ReggieSF

:star: Congratulation!!! :dance:

My wife's case was forwarded to CSC. This week.

We are hoping our case is push throuh quickly. Our biometrics is tomorrow.

Thanks! For our case it was very fast. I have a feeling that processing will be faster this year.

Congratulations to your wife on getting her green card!

So much to be grateful for and to celebrate! Good luck with everything and best wishes!

Thank you!

Today, my wife received her green card in the mail!

I'd like to share our "journey" and maybe it might help those who were in a similar situation. I'll make this brief.

We met online March 2011 through a common friend. Through Facebook, Skype, Viber, Yahoo! email, and phone calls we fell in love. She visited me from Ireland July for a 10 day vacation. No awkward feelings at all between us. Just felt natural to be together. She went back to Ireland. I followed her there September of 2011 for a 10 day vacation too. I proposed to her. She accepted (whew!. After reading and researching and reading some more we decided to do the fiancee visa route. Our plan was for her to spend her vacation with me here and then file for the Visa. Unfortunately she was given only 30 days. We decided to get married in the states because 30 days was too short! We hired a lawyer. got married December 6. filed for AOS December 30. Interview was done march 24. received card today!

For those who are feeling nervous or anxious about the whole process, don't be. I was. But my wife was very calm and cool and actually was the one who helped me calm down. Interview was pretty painless.

Posted times by USCIS from NOA1 to NOA2 is 5 months for fiancee petitions (I-129F) and spouse petitions (I-130). It may not take that long, or it may take longer.

No

To the best of my knowledge, I know of no rule or law that says you cannot file while she is here.

I went to my local USCIS and used the InfoPass. The immigration officer said that once we get married here, I should file the Adjustment of Status and I-130. I asked her if my wife needs to go back to Manila or Dublin to wait for processing she said no. And also asked where the medical exam and interview will be done. she said itwill be done here. Is this something new?

Reggie--

1) Get married immediately

2) File I-130 as soon as you can to get the CR-1 ball rolling--all you have to wait for is the marriage certificate

3) FORGET anything else--you are still mixing up the process--it is simple, simple, simple--read ONLY about the CR-1

4) In 3 - 6 months you will go to step 2--I-864, I-230, etc

5) She can stay as long as her visa is valid--you will likely be done with the I-130 by then

6) Medical is done in her home country (or Ireland)--not here--

It is really, really easy--read the CR-1 instructions, and have her bring the required documents with her or order them immediately if she doesn't have them in Ireland

Magical,

Thank you! That really boosted my confidence! Regarding #5 is it OK for her to quit her job already in Ireland before she comes here using her Tourist visa to come here? Might it create any problems during the process?

I loved point #1. That's what we want.

We talked about her coming here this October, and since we're undecided on which route (k-1 or Cr-1) to take it has been very stressful especially for me.

If you have evidence of meeting sometime in the last 2 years and the other things in the guide you could file today. The only thing stopping that is her signature is required on the biographic forms. She could visit at any time during the process ( as long as she shows stong ties to where she left from) WIth either path the interview will be either in her home country or the place she is legally residing.

Does this mean that she should not quit her job in Ireland?

The medical and interview CANNOT BE DONE HERE. SHE CANNOT ADJUST IN COUNTRY. Both a fiance visa or a spousal visa require that the person go home for medical and interview. Why not file fiance visa today?

Got it. Thanks, Harpa! Every bit of info is very useful.

Is it OK for her to stay here using her Tourist Visa as long as it does not expire while waiting for the Fiancee Visa process? I know that she can't stay here after her 6 mo. Visa expires. That I understand.

Ftom what I heard it takes 3 mos at least for the whole fiancee proces and based on the processing times on the UCIS it takes 5 mos for the i-130. We're thinking of her going here first and then when she arrives we file the Fiancee visa. And wait. The interview and medical exams can it be done here? From the form it asked if my fiancee is here and if so asked for her 1-94/95 number and the expiry. does that mean we can file it when she's here? It's just that we want to be together as soon as possible and having her wait outside of the U.S. is too much. : (

Thank you uys for your answers. i really appreciate it. Trying to figure out which path to go be it fiancee or i-130 is driving me crazy.

A recap of our situation. I'm a US citizen and my fiancee who is a Filipino citizen working in Dublin using an Irish workers visa. She has U.S. Visa and is able to come to the U.S. anytime. We want to get married here once she arrives.

I read up more on the Cr-1 section of the USCIS website and came up with the following:

Eligibility: i'm a U.S. Citizen

How to Bring your Spouse to the United States:

You are a U.S. Citizen and You're spuse is: Inside the United States (through lawful admission or parole) In my fiancee's case she is here legally because of her tourist visa.

How to apply:

File Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, and Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or to Adjust Status, at the same time.

Now it said in the website that she can live and work here while waiing for the petition if I file for a I129-F along with the 1-130.

Weill she be able to stay here while she waits for the I-129F. She will still be able use her Tourist visa till it expires? Will there be enough time before the 129F gets approved? Based on the turn around times on the website the 1-130 takes approx 5 mos.

Regarding the medical exams i think it can be done here already.

Also what are your thoughts on this link?

http://www.ehow.com/how_4609801_become-permanent-resident-through-marriage.html

Reggie

I think we'll go the CR-1 route since we want to get married once she gets here. I read all your responses and you guys have been ver helpful. Thank you so much. I'll do some more research using this website. we'll skip the lawyer. : ) Since she has a tourist visa we don't need to wait for the visa to be approved. After we get married i'll file the CR-1 together with the AOS. Am i right?

She can get married in the USA (on day 1 or day 60), but she is not allowed to use her tourist visa with the intention of immigrating.

If you decide to go the K1 route, you can file today. If you decide to go the CR-1 (spousal visa, ie I-130) route, you'd need to get married first- be that in the USA, Dublin or the Philipines- and can apply as soon as you have the marriage cert. If she wants to continue working in Dublin that is fine, she can interview at the US embassy there.

Thank you Ryan and Penguin for the prompt response. She will not use her Tourist visa to immigrate here. My question now is which route is better? The K1 or the CR-1? My plan was to get married the next day she gets here, then apply for the 1-130. Since she entered the U.S. legally using her Tourist Visa then she can stay as long as her visa lets her while waiting for her paper work is being processed right?

Also regarding waht lawyer #1 said about not getting married on day and waiti till day 60 have you guys heard anything about this? he said it's the law.

Hi,

I'm a U.S. Citizen and my fiancee is Filipino Citizen working in Dublin right now. We've met already here in the U.S. 2 weeks ago using her Tourist VISA. We want to get married. I did some research and actually spoke to two lawyers and also read the help page from Visa journey (very helpful by the way, but im still confused).

Lawyer #1 told me that we should "NOT" plan to get married prior to her arrival here and we should "decide" on getting married after staying here for 60 days. His recommendation was to use the 1-130 but my fiancee should go back to the philippines while paperwork is being processed. He said not to use the Adjustment of status route.

Lawyer #2 said that we should apply for a fiancee visa and have her go back to manila and wait for another 6-9 mos till she gets the visa.

Visa journey: It said that we can get married anytime but if my spouse has an intention of getting married and immigrating here which really is our intention then she might get deported or denied. And that she should go back to manila after getting married and then wait for the paperwork.

I'm confused. From the USCIS it said that as long as she entered legally here in the US we can apply for the 1-130 and at the same time apply for an AOS.

Confused Reggie