Hello everyone!
I recently got engaged to my girlfriend back in February. We've been in a long-distance relationship for almost 4 years now, and we're thinking of taking the next step.
We were sure we wanted to go through the K-1 visa process, but since a couple of days ago, I've been lurking in the forums of VJ and reading more and more about both the K1 and CR1 visas. Now I'm debating on going for the CR-1 visa instead.
I've read quite a bit about the pros and cons of each, but I've got a couple of questions to ask before we decide on what route to take.
For the K-1
I believe right now, the processing time to get to the US is about a year? Possibly a year and a half. But then you have to get married within the 90 days, and then you have to do the adjustment of status. From what I've read (I might've read some old threads, so this might have changed, or processing times might be different), the processing time for the adjustment of status can be about a year? Is this accurate? Could it take longer? Or perhaps could it take less time? I'm a bit worried about being financially dependent on her for a long period of time. If it were, let's say, 3 months or 4 months, we could stomach it, but I feel like somewhere closer to a year, it'd be really rough on both of us.
For the CR-1
We're not yet married. Personally, I have no qualms about marrying her today and getting the certificate. How would we go about that, and what steps should we take for it to not be considered Visa Fraud? I got my B-2 visa about 2 years ago. I imagine if I were to visit and get married in the US, that would be bad, no?
Is our only option getting married through the Utah process that I've seen some people mention in VJ? Or how about her coming to Mexico and us getting married here ASAP, and then getting started on the process ASAP as well? Would we need to wait for any specific amount of time before getting started with the process?
I'm sure I'll have plenty more questions, but these are the most important right now. Looking forward to hearing from the nice members of this community!
Thanks, everyone, for your replies; they have been very helpful. I'm definitely leaning more towards the CR-1 still. The K-1 seems way more troublesome. With everything going on immigration-wise lately (ICE, etc.) it seems better to just have everything nice and tidy before I get there (CR-1), instead of being there waiting for the AOS and all that. Appreciate any additional input, especially on marrying options, other people's experiences (particularly recent ones), etc. Anything helps! Also, I think the consensus here is that a lawyer could be more trouble than helpful, at least for K-1. Is that the same case for the CR-1? Would consulting a lawyer be a good option to help with the CR-1 process? Thanks again!