DV Lottery of K1 Visa - Can I file for both?

[Petrisaint Mpaka 0]

Hi. 
I applied for the DV lottery 2025 and hope to be selected this year. My fiancé and I discovered that there is a fiancé visa for the USA. Do you think that if we apply for the K1 visa and that I am selected can I stop the fiancé visa process ? Will I have to stick with the K1 visa process or can I continue with the DV process ? If I can choose, is it going to cause us problem in my process? For those on the K1 visa process what the processing time for that ? And for the lottery after how much time can you expect to have an interview after being selected ? Thank you for the help ! 

[IWander 581]

29 minutes ago, Petrisaint Mpaka said:

Hi. 
I applied for the DV lottery 2025 and hope to be selected this year. My fiancé and I discovered that there is a fiancé visa for the USA. Do you think that if we apply for the K1 visa and that I am selected can I stop the fiancé visa process ? Will I have to stick with the K1 visa process or can I continue with the DV process ? If I can choose, is it going to cause us problem in my process? For those on the K1 visa process what the processing time for that ? And for the lottery after how much time can you expect to have an interview after being selected ? Thank you for the help ! 

You can have multiple petitions/applications going on simultaneously.  You can choose in the future which path you want to take without a problem.  K1 are taking more than a year but is also dependent on Consulate where the interview will be.  The backlog at some Consulates can be quite significant.

[Rocio0010 5,565]

1 hour ago, Petrisaint Mpaka said:

can I stop the fiancé visa process

Did you mean DV? 

If so, no, you don't need to interrupt the other petition. The two of them can coexist. Additionally, have you though of getting married and filing for a spousal visa instead? 

 

Paging @Crazy Cat about pros and cons of each.

[Crazy Cat 39,268]

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. 
   

 

[Petrisaint Mpaka 0]

1 hour ago, IWander said:

You can have multiple petitions/applications going on simultaneously.  You can choose in the future which path you want to take without a problem.  K1 are taking more than a year but is also dependent on Consulate where the interview will be.  The backlog at some Consulates can be quite significant.

Yes I heard about the backlog. I am in Switzerland and I don’t think there is a big backlog there.. 

[Petrisaint Mpaka 0]

44 minutes ago, Rocio0010 said:

Did you mean DV? 

If so, no, you don't need to interrupt the other petition. The two of them can coexist. Additionally, have you though of getting married and filing for a spousal visa instead? 

 

Paging @Crazy Cat about pros and cons of each.

Dv for Diversity. We thought about, pour first idea was to actually get married first and file for the spousal visa from abroad but unfortunately his job doesn’t allow him to move from the US currently so I am the one who is going to move. We spoke with an immigration attorney who told us that told us we could file for the k1 visa and also spoke to us about the expenses and everything. 

[Petrisaint Mpaka 0]

46 minutes ago, Crazy Cat said:

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. 
   

 

Thank you for the information! We thought about getting married first and than apply abroad but due to my fiancé situation with his job, he can’t move abroad this is why we thought about the k1 visa 

[AndiB 655]

3 minutes ago, Petrisaint Mpaka said:

Yes I heard about the backlog. I am in Switzerland and I don’t think there is a big backlog there.. 

you can apply for both, I did. You'll almost guaranteed hear back fro k1 before DV but you can have both going same time. I imagine if you by chance win DV, you can just decline
K1 will likely take 8-10months for you unless you're one of the small % who end up with a few month slower timeline. You can do a spousal to US instead which I believe takes 1-2yrs on ave. It's called a CR1

[AndiB 655]

To clarify he doesn't have to live with you for the spousal, many don't. He's actually required to have US domicile and salary to do a spousal with you. 
I personally didn't go for that due to wait time + living apart from my husband but each to their own

[Petrisaint Mpaka 0]

Just now, AndiB said:

you can apply for both, I did. You'll almost guaranteed hear back fro k1 before DV but you can have both going same time. I imagine if you by chance win DV, you can just decline
K1 will likely take 8-10months for you unless you're one of the small % who end up with a few month slower timeline. You can do a spousal to US instead which I believe takes 1-2yrs on ave. It's called a CR1

Thank you for the answer. The main reason we would like to go for the k1 visa is because of my fiancé situation with his job, he can’t move from the US, and because I am in Switzerland after speaking with an immigration attorney he informed us that the US consular here is not affected by the backlog so it’s pretty quick compared to other countries. So it’s also because it’s probably going to be quicker for us to be together 

2 minutes ago, AndiB said:

To clarify he doesn't have to live with you for the spousal, many don't. He's actually required to have US domicile and salary to do a spousal with you. 
I personally didn't go for that due to wait time + living apart from my husband but each to their own

Yes, that’s exactly the same for me. The wait time and being apart for too long

[carmel34 3,531]

11 minutes ago, AndiB said:

K1 will likely take 8-10months for you unless you're one of the small % who end up with a few month slower timeline. You can do a spousal to US instead which I believe takes 1-2yrs on ave. It's called a CR1

The timing difference may have been true many years ago.  Right now, K-1 and CR-1 are both taking 1-2 years.  CR-1 is the far superior way to go.

[appleblossom 1,309]

10 minutes ago, Petrisaint Mpaka said:

Thank you for the answer. The main reason we would like to go for the k1 visa is because of my fiancé situation with his job, he can’t move from the US,

 

Both the K-1 and the CR1 are for you to reunite with your spouse/fiance in the US, he can stay in the US throughout either route. The only differences are as CrazyCat has said above. 

Edited January 4 by appleblossom

[Crazy Cat 39,268]

24 minutes ago, AndiB said:

K1 will likely take 8-10months for you unless you're one of the small % who end up with a few month slower timeline.

Current average time from filing to interview is 18 months for a K-1 visa vs 21 months for a CR-1 visa per other VJ members.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 4 by Crazy Cat

[Crazy Cat 39,268]

25 minutes ago, Petrisaint Mpaka said:

The wait time and being apart for too long

The time difference to enter the US is not much different between a K-1 and a CR-1.  However, getting a Green Card is much. much faster for a CR-1 holder. 

Edited January 4 by Crazy Cat

[IWander 581]

42 minutes ago, Petrisaint Mpaka said:

Dv for Diversity. We thought about, pour first idea was to actually get married first and file for the spousal visa from abroad but unfortunately his job doesn’t allow him to move from the US currently so I am the one who is going to move. We spoke with an immigration attorney who told us that told us we could file for the k1 visa and also spoke to us about the expenses and everything. 

You can also get married now and he can file a petition for you to emigrate to the US as spouse.

 

If the immigration attorney did not suggest this as an option then they are not much of an immigration attorney 

Edited January 4 by IWander