Can a consulate grant permission

[confused2 0]

My fiancee and I plan on getting married in August. We are looking at two options:

* Petition for Alien Relative, Form 1-130 (IR1 or CR1); and

* Petition for Alien Fiancé (e), Form I-129F

Under one option, we get married in the US and she is required to stay here until the visa process is complete

Under the other option, we get married in her country (Denmark) and she is not allowed in the US until the visa process is complete

Essentially, she is being forced to stay one place or the other until a visa is granted. We are not young and her parents are not in the best of health, so what concerns us is her being stuck here and being unable to go home if needed.

Has anyone had any luck (or is it even possible) for a consulate to issue any type of visa that would permit free travel for her regardless of which country we get married in? The processing time, we've been told, for the two options above are one to one and a half years.

[Penguin_ie 5,993]

I think the best option in your case would be a CR-1 spousal visa. With that, once she has it and enters the US, she gets the green card right away and can leave and enter as she wishes. While you two are waiting for this to be granted, she can travel back and forth on the VWP.

[confused2 0]

I think the best option in your case would be a CR-1 spousal visa. With that, once she has it and enters the US, she gets the green card right away and can leave and enter as she wishes. While you two are waiting for this to be granted, she can travel back and forth on the VWP.

No, that is not how it works. Not any more. At least that is the way I understand it. Once we are married, we file for the visa and she is not allowed in the US until that process is complete... one to one and a half years.

[Penguin_ie 5,993]

I think the best option in your case would be a CR-1 spousal visa. With that, once she has it and enters the US, she gets the green card right away and can leave and enter as she wishes. While you two are waiting for this to be granted, she can travel back and forth on the VWP.

No, that is not how it works. Not any more. At least that is the way I understand it. Once we are married, we file for the visa and she is not allowed in the US until that process is complete... one to one and a half years.

You are incorrect. It may be a bit more difficult for her to enter, especially if she has no strong ties to her home country (own a home there, has a job, has family there), but it is possible and allowed, especially as, by applying for the correct visa, she has already shown she wants to do things the right, legal way. There are many members here, especially from Europe (considered "low fraud risk") who have travelled several times during the process.

[Penguin_ie 5,993]

BTW, looking at the timelines of other VJ members from Denmark, it looks like a spousal visa will only take around 6 months, not 18 months, so there is more hope for you!