Beegirl

6 hours ago, NorthByNorthwest said:

 

Unmarried child over 21 = F1 - at least 9 years once petition is approved, will she stay unmarried that long? If she marries she moves to F3 which adds 6+ years.

Sibling = F4 - at least 17 years once petition is approved.

 

Dates from latest visa bulletin: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/visa-bulletin/2024/visa-bulletin-for-january-2024.html

 

In other words - your mother petitioning will most likely be faster. Hopefully your mother is in good health but a lot can happen in the 10+ years the process will take - safest bet would be for the both of you to petition. There is no issue having multiple petitions for the same person.

 

 

Thank you.

The visa bulletin only lists China, India, Philippines, and Mexico. Is there a way to see other countries?

Im wondering if there’s a big enough variation between countries. 
 

Hello I had a general question, my mother and I are both US citizens and looking to bring over my sister to the US with us. However she just turned 22 so she’s not the quickest filing. I was wondering which would process faster 

My mother filing for her as an unmarried child over 21

or

Me filing for her as a sibling

Yes Im aware of the processing tool on USCIS but I wanted to get some opinions here as well.

Visa interviews are open now! For March, April, and May 2023. Hurry and good luck. 

Had our interview June 25th and nothing so far. 

7 hours ago, Jorgedig said:

You must mean spouse?

Yes I meant husband.

Anyone going through this?

My fiancé had his green card/AOS interview on May 25th, 2022. Adjusted from K1. Everything went well with the interview. In fact they barely asked us anything (which was kind of strange to us but hey) and we gave them our evidence packet. There was apparently some glitch in their computer system that day but the CO verbally said things that indicated to us that we would be approved. 
 

More than 1 month later and nothing. Has this happened to anyone else?

2/22 Case sent

2/25 Case received texts with receipt numbers

3/4 Mail received with paper NOA1s

With link to online account WHICH HAD A BIOMETRICS APPT ALREADY SCHEDULED.

3/29 Biometrics already scheduled when we received NOA1.

I’m pleased with the timeline so far!

On 1/26/2022 at 3:00 PM, Chancy said:

 

As mentioned in the previous posts, no need for I-693 as long as the DS-3025 from the K1 medical is marked complete and the I-485 receipt date is within 1 year of the K1 visa medical date.

 

How would we know if DS-3025 is marked complete? My fiancé never got a copy of it. Nor does anyone else from his country.

My now husband entered on a K1 visa mid December 2021

Married Feb. 1st 2022

Looking into how to file my taxes this year. Am I considered “married filing jointly” even though the marriage happened this year?

I’m confused bc the first question TurboTax is asking me is if the marriage happened in 2021 which is no. But I thought I should still be able to file as married filing jointly bc that is my CURRENT status.

I’m looking up how to get a SSN and it even looks like they’re encouraging people not to apply for one. Weird. It only gives instruments for students and tells people to apply with their AOS and that the card will be issued with their AOS. It says only people who have permission to work can apply for a SS card. 

On 11/21/2021 at 5:00 PM, Letspaintcookies said:

Since the SSN thing is really crucial maybe go ahead and call your local office to find out how long you have to wait for an appointment and already set one up before your fiancé gets here so you can go there in the first week after arrival. You can already sort out ( if you haven't already ) what needs to be done to add your then spouse to your health insurance and what is needed at the DMV to get a driver's license. 

7 minutes ago, Joyoussinger said:

As soon as you get here, apply for your Social Security card. Open a joint bank account and use it for transactions that show you're cohabitating and comingling your finances. Get whatever utilities you can in both your names. Start collecting statements and other evidence as it comes in and keep it organized. When the time comes, you won't have to scramble to find everything.

Thank you. I also own a condo (in just my name) and I was wondering if it’s even possible to add my fiancé to the mortgage somehow. 

We are almost at the end of our K1 part of our journey, thankfully. Does anyone have any protips or insights while going through the AOS process now? Is there anything anyone wishes they would have done in the K1 stage that they now know of? When my fiancé gets here to join me what are some of the first things we should do to make sure our AOS goes as stress free as possible? 

All insights welcome. 

Congrats! I would go ahead and start things in motion now. After a year and half of waiting, I think you’re good. 
 

When was your NOA2? And when did you get to NVC? 

On 2/19/2021 at 4:22 AM, kswheezy said:

 

 

I don't mind sharing a summarized version. I was trying not to splash our business across the internet, but maybe it will help someone determine if they would like to request.

 

I have a child that considers my fiance their father, something that we are going to make legal once we are married. I explained in detail to the embassy and NVC that my fiance and I had planned for him to be back here much sooner than what became reality to support our kiddo with remote learning and be the primary stay at home parent as I worked to support us. Super summarized, but that is the generalized body of it. I just explained in much more detail the emotional and financial strain it was putting on me and my little family.

 

It's kind of confusing as we were never told that we were "approved for an expedite", but the embassy finally requested the case from the NVC after I explained to them that I had requested the expedite at NVC per their recommendation, and that I was subsequently told from the NVC that they could not forward my case to the embassy as it was not back to routine visa services. That might all sound super confusing... but it was a lot of emails between myself, the embassy, and NVC. I was just sincere with the hardship we faced. It wasn't until I notified the embassy that the NVC stated that they could not forward my request for review, and the embassy contacted the NVC, that our case was then "In Transit" 2 business days later. It doesn't hurt to ask. 

Did you take the initiative yourself to email or the embassy or did NVC direct you to do it? 

5 hours ago, Cute doll face said:

Finally am In Transit 

God Is great 🙏🏽His timing is the best 

NOA1 10th  September  2020

NOA2 26th March 2021

Thank you Jesus 

 

Wow this is great progress. Congrats. I got NOA2 in December 2020 and still at NVC.

23 hours ago, J&D1008 said:

Which country in West Africa? 

Ghana

30 minutes ago, Jr619 said:

Your best bet is to try and see what they tell you. It's really a case by case but I have read people transferring their case to Dubai and a few I know are waiting for response from that embassy.

Do you know if they were residents or worked in Dubai? 

2 minutes ago, powerpuff said:

Consulate shopping is generally not allowed. You have to have residency in the country you want to interview in. 

Thanks. I figured it wouldn’t be a quick or easy solution. 

I’m the petitioner for my fiancé. He’s based in West Africa and there has been zero movement at the embassy in requesting NEW cases from NVC. We got NOA2 in Feburary of this year. So even when they do start requesting new cases we have a 1yr + of a backlog to get through. I just don’t see a light at the end of the tunnel. At the pace they’re going now it might 2023 before we can even really begin our lives together and have him join me.

Anecdotal evidence from here and other groups tells me the Dubai/Abu Dhabi consulate is moving so much faster than my fiancé’s home country. People who got their NOA2s at the SAME TIME we got ours have already had interviews scheduled. It’s moving 5x faster than his home country. He’s not a resident of the UAE but would it be possible to get his case transferred there? If anyone has done this, is there any insight?

2 hours ago, Chancy said:

 

In many countries, getting a K1 visa could actually take longer than getting a CR1/IR1 spouse visa (assuming no impediment to marrying soon).  IF the couple is willing and able to get married asap, there really is not much benefit to pursuing a K1 visa nowadays.

 

This is because many embassies/consulates (including those in the Schengen area) still have not resumed routine K1 processing, even though they have been processing routine CR1/IR1 cases.  When routine K1 processing does resume, there will be a backlog of at least a year's worth of K1 cases ahead of those who just filed their I-129F petitions in 2021.

 

By the way, the US embassy in Madrid issued slightly more CR1/IR1 visas in Jan & Feb 2021 than pre-COVID visa issuance levels. -- https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/visa-statistics.html

 

In the case of Spain this may be more preferable for the OP then. Wish it was the same for my fiancé’s country. 

3 hours ago, SusieQQQ said:

If one partner is unable to work presumably the other partner definitely has to. We see lots of posts from people who find it terribly difficult being stuck at home alone all day for months on end especially if (as is often the case) they have no local circle of friends or support network. Maybe for you, the evenings make up for it, but for many others it leads to terrible strains. People should understand their own personalities and what works best for them.

Yeah and despite that I, personally, find the strain and frustration of being apart more unbearable. You can lean on each other for support, make friends, do online courses, volunteer etc. Everyone’s mileage varies so. 

Just now, Lucky Cat said:

I hear that the limbo period between arriving via a K-1 and actually receiving a Green card is not fun.  6-8 months before the ability to work or leave the country...and more potential difficulties.

Yes it’s about 6 months now. It’s grueling but at least you will be together as opposed to that 6 months being rolled into the processing for CR1 when you’ll be apart. Either together and wait or apart and wait. It’s an easy choice for me. 
 

You can get a SSN easily though once arrived with K1 and depending on the state you could get a drivers license and can definitely open a bank account. Not sure about leases however. 

The marriage visa is longer and more expensive upfront. You do the same amount of paperwork in the end the only difference is again the marriage one is all done upfront on initial application.

The only benefit to K1 is that you can at least do the waiting together for the green card together since the process is a bit faster. EVERYTHING is lower now due to Corona. So the fiancé visa which from sending the application to interview would take 4-8 months is taking twice as long and the marriage visa which use to be about a year or 18 months is also taking twice as long. 

We’re you able to schedule an appointment? Also please when did you get NOA2?

Do we keep the same receipt number from NOA1 to register at NVC? Or do we get a different receipt number for NOA 2? I want to register but I’m not sure if I can yet.