their border until Sep 2021. I assume many countries may follow this path.  

[Cheburashka34 228]

3 minutes ago, Kaleb8082 said:

I am speculating based on the timelines for the vaccine and the fact that the travel ban will most likely continue until the virus is under control, which seems like it won't be until the end of 2021. I know that the Philippines said they won't even consider opening their border until Sep 2021. I assume many countries may follow this path.  

Well as you probably know Russia created and has distributed the first vaccine to all regions of Russia and there is still no opening of the embassy, only one IR1 interview has been scheduled that we know of since March, so I don't think it's based on a vaccine. I honestly thinks it's political at this point

[Kaleb8082 7]

6 minutes ago, Cheburashka34 said:

Well as you probably know Russia created and has distributed the first vaccine to all regions of Russia and there is still no opening of the embassy, only one IR1 interview has been scheduled that we know of since March, so I don't think it's based on a vaccine. I honestly thinks it's political at this point

Oh I completely agree that it is political. All the travel bans are power plays and not wanting to admit that one country is doing better or worse. Again, that's why I don't see the K-1's getting processed any time soon at all because I don't imagine President Trump or even President Biden will retract the travel bans. But unfortunately, the virus and the vaccine have become political so they are really one-in-the-same now. It seems like the CR-1 is really the only way now, unfortunately. At least for the next few years. 

[Juliet57 304]

19 hours ago, Kaleb8082 said:

I know that recently the Dept of State has said that as embassies open up around the world, they are authorized to make K-1 a priority. With one notable exception being that travel ban countries will not resume. My fiancée is from China and is currently there awaiting the time she can get her K-1. We are still waiting on our NOA2 after we received our NOA1 on April 30, 2020. It seems that the travel ban will continue for a long, long time and that K-1's won't resume until late 2021/early 2022. With that in mind, they will also have to process everyone that was in line during the travel ban, further increasing the waiting time. 

So, my question is would it be a better choice to find a third country, like Mexico, and get married? Then apply for the CR-1 since they are exempt from the travel ban and are currently interviewing in travel ban countries. It seems like the K-1 is practically dead, especially in countries with travel bans. Perhaps my logic is wrong but I was hoping to get some other perspectives on this. 

Nothing against you but I wish Mexico's gov closed the borders so that we could get our covid cases under control AND have our embassies restart working on CR1/IR1 interviews.

See timeline below, waiting for interview since Jan 2020...others been waiting for interview since March 2019. Eff covid for many reasons......

[Juliet57 304]

13 minutes ago, Cheburashka34 said:

Well as you probably know Russia created and has distributed the first vaccine to all regions of Russia and there is still no opening of the embassy, only one IR1 interview has been scheduled that we know of since March, so I don't think it's based on a vaccine. I honestly thinks it's political at this point

Mexico closed too except for emergency appointments, it's not a coincidence, it is a political move. 

Our backlog goes back to March 2019 (DQ).

[Cheburashka34 228]

6 minutes ago, Kaleb8082 said:

Oh I completely agree that it is political. All the travel bans are power plays and not wanting to admit that one country is doing better or worse. Again, that's why I don't see the K-1's getting processed any time soon at all because I don't imagine President Trump or even President Biden will retract the travel bans. But unfortunately, the virus and the vaccine have become political so they are really one-in-the-same now. It seems like the CR-1 is really the only way now, unfortunately. At least for the next few years. 

that's not really true. there are other embassies processing K1s. 

4 minutes ago, Juliet57 said:

Nothing against you but I wish Mexico's gov closed the borders so that we could get our covid cases under control AND have our embassies restart working on CR1/IR1 interviews.

See timeline below, waiting for interview since Jan 2020...others been waiting for interview since March 2019. Eff covid for many reasons......

Bless your heart

[HRQX 4,145]

10 minutes ago, Cheburashka34 said:

that's not really true. there are other embassies processing K1s.

OP was referring to K-1 visas in consular posts affected by PPNCOVs. Those consular posts have only issued a handful of K-1 visas, if any. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/visa-statistics/nonimmigrant-visa-statistics/monthly-nonimmigrant-visa-issuances.html

Edited October 6, 2020 by HRQX

[Cheburashka34 228]

21 minutes ago, HRQX said:

OP was referring to K-1 visas in consular posts affected by PPNCOVs. Those consular posts have only issued a handful of K-1 visas, if any. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/visa-statistics/nonimmigrant-visa-statistics/monthly-nonimmigrant-visa-issuances.html

Oh yes woops

[SoSol 27]

3 hours ago, stuckonyou said:

 

WHAT? From where did you get that information? 😩

 

I'm not in China, but Sweden is under the Schengen travel ban so still a travel ban that started because of the pandemic. I already had my interview in March, right when the travel ban came for us, so all I'm really waiting for is for the visa to be issued so that I can get going. But still... the thought that that won't happen for perhaps a year or more is devastating... We had preliminary plans for getting married in April this year, and it has already been 6 months past that... 😢💔

I wouldn't worry it about taking that long, the Schengen ban would probably lift before the China one... once the travel ban is lifted we are first in line because we have our interviews and just need a new medical exam for the visa stamp. 

[geocity 1]

I just want to say thank you to @Kaleb8082 for starting this discussion and all the insightful answers thus far.

 

I and my fiance are both in China right now and am considering abandoning the K1 process (we reached NOA2 in June 2020) and starting CR1 process, although for slightly different reasons described here, would love to hear your thoughts!: 

 

[geocity 1]

heye guys, for someone like Kaleb (and myself) how negative/ badly would it reflect on the CR1 process if we were to withdraw and stop the K1 process and get married (or vice versa), and then start the CR1 process? 

 

Would there be some problems faced due to stopping the K1 process mid-stream? Would it be seen as some kind of problem and further delay the CR1 process or be cause for getting rejected? 

 

How does one 'stop' or 'withdraw' from the K1 process ?

 

apologies for the paranoia, just want to be safe since this is a long multi-year process.

 

thank you!

Edited October 10, 2020 by geocity

[powerpuff 5,900]

34 minutes ago, geocity said:

heye guys, for someone like Kaleb (and myself) how negative/ badly would it reflect on the CR1 process if we were to withdraw and stop the K1 process and get married (or vice versa), and then start the CR1 process? 

 

Would there be some problems faced due to stopping the K1 process mid-stream? Would it be seen as some kind of problem and further delay the CR1 process or be cause for getting rejected? 

 

How does one 'stop' or 'withdraw' from the K1 process ?

 

apologies for the paranoia, just want to be safe since this is a long multi-year process.

 

thank you!

I believe it has no effect at all. 
 

you have to write a formal letter to USCIS indicating you want to cancel the petition and add your receipt number.