K1 Visa & Church ceremony

[stag 51]

4 hours ago, Jorgedig said:

In another post, OP was inquiring about the intent to marry letters, so I'm assuming he hasn't filed the petition yet.  If it were me, and a church wedding/engagement ceremony/party at home was this important, I'd seriously consider doing a CR-1 instead.

 

Especially since there is no longer a measurable difference in processing times between the two visas, and the CR-1 has many, many clear advantages.

What advantages does CR-1 have over K-1? Thanks.

[SalishSea 16,851]

37 minutes ago, metuchen said:

What advantages does CR-1 have over K-1? Thanks.

@Lucky Cat, care to share your list?  🙂

[SalishSea 16,851]

41 minutes ago, metuchen said:

from what I read it can take up to 6-8 months to get the green card to be able to exit the country.

Not the green card (there is no way she would get it in under a year), that is the time it would take to get the AP document to be able to reenter the US after leaving.  One of the many K-1 drawbacks.

[Crazy Cat 39,560]

44 minutes ago, metuchen said:

What advantages does CR-1 have over K-1? Thanks.

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

K-1        
    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.
    A denied K-1 is sent back to USCIS to expire
  

CR-1    

    Less expensive than K-1    
    No Adjustment of Status(I-485, I-131, I-765, I-944) 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.

    
  �

 

Edited January 4, 2021 by Lucky Cat

[Illiria 980]

I hate to pile on but I have a first hand story - even after you get the fiancée visa and come over and get married having (or even being perceived to have had) a wedding can bite you in the ###.
 

At my adjustment of status interview the CO was given a photo of us at my father in laws wedding (second marriage) where my husband was witness - this was taken almost 6 years before and it’s one of my favourite photos of us together as I hate having my photo taken. I wasn’t wearing anything remotely like a wedding dress (nice blouse and dark coloured trousers basically what I wear to work), but my interviewer was convinced we had married and took a lot of convincing. I ended up offering to get the father in laws wedding certificate, photos of us with the bride and groom, and affidavits of the same before she backed down from stating ‘but this is your wedding’ and pointing at the photo. 
 

Yes they did grant my adjustment but the stress of waiting to see if they were going to make an issue of it, plus if English isn’t your first language or you aren’t good at standing up for yourself then this conversation could have gone another way unnecessarily. 
 

I will say the interviewers English was sub par. There were other issues with some of the questions not making sense or her not understanding what I was saying at all

Edited January 4, 2021 by Illiria
Clarity

[chi6488 93]

From reading all the prior post from a search make sure you take lots of pictures of the church ceremony to document K1 

Edited January 5, 2021 by chi6488

[AishaniA93 108]

2 hours ago, Jorgedig said:

Not the green card (there is no way she would get it in under a year), that is the time it would take to get the AP document to be able to reenter the US after leaving.  One of the many K-1 drawbacks.

The time taken to get the 2 year green card, does that depend on the local USCIS office or does it still go through the big processing centres? I was trying to figure out what the graphs mean on the guidelines page and noticed some offices like Boston and Newark were taking over a year but others like Nashville (which will be mine once I move I assume) is taking about 9 months. 

[SalishSea 16,851]

1 hour ago, AishaniA93 said:

The time taken to get the 2 year green card, does that depend on the local USCIS office or does it still go through the big processing centres? I was trying to figure out what the graphs mean on the guidelines page and noticed some offices like Boston and Newark were taking over a year but others like Nashville (which will be mine once I move I assume) is taking about 9 months. 

For the most accurate times, go to USCIS.gov.  Current processing/interview wait times for a family-based I-485 for Nashville is 13.5-26.5 months.

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

 

Edited January 5, 2021 by Jorgedig

[AishaniA93 108]

7 hours ago, Jorgedig said:

For the most accurate times, go to USCIS.gov.  Current processing/interview wait times for a family-based I-485 for Nashville is 13.5-26.5 months.

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

 

Sigh. We need a worldwide 2x speed button! Thanks for the info