What country to do visa inteview in

[tofulollipop 7]

So we just got our I-130 approved today. My wife is a Mexican citizen, and we are currently living in Spain. However, I have accepted a new job offer in the US, and we will be leaving Spain on October 12th of this year so that I can start my new job, meanwhile my wife will move back to Mexico while we await her visa. Since we're still living in Spain, i imagine that we would get our visa interview scheduled in Spain (Madrid, though we currently live in Barcelona). Would it make more sense to go ahead and have her fly back to do her medical exam, interview, and wait out the visa in Madrid, or should we switch her address to Mexico and schedule the interview in Mexico? The reason I say so, is it seems like time to get an interview could be much quicker in Spain than in Mexico. That being said, of course it is kind of a pain to do everything when we will no longer be in Spain and will need to come back. If we decide to change our address to Mexico, will we be able to do so at the NVC stage?

[Boiler 45,670]

What will be her status in Spain?

[tofulollipop 7]

31 minutes ago, Boiler said:

What will be her status in Spain?

Technically, we just renewed our resident permits last month and so should have residency in spain until 2024. That being said, as I will no longer be working here, I don't know if the residency is valid or not since it was originally granted due to my job. Regardless, we should both be able to come as tourists without problem.

[Letspaintcookies 2,310]

You can't interview on a tourist visa but have to have some form of residency. And you're right. Interview wait times in Mexico are about a year so Spain would probably be faster. 

[tofulollipop 7]

3 minutes ago, Letspaintcookies said:

You can't interview on a tourist visa but have to have some form of residency. 

Good to know. Maybe it's best that i just hold onto my residency resolution paperwork and just bring that and we do it in Spain then

[pushbrk 12,979]

11 minutes ago, tofulollipop said:

Good to know. Maybe it's best that i just hold onto my residency resolution paperwork and just bring that and we do it in Spain then

If you do nothing to change it, NVC will assign a Madrid Case number and you won't need to document her status in Spain at all.  She'll definitely interview much sooner in Madrid than in Juarez.  

[tofulollipop 7]

17 hours ago, pushbrk said:

If you do nothing to change it, NVC will assign a Madrid Case number and you won't need to document her status in Spain at all.  She'll definitely interview much sooner in Madrid than in Juarez.  

Thanks for the info! Maybe that is the best strategy for us then to minimize wait time. Between the prior medical exam, the interview, and waiting to pickup her passport with the visa, I'd imagine in that case she will likely have to come back to Spain for upwards of a month or so at that point, yes?

[pushbrk 12,979]

6 hours ago, tofulollipop said:

Thanks for the info! Maybe that is the best strategy for us then to minimize wait time. Between the prior medical exam, the interview, and waiting to pickup her passport with the visa, I'd imagine in that case she will likely have to come back to Spain for upwards of a month or so at that point, yes?

Maybe that long.  More likely two weeks.  You might get a more specific Madrid answer, but a week before the interview and a week after should be enough if there are no complications.