K1 vs CR-1 question

[iwannaplay54 985]

9 hours ago, GoSox said:

Hi everyone,

 

Looks like a pretty niche community I've been lurking for the past few months. I asked my girlfriend from Belarus to marry me early last month, so we are beginning process together.

 

We were deciding between K1 and CR1, and the advantages of CR1 are obvious to me and don't need to be reiterated.

 

My question is, the CR1 application's examples for evidence of bona fide marriage are things like cohabitation, joint finances, or even children. The K1 evidence is just evidence of "having met in the past 2 years." We have been together every month in 2022 with photographic evidence and documented flights and everything, so this will not be an issue. We do not have evidence of the sort expected for a CR-1 Visa, so we have tentatively opted for a K1. The other advantage of a K1 in our opinion is the consolidation of all legal documents into a single location (the USA).

 

Everyone here seems pretty hell-bent on steering new applicants to a CR-1, but this issue has me a little nervous, because I would obviously hate to be turned down and restart this process all over again.

 

Thanks!

We got one visit and married on that first visit.  We had nothing but marriage docs because I filed as soon as I got back.  We were fine. 
The big packages packed with evidence are usually stapled to the I130/I485 applications.  Those couples already live together in the US.

Edited January 4, 2023 by iwannaplay54

[beloved_dingo 1,935]

My husband and I did the K-1 in 2018, and got married in 2019. In 2018, CR-1 versus K-1 was more of a toss up but if we were going through the process now, we would absolutely do the CR-1. At this point, K-1 has pretty much zero advantages over CR-1. 

[top_secret 2,072]

We initially started preparing for either a K1 OR a CR1 petition in tandem before deciding to go all in on the CR1.  Best decision I ever made.  Not only was CR1 cheaper and easier but in our case, it ended up being way faster too. Like most here, our bona fide marriage evidence was very heavily weighted towards boarding passes, matching passport stamps and photos together.  Photos of me with her family probably worked well too. There are some things you can do comingling finances like adding her as an authorized user on your credit cards and I added her as beneficiary on my 401k. But those are probably secondary. Obviously, we had no joint bank accounts and never cohabitated.  I don't think you could find a single person here who regretted choosing CR1 over K1, but you could find a more than a few who went with K1 lamenting being stuck in adjustment of status purgatory.

[Redro 4,601]

1 hour ago, top_secret said:

We initially started preparing for either a K1 OR a CR1 petition in tandem before deciding to go all in on the CR1.  Best decision I ever made.  Not only was CR1 cheaper and easier but in our case, it ended up being way faster too. Like most here, our bona fide marriage evidence was very heavily weighted towards boarding passes, matching passport stamps and photos together.  Photos of me with her family probably worked well too. There are some things you can do comingling finances like adding her as an authorized user on your credit cards and I added her as beneficiary on my 401k. But those are probably secondary. Obviously, we had no joint bank accounts and never cohabitated.  I don't think you could find a single person here who regretted choosing CR1 over K1, but you could find a more than a few who went with K1 lamenting being stuck in adjustment of status purgatory.

I think the only people who really regret CR1 over K1 are those who have a relationship breakdown just as the beneficiary enters the US and because of timelines the CR1 converted to a IR1... but that's a totally different story and the couple is no longer a couple...