Do you recommend the K-1 visa or the K-3 visa more?

[Athenahh 2]

While we are on the process of applying for the K-1 visa right now, one of my co workers told me that I could just fly to the US, get married, then aply for the K-3 visa, she said thats what she did when she was in the states but I feel like her info is wrong? Because if you were able to just do that, then there wouldnt really be a whole process to it, I want to apply for the K-3 visa so when we submit the application I can stay in the US (or that was my understanding of it, or am I thinking of a different visa?) while for the K-1 visa I would have to wait for it to be approved before I can move to the US and we would get 90 days to marry. We honestly just want to be together as soon as we can and the 7 months - 17 months wait for the K-1 visa sounds too long and too stressful, if we do choose to go down the K-1 visa route hopefully it wont take too long since I am from Canada and a Canadian CItizen

[millefleur 5,035]

53 minutes ago, Athenahh said:

While we are on the process of applying for the K-1 visa right now, one of my co workers told me that I could just fly to the US, get married, then aply for the K-3 visa, she said thats what she did when she was in the states but I feel like her info is wrong?

How long ago did she do that? K-3's have been rendered obsolete for a while now, they are almost never issued anymore. If you file a K-3, they'll just close it out and switch it to a spousal visa application.

 

55 minutes ago, Athenahh said:

I want to apply for the K-3 visa so when we submit the application I can stay in the US (or that was my understanding of it, or am I thinking of a different visa?)

That's wrong, there's no process where you can submit the petition and then wait it out inside the US for a visa. There is adjustment of status for people who are already inside the US and then decide to change their status via marriage. 

 

58 minutes ago, Athenahh said:

I would have to wait for it to be approved before I can move to the US and we would get 90 days to marry.

In both cases, married or not (K-1 or spousal visa), you'll have to wait for your visa to process before you can permanently move to the US. It's unfortunate but it's just the way things are with US immigration for spouses/fiances. 

 

There are pros and cons to K-1 vs spousal visa. I will tag @Crazy Cat so he can share the breakdown for that.

[Crazy Cat 39,262]

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 6-8 months) 
  Spouse can not work until she/he receives EAD (approx 6-8 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 K-1 might be a better choice when 18-21 year old children are immigrating also
  In some situations, marriage can affect certain Home country benefits, making a K-1 a better choice 
  A denied K-1 is sent back to USCIS to expire
  K-1 entrant cannot file for citizenship until after having Green Card for 3 years.
  Once an I-129F has been approved, delaying the case is difficult to impossible if the need arises.

CR-1/IR-1
  Less expensive than K-1 
  No Adjustment of Status(I-485, I-131, I-765) 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.
  The clock for citizenship filing starts immediately upon entry to the US.
  A CR-1/IR-1 case can be delayed indefinitely at NVC if the need arises. 
   

 

[carmel34 3,531]

9 hours ago, Athenahh said:

if we do choose to go down the K-1 visa route hopefully it wont take too long since I am from Canada and a Canadian CItizen

K-1 takes 18 months give or take, from filing the initial I-129F petition to visa interview.  If you decide to get married and then go the I-130 petition/CR-1 spousal visa route, which has many advantages and is less expensive, the timeframe is about the same.  It doesn't make any difference that you're from Canada.  In fact, Montreal has had long waits for visa interviews in the past vs. many other countries.  You can visit each other during the long process.  Good luck!

[Daphne . 1,679]

11 hours ago, Athenahh said:

one of my co workers told me that I could just fly to the US, get married, then aply for the K-3 visa, she said thats what she did when she was in the states but I feel like her info is wrong

Yes, that advice is not above board.. Also, that wouldn't be the K3 but that would be an adjustment of status. Immigration takes a while, it is a marathon and not a sprint. 

 

[powerpuff 5,905]

*** Topic moved from K1 Progress Reports to What Visa Do I need ***
 

As mentioned by others, K3’s are obsolete and have been replaced by CR1/IR1 spousal visa.

 

There is no visa available to work and live in the US while waiting for the process, be it K1 or CR1. That would kind of defeat the purpose of having those in place if people could just come and live in the US. 
 

13 hours ago, Athenahh said:

We honestly just want to be together as soon as we can and the 7 months - 17 months wait for the K-1 visa sounds too long and too stressful, if we do choose to go down the K-1 visa route hopefully it wont take too long since I am from Canada and a Canadian CItizen

I sympathize with you - none of us wanted to wait so long to be reunited with our significant other. However, most here have been separated for months or years during the process. It’s a normal part of the immigration process.

 

I’m not sure how being Canadian makes the process faster. In fact, Montreal is one of the busiest consulates due to a sheer number of applicants. I think now the wait time has improved slightly but before it was actually much longer than a lot of other consulates. 

[millefleur 5,035]

@Athenahh be glad that at least as a Canadian citizen you can visit the US during the process. Folks from other countries who require a tourist visa to enter often cannot even do that as they get rejected for tourist visas.

 

 

[powerpuff 5,905]

15 minutes ago, millefleur said:

@Athenahh be glad that at least as a Canadian citizen you can visit the US during the process. Folks from other countries who require a tourist visa to enter often cannot even do that as they get rejected for tourist visas.

 

 

That’s an excellent point. I was not able to visit the US as I didn’t have a tourist visa and we had to rely on my now-husband to take time off work to visit me which was not that frequent unfortunately. Between submitting the K1 petition and my interview/entry which took 13 months, we only saw each other once during that time frame.

[JeanneAdil 6,202]

no matter what country and u don't need a tourist visa

 

Coming to the US on a visitor visa with the sole intention of getting married in the US and then filing for adjustment of status is deemed to be visa fraud, and US immigration officers do not take kindly to anyone they perceive has committed visa fraud.

[TexasRafael 102]

If you are able to get married in your country, then get married and file for a CR1 and surely by the time you enter the US you immediately get your SS and Green Card.

[Athenahh 2]

On 12/20/2023 at 9:17 PM, millefleur said:

How long ago did she do that? K-3's have been rendered obsolete for a while now, they are almost never issued anymore. If you file a K-3, they'll just close it out and switch it to a spousal visa application.

 

That's wrong, there's no process where you can submit the petition and then wait it out inside the US for a visa. There is adjustment of status for people who are already inside the US and then decide to change their status via marriage. 

 

In both cases, married or not (K-1 or spousal visa), you'll have to wait for your visa to process before you can permanently move to the US. It's unfortunate but it's just the way things are with US immigration for spouses/fiances. 

 

There are pros and cons to K-1 vs spousal visa. I will tag @Crazy Cat so he can share the breakdown for that.

I believe she said she applied for it a few years ago, and that she did it twice with 2 different people, not really sure about anything she said and I was skeptical of it and I was very unsure becasue I want to stay at the US legally and I dont want to commit any type of fraud, I feel like we'll just end up applying for the K-1 visa as its what works the best for us in the moment, we dow ant to be together ASAP but we also want atleast 9 months since the application before I move to the US to him so we can both save up/pay off any debts we owe

[Athenahh 2]

On 12/21/2023 at 5:42 AM, carmel34 said:

K-1 takes 18 months give or take, from filing the initial I-129F petition to visa interview.  If you decide to get married and then go the I-130 petition/CR-1 spousal visa route, which has many advantages and is less expensive, the timeframe is about the same.  It doesn't make any difference that you're from Canada.  In fact, Montreal has had long waits for visa interviews in the past vs. many other countries.  You can visit each other during the long process.  Good luck!

oh gosh thats so long, I guess we arent going to be moving in by next year together like we wanted too, thank you!

[canadian_wife 1,791]

Sadly no, it is a long process to buckle up and start reading the entire process for Canadians.  Like what will you do for health care once you move to the US?  The only consulate that does visa interviews is Montreal - are you prepared for that travel?  Do you have your long form birth certificate and vaccines updated?

 

Good luck