asheville57

Our file was sent to the Bogota embassy on April 1. Was suppose to be expedited. Contacted the congressman. Did not get a response from the embassy until May 4. Interview June 11th. Good luck. I was told by the embassy they are taking 2 to 3 months. 

The OP was asking what is the best option with little stipulations in his first post..I did see he said they decided on CR-1....but you are right it ALL depends on the couple and what works best for them. I'm just responding on my personal experience with our K-1 process, we chose it because it allowed us to be together MUCH faster at the time (2016, from initial filing to approved interview took about 3 months). So I'm just stating that now it takes much longer to get the K-1 visa approved, so with that said it loses one of it's selling points of being able to be together sooner......so why not file CR-1? Anyways....it still depends on your situation.....
 
 
good luck in your Journey

Again, what is best depends on the couple's circumstances and priorities.  If the couple has met in person and cannot get together to be married for another several months, then the CR1 is NOT even an option until several months later.  There are good and bad points to both.  Understand and apply that information to your OWN circumstances and priorities.

Another thing regarding K-1 visa holders is that many people don't realize that a person who enters the US via a K-1 and fails to marry AND file AOS within 90days (expiration date of I-94) is out of status and is subject to be deported until they file AOS.....there is even a recent case where immigration agents came to a VJ poster's home and warned the spouse.

I think with what is happening with the K-1 process it is just a little longer to file the CR-1, so in my opinion that is the best option now. Honestly if you can tolerate being away form each other for the extra time it makes it easier once she arrives in the US. 

Personally, we would still go the K1 route for our situation. To me the cost difference is very immaterial, when compared to the grand scheme of things.
 
I do like the CR1 in which people can't use the excuse of not filing the AOS for whatever reasons. Some folks treat the K1 as a meet and greet visa.

They won't be deported-- but they are accruing out-of-status days which could effect AP eventually if you let it drag on enough. But because the marriage came before any sort of USCIS action, they wouldn't be deported unless there was some mitigating factor like a crime etc. Not that it's advisable at all, trust me, I was all sorts of anxious and angry during those couple of months (about 2.5 from the 1-94 expiry IIRC).  The EAD took a good 4 months or so, and I don't remember exactly when he got it, just that he started work in August.
 
Ah and you quoted my dates before I fixed them. I was off by a year and fixed it. Married late Jan 2016, filed  mid April 2016, started working Aug 2017, not 2016.  I don't remember the exact I-94 expiry but it was late January as well. I think all told he was 10 weeks between I-94 and AOS filing. 

OP, as many others have said, it's really your priorities you need to figure out first. 
 
For myself, we went the CR1 route as both of us had solid jobs and wanted him to be able to work right when we got here. We visited each other over the 13 months it took be get approved without any trouble. We also like that it was cheaper! 
 
Both are decent options though, and both take almost the same amount of time in terms of immigration (from my point of view).
Good luck! It's a long arduous process but you can do it!

This still really really depends on the couple. I'd still go K1 for us, even knowing what I know now and my husband grudgingly agrees (he would have wanted to work sooner than he did, but a good part of that is our fault for taking forever to apply for AOS). He'd never been out of his home county, forget to the US before. He needed time to adjust (and some English classes). Even if he'd had a green card on arrival, we'd have given him some time and space to adjust and take English classes. For us, the "down time" between immigration and work was part of the plan, not a negative downside to be endured. So, may as well get those few months started sooner than later, and stop paying to maintain two houses in two countries, when one would be sufficient. 
 
Plus, on a more personal level, I didn't want to go from engaged to married in a matter of days both by preference and family considerations, so even if we had decided on CR1, it would have been even more of a time difference between the two visas. I was (and still would be) willing to pay the difference for the (relative) speed. 
 
The only thing I'd do differently is apply for AOS sooner. I do recognize that we're not the norm, but it should be understood that there ARE people for whom the K1 has no downsides except for cost and even then that can be mitigated by closing the distance quicker.

4 years ago I married my wife in Colombia and I don't regret the path we took, i.e. CR1. It was really important to my wife, her family and friends to marry there. I was fortunate because 5 of my family members took the initiative and visited Colombia for the first time to attend my wedding. After the wedding, we filed the CR1 and it took 14 months before she received her green card. It did take over a month to file after the wedding due to her name change, but once she changed her name, all other filings were much easier as we didn't need to reconcile her married and maiden names within the applications.
 
As for the timeline, well, it is what it is. You can't affect it. We were disappointed by the extra months it took but all the patience paid off in the end.
 
Good luck to you and your wife to be.

I feel like everybody is totally advertising the CR1( probably because it just is the „better“ way) 
But man, maybe we should start selling the K1 again so that the workload for the CR1 isn’t AS much anymore  and it won’t take as long anymore because you know....waiting sucks lol...(one can dream)😂
 
No but seriously...even tho this topic is on here quite a lot...I would also suggest the CR1 because the K1 is just not as simple  besides the fact that it COULD be a tiny little bit faster but has all the other disadvantages

At this point it honestly don't matter if you focus on timeframes. I'd suggest CR-1, timeframe, money and best decision wise. 

I wish people would start to use search button because the k1 vs. Cr1 threads are literally posted few times a months. And regular forum members pretty much always post the same answers... eh! 

Things have changed substantially in the last year. Pretty much everyone is being interviewed and the process is taking a lot longer. There are discussions and proposals to make the interview mandatory. It's great that you got through it so quickly but @Dutchster is not joking when she says "approximately a year". Everything is taking longer now. My IR-1 took 10 months 1 day in 2016 from sending the I-130 to interview. People are lucky now if they get through all of that in 13 months. 

Perfect word to describe the never ending ordeal that most of the time it takes to do the AOS and waiting more than 1 year to get the GC. If I could do this all over again we would go for the spouse visa but we could not do it that way. Oh well.
OP, compare the 2 visas and see which one will give you or your fiancee "less" headaches in the long run. 

Wrong. Maybe for some, but already EAD/AP will take ~4 months as of right now.
My GC took 9 months in total, like most people that filed in 2016/2017.

It doesnt take a year to get a green card. It takes a few months.

Most importantly, the spouse that will immigrate has to decide what will work the best for her too. I, as many others here, underestimated the K-1 visa and the longevity of doing adjustment of status was horrible.

Provide what you have.  If you only have an A-number, so be it.
 

others have already posted the difference between the k-1 visa and the CR-1 visa. I do believe that the CR_1 visa is a better visa. One of the main reason me and my wife decided to  get  Married in the Philippines so that her family could  attend the wedding which was worth waiting a little longer for the visa
withdrawing a k-1 visa will not be a problem. I also withdrew a k-1 for another person before I met my wife

As others have mentioned in this thread, even the K1 Visas are taking substantially longer than they have in the past. ~8-10 months from NOA1 to interview on average versus ~12-15 months on average for IR1/CR1. 
 
You should look at the positives and negatives of both before deciding.
 

While K-3 is still listed at the USCIS/VJ website guide, it is obsolete. This means that even if you tried to petition the K-3, it will more than likely be turned into CR-1.

Now, K-1 is going fairly slow too. Six months is now based on receiving just NOA2 (I-129F approval) and then it can take another few months for it all to be complete. I know someone who has waited 9 months for NOA2.
You might not want to be separated too long, but CR-1 is way cheaper than K-1 and she will able to work & travel after entering the US while K-1 holders cannot work and travel (or drive) until their I-765 and I-131 are approved. It takes another ~1 year after entering on a K-1 to receive permanent residency, plus an additional $1225

Both processes take time. I doubt anything takes 6 months right now.  If anything everything is taking longer than ever. You both need to choose the visa that suits you better. If working/travelling is more priority for your Colombian fiancee then spouse visa is the way to go. The K1 visa you will need to marry in USA so her family should need to travel there for the wedding. 
 
I assume you are a USC since you filed a K1 for someone else last year. How recent was that? They may question about this previous K1 petition or maybe not.  If you decide to marry in her country and file for a spouse visa, the whole process should take 12-14 months approx. It could be less or more.

You cannot marry in Columbia and still enter on a K1. If you are set on getting married there you will have to do the CR1 route.

Just a quick recap of differences between K-1 and CR-1  (opinionated)...LOL
 
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 receives approved Advance Parole (approx 3-4 months)
    Spouse can not work until she receives EAD (approx 3-4 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.
CR-1
    Less expensive than K-1
    No AOS required.
    Spouse can immediately travel outside the US
    Spouse can start work if desired
    Spouse receives Social Security Card and Green Card withing 2 or 3 weeks after entering the US
    Spouse  has legal permanent Resident status IMMEDIATELY upon entry to US.
 
All-in-all, the CR-1 is superior to the K-1 imo.