Choosing among Marriage-Based Visas.

[CasinoQueen 0]

To the members of this visa forum:

I need advice on marriage-based US visas. My fiance is American and I am a Filipina. It's a long story that I don't want to detail, but the issue is we would like him to visit me in the Philippines. We want to live together, marry and stay in the country for a few months before flying together back to the US. My fiance as a retired serviceman has a pension and I have a rewarding job as well. We can afford short-term rent so that isn't a problem. He is renting an apartment and doesn't intend to renew it when the lease expires. When it does, he plans to put his things on storage and fly here for the vacation. But he does have a PO box there that he will keep.

What we'd like to know are these:

1) If we're going to stay here for only 3-4 months, which visa can/should we apply for? Immigrant visa? K3? Or DCF?

1a) For K3 visa, can we file the petition while he is here or must he be in US territory? If so, can his mother file the petition on our behalf or can we use her mailing address? She lives in the east coast and he in the west coast.

1b) For immigrant visa, I know the US spouse must be a resident of the Philippines. Does that mean Permanent Resident or Temporary Resident? How can he get Temporary/Permanent Resident status (whichever qualifies) and how much does it cost? Can this visa be done in 3-4 months?

1c) Same question about DCF. Temporary or Permanent Resident?

2) If he'll be here for 3-4 months, will my fiance need to get a Resident Visa in the Philippines? How?

3) How much is all this going to cost (visa app)?

4) Since his stuff will be in storage, will this be counted against us during our petition? He has a good pension and his credit rating is excellent. But he decided not to get a house yet since he'll be going on vacation here. At the same time, there's no use paying rent in a house in the US he won't live in. I'm just worried, will this be counted against us? If so, what remedy could we use for this?

5) What are the latest average timelines for these visas? Is 5 months max reasonable when filed say, on March or April?

[C and J 1]

I have attempted to answer your questions below but, hopefully a more knowledgeable member will be able to correct me or fill in the blanks where appropriate.

What we'd like to know are these:

1) If we're going to stay here for only 3-4 months, which visa can/should we apply for? Immigrant visa? K3? Or DCF?

For you to be able to apply for DCF your fiance (would need to be husband for DCF) must meet the residency criteria of the Philippines. This would generally mean remaining in the country for 6 months as a legal resident (being a tourist does not count).

1a) For K3 visa, can we file the petition while he is here or must he be in US territory? If so, can his mother file the petition on our behalf or can we use her mailing address? She lives in the east coast and he in the west coast.

A K3 visa will take from 10 months to around a year (from filing the petition to the embassy interview) by current processing times so this would be much longer than your plan allows for. Your fiance must be the petitioner, his mother cannot fill in the forms on his behalf.

1b) For immigrant visa, I know the US spouse must be a resident of the Philippines. Does that mean Permanent Resident or Temporary Resident? How can he get Temporary/Permanent Resident status (whichever qualifies) and how much does it cost? Can this visa be done in 3-4 months?

This question slightly confused me. I am presuming that your intent is to live in the US with your fiance. If that is the case, he does not require to have residency in the Philippines to petition for you to immigrate to the US using a K3 visa. He only requires to be a resident for DCF, and DCF only allows for the CR1/IR1 and not the K3.

1c) Same question about DCF. Temporary or Permanent Resident?

I am unsure about this one, however, I believe as long as he is in the country for the required amount of time to DCF, temporary or permanent residency would not make a difference.

2) If he'll be here for 3-4 months, will my fiance need to get a Resident Visa in the Philippines? How?

Not sure on this one

3) How much is all this going to cost (visa app)?

Not sure on this one

4) Since his stuff will be in storage, will this be counted against us during our petition? He has a good pension and his credit rating is excellent. But he decided not to get a house yet since he'll be going on vacation here. At the same time, there's no use paying rent in a house in the US he won't live in. I'm just worried, will this be counted against us? If so, what remedy could we use for this?

This one is a grey area to me, if your fiance is giving up his address in the US to be with you I am unsure how this will affect the visa process. I have a niggling suspicion that I have read something about this before and it could cause problems but I am unsure whether it was just for DCF purposes or whether it causes problems for a standard petition also. If your fiance could use his mothers address as his own US address, then his stuff being in storage will not matter as he is still maintaining an address there.

5) What are the latest average timelines for these visas? Is 5 months max reasonable when filed say, on March or April?

As I mentioned above, 1 year for a petition filed normally through the service centres in the US and it would take roughly 1 year to be able to DCF from scratch (your fiance would first need to make the residency criteria of 6 months and then 6 months is the rough processing time for DCF)

Edited January 18, 2008 by C and J

[raquel_1208 1]

I agree with C and J, some of your questions have confused me also. I suggest you post your questions in the Philippine Thread and more people could give their opinions on what they have gone through that is related to all your queries. Have you read the guides? They are very helpful and the forms are link to USCIS website that your fiancee/husband can download and you can also check out the costs to each form on whatever path you choose whether its K1, K3, CR-1 or DCF. From the time we filed CR1/K3 at California Service Center up to the interview date, it took us 9 months. That does not include the waiting time for the US embassy to release my visa after I pass the interview. See my signature below.

[CasinoQueen 0]

Thank you, raquel_1208 and C and J. I have posted the question in the regional forum.

It's not his mom who will petition; I only mean if she could mail it on our behaf. But I think the main concern now is the timeline. He can't stay here for very long due to doctor appointments and other issues. We would really like to get married and leave together though. It's sad to see this is so complicated when all we want is to be happy together.

[pushbrk 12,882]

Thank you, raquel_1208 and C and J. I have posted the question in the regional forum.

It's not his mom who will petition; I only mean if she could mail it on our behaf. But I think the main concern now is the timeline. He can't stay here for very long due to doctor appointments and other issues. We would really like to get married and leave together though. It's sad to see this is so complicated when all we want is to be happy together.

The petition can be mailed from anywhere. My read on your situation would be to got the CR1 immigrant visa route. However, you must understand the timeline from filing is more like a year. I would use his mother's address as his permanent address. She can also receive and forward any immigration related or other important mail. The two major issues with the USC staying abroad during the process are maintaining US domicile and meeting income requirements. Mother's address and sufficient pension will cover both of those.

DCF is a fast process from start to finish. The problem is you'd have to wait several, probably six months to start, so the advantage is wiped out.