CR1 VS k3

[Wright 0]

Hello all,

You will have to pardon me Im really new to this whole thing. I never in my life thought I would fall in love with someone from another country, and that I would feel so strongly that I would do anything to get her to the states with me, but it happened and here I am joining this awsome community.

Ok well, Ill get right to it, I read a little bit on VJ and it said that K3 is the newer form of spousal Visa but CR-1 Is still around, and Im also hearing that CR-1 is actually faster now, that they have redone the process and is considerably faster than K3. Is this true? Im also in the military if that matters and Im a pretty busy person so im shooting for the fastest and most straight forward way to get her here. If it matters she is from the philippines and I will be residing in California. As far as I can gather it is particularly difficult for a philippine resident to get a visa in the states due to all the mail order bride/match making companies that use filipinas as thier cash cows. that is why we chose to go the spousal route. I will be going there in Aug/Sept to marry her. Is CR-1 actually faster or should I follow the typical K3 route, as far as I can tell CR-1 Seems to have the most benefit as far as Green card / SSN as soon as they come to the states. Any advice, Im sorry if this is poorly worded im in a bit of a hurry and this has been on my mind all day. Thank you

Wright D

[estrella 14]

We all started exactly where you are, so don't worry about asking.

My husband and I opted to go by the CR1 way because 2 f the reasons you mentioned, is just as fast as K3 and once I enter the states I get permanent resident status and with the K3 you still have to get the Adjustment of Status.

Being in the military can work on your favor mostly if you are going to be deployed acording to what i know, but I could be wrong. My husband is in the National Guard and he cambe back from Iraq in december so we didn't try expedite nor anything like that. He says that he being a soldier helped but I'm not really sure about that, we did send hes military ID with the I-130 and in his W2's it says he was over seas the whole year last year, so who knows.

I'm just giving you my input from my experience and perspective, we started our process at the end of february and as of today we are just waiting to get our appoiment date.

Don't forget to check all the awesome guides they have in this site to make a wise choice

I wish you the best in this new journey you are about to start and let me tell you even when it can be stressfull is worth it.

PS. If you aren't married yet you could also consider a K1 wich is a fiance visa, I don't know much about it but you could check it out too to see if it works for you

[Wright 0]

We all started exactly where you are, so don't worry about asking.

My husband and I opted to go by the CR1 way because 2 f the reasons you mentioned, is just as fast as K3 and once I enter the states I get permanent resident status and with the K3 you still have to get the Adjustment of Status.

Being in the military can work on your favor mostly if you are going to be deployed acording to what i know, but I could be wrong. My husband is in the National Guard and he cambe back from Iraq in december so we didn't try expedite nor anything like that. He says that he being a soldier helped but I'm not really sure about that, we did send hes military ID with the I-130 and in his W2's it says he was over seas the whole year last year, so who knows.

I'm just giving you my input from my experience and perspective, we started our process at the end of february and as of today we are just waiting to get our appoiment date.

Don't forget to check all the awesome guides they have in this site to make a wise choice

I wish you the best in this new journey you are about to start and let me tell you even when it can be stressfull is worth it.

PS. If you aren't married yet you could also consider a K1 wich is a fiance visa, I don't know much about it but you could check it out too to see if it works for you

Thank you for the advice, we decided on the Spousal route because again she is from PI and apparently they are really skeptic about proof of relationship (though admittedly our relationship is not as long as a typical one would be before marriage, it doesn't make it any less true. Something just clicks with us, we could never explain it) , and that she is not going there with bad intentions (i.e just disappearing), Also my new duty station I will be going to Deploys often, and I would not want this to be delayed by 7mo to a Year because I happened to get pulled away in the middle of the process. I have looked into the fiance Visa but we are hoping that the k3/CR-1 is faster. Thanks agian!

[Mike and Yan 0]

Hello all,

You will have to pardon me Im really new to this whole thing. I never in my life thought I would fall in love with someone from another country, and that I would feel so strongly that I would do anything to get her to the states with me, but it happened and here I am joining this awsome community.

Ok well, Ill get right to it, I read a little bit on VJ and it said that K3 is the newer form of spousal Visa but CR-1 Is still around, and Im also hearing that CR-1 is actually faster now, that they have redone the process and is considerably faster than K3. Is this true? Im also in the military if that matters and Im a pretty busy person so im shooting for the fastest and most straight forward way to get her here. If it matters she is from the philippines and I will be residing in California. As far as I can gather it is particularly difficult for a philippine resident to get a visa in the states due to all the mail order bride/match making companies that use filipinas as thier cash cows. that is why we chose to go the spousal route. I will be going there in Aug/Sept to marry her. Is CR-1 actually faster or should I follow the typical K3 route, as far as I can tell CR-1 Seems to have the most benefit as far as Green card / SSN as soon as they come to the states. Any advice, Im sorry if this is poorly worded im in a bit of a hurry and this has been on my mind all day. Thank you

Wright D

You may do the K3 then you feel good that progress is made (the I-129f sets it in motion)

The CR1 is automatic (the I-130 sets it in motion - you MUST file it first)

Then you watch. If they both leave the USCIS at the same time (they have been) you can forget the K3.

I include my timeline since I did the same thing you are thinking.

[halimandserena 0]

hello there welcome to VJ!

while i havent been approved for anything yet, i have been doing a lot of reading.

we filed the CR-1 because we were already married when i filed & i thought thats was the only route to go. then after filing, i found out you can also file the I-129 for the K-3. but you fill it out for your spouse not fiance. it doesnt cost any extra to file the 2nd. i have read about alot of people that have filed both & got both their approval letters on the same day.

if they are approved at the same time you can actually decide which route to go. while filing for CR-1 does eliminate a few steps later in the process. we are hoping to get the CR-1 approved 1st, but ill take what i can get. i just want my husband here. i dont think it can hurt to file both.

go to forums & read up. you can get alot of very helpful info there.

if you are anything like us, you just want it to happen as quickly as possible. now would be nice. lol

good luck on your journey!!!!!!!!

[reeses16 8]

I would opt for the CR1 in the long its less expensive and has more benefits (green card upon US entry = legal permanent residency + work authorized, and automatic SSN). Having a green card on entry also means not having to wait to get a driver's license, open a bank account, etc. If you have the possibility of being deployed, it might be easier on your wife to have all these things straightened out in the event of your absences. Also, I do not know the details, but people serving in the US military can receive expedited service(Visit this link and click on FAQ for more info.). Not sure how much faster it is.

Edited May 30, 2009 by reeses16

[brnidokiegurl 0]

cr1 and your still probably looking at 6 months to a year

[bquillera30 0]

cool hi my name is erika i just married my husband whos in colombia and who in march was denyed a fiancee visa now i want to put the cr1 visa but dont know what to do i just recently found out we are pregnant so we have a honeymoon baby my question is should i putin our pettion about our baby on the way or should i just leave alone ,cuz i heard that they can request a dna test ,which we dont have a problem with the test results its just the time that we might lose cuz of it and allso it does cost 700 dollars more for the test , so please advise on what should i do