Stick with K1 or Start New CR1

[flicks1998 1,044]

2 minutes ago, Adventine said:

The PH fiance visa timelines from Feb 2020 and earlier years are no longer relevant to someone filing for a fiance visa in 2021.

 

It's no longer useful - in fact, can be actively harmful - to advise someone to file for a fiance visa based on one's experience from many years ago, instead of basing advice on the current situation of the thousands of K1 applicants in the PH who have been stuck for months or years without interviews.

Agreed and its only going to get uglier.  All of the lawsuits against USEM have had zero effect.  The very few that have seen movement are in that Jan-March 2020 group that USEM started processing in July.  Many are going to start seeing their K1 applications cancelled by USCIS which we have seen with others on the board.  If the OP is with their Fiance in the PI now, the only way is to do a CR1.  The K1 applicants who were waiting for interviews in Feb-March 2020 and were stuck at USEM applied back in mid-2019.  With over a 2 year wait, plus a 1+ year wait for AOS, timelines are now 3-4 years compared to maybe a year (or less) for CR1s to get to the same point in the process.  

[B_J 2,752]

So, to summarize,  if you live in the present time then CR1 is definitely quicker and probably preferred.

 

If you somehow exist in a time prior to COVID, then K1 is quicker and probably preferred. 

[RO_AH 1,623]

3 hours ago, B_J said:

 

If you somehow exist in a time prior to COVID, then K1 is quicker and probably preferred. 

Well I wouldn't say preferred. I chose CR1 prior to Covid and there are a lot of benefits to it. It depends on the couple and what's important.

 

But for the OP he is already there which currently is half the battle.

[hopefulfor2021 31]

On 8/4/2021 at 8:47 PM, Adventine said:

I'd say go get married. I am someone who also lived with her fiancé in the PH last year. In hindsight, I received wise advice to get married last year, but didn't push through with it, thinking that the Manila K1 backlog would resolve itself in 6 months to a year. Well, we all know what happened there.

 

The spousal visa is cheaper in the long run, you won't have to deal with the AOS process like you would with the K1, and as you say, if you decide to travel anywhere else in the world while waiting for the US spousal visa to be approved, it'll be easier for her to get visas as your wife, compared to if she was only your fiancée.

Seconding this.. wanted to switch to CR1 but my fiance's trip won't push through, Ph quarantine and whatnot. 

You have time. Get married and file online. It's a far easier process in the long run, and at least, even if the wait time is almost the same for a K1, your spouse would have her papers sorted a few weeks after landing in the US.