Caboose29

As someone who’s already been through the process as a K1, AND received the green card in less than 12 months, I would still strongly recommend going the CR1 route.  I think the overall timeline will be very similar, but will be much less stressful on the back end with the CR1. 
 

I’m surprised no has mentioned the tax benefit of going CR1 as well. It’s my understanding that as soon as you are married you can claim her on you taxes, even before she arrives stateside, thus possibly reducing your expenses even more. 

7 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
    

CR-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.
   

 

☝️☝️☝️THIS!!!☝️☝️☝️
 

As someone who went the K1 route and endured the copious amounts of cow caca on the other end, if it’s at all possible, get the CR1. 

A lot depends on the country involved.  My wife managed to get stateside in 11 months.  So the estimates mentioned here may be pessimistic. If I had to do it over again, I’d probably do CR1. 

Georgia and Armenia might also be worth contacting. 

Screenshots of chat and call logs are what I used. 

1 hour ago, J&VRU said:

Thanks, Caboose! Does your wife recall the name of the clinic she went to? Did she have to do any vaccinations additionally (apologize if TMI). We are trying to dig out the ancient vaccine cards that might be in the archives of my wife's public clinic in Moscow, but it would be good to know if the clinic does vaccines in case we need to repeat any.

I will ask. 

This is the response from my Russian fiancée who is finally here stateside. She did her medical last November. She had to fly from her hometown to Moscow to do her medical. 
 

Her response:

for me, passing a medical examination in Moscow was very comfortable. The scope of the examination, tests are prescribed depending on the age. If a girl is over 40 years old, then you can get examined in one day. You only need to undergo an X-ray of the lungs and a conversation with a therapist. They gave me the conclusion in a sealed envelope and a copy of the conclusion, they gave it to me. I was comfortable and there were no difficulties with translation when interviewing in Poland. 

1) Go to IRS website and download the “tax transcripts” for applicable years. Not entire returns.  The transcripts are only a few pages for each year. 
 

2) Don’t know. 

Would love to see comments here. My about to be wife and I are considering the same, but not anytime soon. We’re actually thinking about buying a mountain cottage. 

1 minute ago, Pearl21 said:

thank you. I will 😊

I found this information. it's from a clinic that do medical exam checks in almaty.  may be it will help someone else as well.

 

Just make sure the the airline employees at the gate are aware of this. 

As far as I know, currently only one injection is required for J&J, although it is recommended a second booster injection. 

3 minutes ago, Pearl21 said:

@Caboose29 was it two shots of Johnson?

It was a single shot.  But you have to wait 14 days until last (Pfizer/Moderna/booster)  injection to be considered “fully vaccinated”. 

You will be denied boarding on US bound flight if you don’t have a CDC approved vaccination and are “fully” vaccinated. 
 

My fiancé had Sputnik. She had to vaccinate with Johnson and Johnson while in Poland doing her interview. 

5 minutes ago, Khan g said:

But how much more? 😕

I mean this in the nicest way possible, but "until they're done".  No one knows how soon it will be completed, but maybe you can contact the embassy to inquire.  It will at least "remind" them that you're still waiting.

🎊🎊🎊Congratulations Keith!!🎊🎊🎊

Steve,

If it helps, tell your wife the interview is quite short.  My fiancee also mentioned that the CO was friendly.  She and I had spent a considerable amount of time prepping her for the anticipated interview questions.  My fiancee likes being prepared.  Her interview literally was 5 minutes long, very likely less.  He asked only 4 questions:

Where/how did we meet?

When was the last time wet met in person?

What does your petitioner do for work/living?

Where will you reside in the US?

The interview was seemingly a formality.  I would imagine a spousal interview would be even easier since you are already married.  So don't worry too much about interview prepping.

5 hours ago, StevenInAtlanta said:

@Caboose29

CO = Consulate Officer?

 

I also aree probably not a good idea to change any of the documents in the middle of the process.  We will wait and ty to ask first. Hard to get a human on the phone.

Yes about the CO.  I suggest calling the Warsaw embassy right when they first open, or later in their afternoon.  I only had to call once, and I was on hold less than 10 minutes.  The woman spoke English well enough, and was professional, but not super friendly.  I'm sure she was very busy.  She was also knowledgeable as well.

Steve considering how long you've been waiting, I'd like to think that the staff there would get you taken care of at or very near the "front of the line".  I think it might be worth a call to the embassy and ask a live human about the updated passport, but I'd be reluctant to change anything on the website.  It could likely lead to more delays.  A real CO may just tell you to bring the new passport to the interview with you.  I highly suggest calling and asking before doing anything about the passport.

2 hours ago, StevenInAtlanta said:

My wife's head is a busy place!

Question 10

She has read that she needs to have all her documents translated before the interview. Have any members here like Caboose29, Wouter, millefleur or others have any experience/knowledge of this requirement?

TIP:  If you want to "page" someone put an ampersand in front of their screen name "@Caboose29". 

To answer your question, yes she will need English translations of the documents (BC, police report, etc.)

22 minutes ago, StevenInAtlanta said:

Thank you millefleur and Wouter for your replies, they were a big step forward in me getting the needed answers. Thank you sooooo much.

I have a follow-on question:

8. Will my wife, a Russian citizen, living in Moscow, with a current international passport, need to get a Polish visa to travel to Poland for the interview?

Millefleur is indeed correct in her responses.  Your wife will need a Schengen Visa to fly to Warsaw.  It's most common for people to fly to Greece then transit the next day to Poland.  I think Greece is one of the few Schengen zone countries issuing Schengen visas.  I don't think you can fly directly from Russia to Poland right now. Of course things change frequently.  My fiancee had to fly through Greece to get to Warsaw, although when returning to Russia, she will be flying directly back to Russia.  No need to go back through Greece.

EDIT: I realize CR1 is different than K1, but for what it's worth it was about 10 calendar days from when the application was delivered to the embassy until my fiancee got her instructions email, and official go ahead to schedule the interview.  I think CR1 the embassy schedules your interview.  K1s are allowed to make their own appointment.  Don't know why there's a difference.

Also, if anyone here is interested, my fiancee got her visa approval on Friday.  She'll pickup her passport with visa on Monday!!  We're almost finished!!!

9 hours ago, Vladislav667 said:

Visa on hand today!

🎊🎉🎉🎉Congratulations!!🎊

My fiancee is interviewing tomorrow morning.  We're both hoping since she's likely the first, or very near the first of the day that she'll get her visa and passport back the same day.  Otherwise she'll have to sit in Warsaw over the weekend twiddling her thumbs waiting to get it back on Monday (hopefully).  She'd like to fly home Saturday and start getting ready to fly to the states ASAP.

6 hours ago, Rman616 said:

Hey Guys, hope all is well for everyone going through this experience, maybe someone with more knowledge than myself can help. So our case has been "at nvc" for about 3 weeks now. And the embassy will be in Guayaquil Ecuador. I'm actually here in Guayaquil at the moment with my fiance. I'm wondering if we have to submit anything else before the case can leave NVC, we have already filled out the ds 160, haven't paid the fee yet but maybe that's it? My goal is to be able to have her interview set while I'm here through the holidays. If there's anything I should do to help move this along someone please let me know. Thanks so much.

I think paying the fee will allow you access to the interview calendar.  Other than that, I don't think there's anything else you can do right now.

10 minutes ago, millefleur said:

**Moved from K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures to RUB regional forum**

 

 

Moscow has a specifically approved clinic that works with the US Embassy, unless Vladivostok has a similar clinic (which I doubt), the medical in Vladivostok is probably a no-go.

 

In this case, I think doing the medical in Warsaw makes more sense. Might as well just get it all done there. Plan accordingly to make sure there's enough time in Warsaw to get the medical done, go to the interview and then pick up the passport with visa.

Yes my fiancee had to make a 2.5 hour flight to Moscow and spend the night to get her medical done ahead of time.  She didn't want to do it in Warsaw.  But yes, I agree if she can't do it where she lives (since there used to be a consulate there), doing it all in one place makes more since considering how far she has to travel.