S2N

All of this speculation across multiple threads (I count three — this merged one and another one last Fall) isn’t that useful because OP hasn’t answered basic questions: where is his spouse from and is there anything out of the ordinary that would cause a delay in processing at USCIS. As an example if OP is younger man marrying a significantly older woman from a West African country after having recently divorced, all a WoM would likely do is speed up an NOID. If he’s the same age as his spouse from the UK both on first marriages and of equal socioeconomic status, then this would be very weird and a suggesting a WoM if it hits two years would be the way to go. I’m also going to hazard a guess that if this was self-filed any support uploaded might have had clarity issues (people are rarely more clear explaining themselves on government forms than Internet forums.) OP — sorry if this comes off harsh we’re trying to help but we need to know more about your circumstances. A lot of people have commented on these threads and part of the reason they’re becoming hard to follow is we don’t know enough about your situation for people to come to a consensus, which is what usually happens.

Which country? It matters as some countries naturally take longer to process so we can’t tell you how normal this is without knowing. By clear and clean you mean no criminal history, no previous foreign marriages, no nothing that’s not boring?

OP, unless I missed it you never said what country your spouse lives in or if either of you have any criminal or immigration issues. Those are the two most useful responses you could provide us before trying the I-129F.

B-1/B-2 would likely be denied again after a marriage to a USC spouse, especially if there was a pending I-130. ESTA renewals usually go through but they’re less generous on B-1/B-2. Can always try, but marriage usually doesn’t strengthen B-1/B-2 applications.

2nd this. The number of times I have had to bat down rumors in this process that have no basis in reality is legion. There’s a Chilean travel influencer living in Los Angeles, California that appears to be the source of all my woes. Not because my husband follows her, but she appears to be the source the newspapers and TV news down their rely on for US immigration and tourism law.

It is also worth noting that the CR-1/IR-1 process is trending towards taking roughly the same time as K-1 does, while K-1 is expected to slow down compared to current speeds. A few years ago this was also the case, but in the last two years of Biden there were significant delays at the USCIS stage for I-130s. They’re still processing through those, so average approval time for I-130 stands around 14.5 months now, but based on the current rate of processing people who submit today would see the first approvals from USCIS in about 11-12 months if they keep up current processing speeds.

The only, and I do mean only, anecdotal evidence we have of K-3s skipping the line are for people who are already assigned to the Texas Service Center before they file the I-129F for K-3. I’ve seen a few approvals come through from there after K-3 that make me scratch my head. As TX is where you mail the K-3 application to, I can buy that they might have a practice of reviewing I-130s already assigned to them when they get a K-3 in the mail in order to make their numbers look better (they get to kill two forms with one stone, etc.) If it’s any of the other service centers I’m with @OldUser; it’s at best a waste of time and at worst it takes time away from someone in TSC reviewing other I-130s.

She’s going to Ciudad Juarez for her IR-1 interview because people who did not present themselves for inspection can’t adjust status. They have to return to the consulate in their home country and get an immigrant visa and then present themselves for inspection to a CBP officer in order to become LPRs. This is the standard operating procedure, so OP doesn’t need to worry about any of that. Agreed with this. TSA doesn’t care about enforcing immigration laws, even in the current environment.

She needs a valid reason: either being a Thai citizen or resident. My gut is she’s neither since you said another third country. If she isn’t, she can’t interview there.

There is no need to include anything more than the three years asked for. Even the 2022/2023 dint require transcripts. In your case I think there’s a decent argument to upload the 2022/2023 transcripts to show income was consistent with when you filed single, but it’s not required by any means. I wouldn’t upload 2021.

OP has already applied for an ITIN so won’t have transcripts for about 5-6 months. Solution here is the 1040 plus W-2/1099s.

Your CPA should have given you a copy of your 1040 for 2024. That and all W-2s/1099s that support it should be fine.

VJ estimate isn’t great if they’re accelerating catching up on a backlog — gives you the current speed more than anything, which I agree is around 14.5-15 months right now. If you look at the public data and approvals they got through April in 2-3 weeks, and April has roughly the same population of I-130s of all the following months. If they keep up that processing speed, you’re looking at getting back to 11-12 months. Its way to early to tell, but it looks like things are trending positive.

Thanks, wasn’t sure the best location and the IR-1/CR-1 timelines seemed most natural. Thanks for moving Yes, was discussing standalone I-130s which are now processing at one month every 3 weeks give or take.

Not sure if this is the best place to post it, but what are people’s thoughts on the likelihood that the median case time is trending towards 12 months? They processed April in approximately 3 weeks before starting on May. All months since then have been roughly equal or less in application size. If they continue at that rate, they’ll start January 2025 the last week in December. Kinda hard to believe since we were at 17 months median when people in January filed; but the math is what it is.

As a data point: we renewed the ESTA tonight since we had no travel planned before his current one expired and to avoid any hikes with the inflation adjusted schedule next year. Approved within 90 minutes with a pending I-130. Not exactly travel, but hopefully useful for anyone considering ESTA either for the first time or as a renewal after the petition.

It’d be easier to give a more helpful answer if you provided details rather than discussing a hypothetical case.

You’d do enrollment on arrival in most cases. In OP’s wife’s case they’d most likely process her VWP admission, take her biometrics for GE, and send her on her merry way.

Unless it’s changed since when I did it (could have), there’s an in-person enrollment that they call an interview, but they don’t really ask any questions and they scan your passport, take your picture, and take your fingerprints. I was under the impression that was most people’s experience. Did they actually ask you guys questions?

The “interview” is handing them her passport and getting fingerprinted. There’s no actual interview.

I prefer Argentine wine, oddly enough, but I usually bring a few Chilean países back since they’re next to impossible to find here and some of the cabs that are harder to find that I like as well. I do bring pisco back as well because I am a huge fan of Chilean piscos. The conversation in MIA always goes like: Me: I’m bringing back 4 bottles of wine and 2 piscos. 3 liters of wine and 2 of pisco. Worth around $100 total. MIA CBP officer in the GE line: [blank stare for 10 seconds trying to process that I’m talking and not walking], okay. DFW GE line is: Me: [Same as above] DFW CBP Officer: I SAID YOU’RE GOOD TO GO. YOU NEED TO KEEP WALKING (actual quote.) Those quantities are technically taxable but they’re never going to charge you duty on them since it’d be too much work for like $7. Still have to declare though because if you don’t they could revoke global entry for not declaring a taxable amount of alcohol.

At MIA when I declare the wine I bring back they look confused and wave me through. At DFW they yell at me and get mad at me for declaring and tell me to move to keep the GE line moving. Always declare, but I find the reactions funny.

USCIS sometimes screws up and issues a two year green card when they should issue a ten year one. The CBP officer you met was correct, they’re supposed to compare your date of entry to the documents they have and make the determination, but they don’t always do it correctly. It’s not a huge deal if they do — you just file a free I-90, but that takes a while and most people would prefer to have the correct physical green card as proof of status vs an IDIT. The reason a lot of people request CBP admit as IR-1 at the POE is that USCIS is less likely to make a mistake if the class of admission reflects IR-1. CBP can do it if they want, but some POEs don’t. It’s nothing to make a fuss about, but it also doesn’t hurt anything and removes a potential point of error for USCIS.

And sometimes the tests are inconclusive and require getting revaxxed anyway. Since Colombia has it all for free, I’d just get the shots if it was me. All a personal choice, though.

Correct, the worst case is they charge you $200 for something that would otherwise be free and approve you.