I-130 vs I-129F

[David&Ludmila 0]

I got approval for both I-130 and I-129F (K-3). I want to get my wife into the U.S. as soon as possible. Is there any drawbacks (other than expenses) to pursuing both avenues (I-130 and K-3) at the same time? Could this ultimately cause some delay for either or both?

Thanks for you help!

[YuAndDan 153]

No delays if you pursue both.

I-129F Gets an NON-Immigrant visa that you then need to adjust status from

I-130 Gets an IMMIGRANT visa that gets green-card upon entry and allows you to do things like get SSN, Drivers License, and WORK, many want to work ASAP especially in this economy. CR-1 can K-3 CANNOT.

If you do keep both moving, and it looks like CR-1 may make it to consulate around the time of K-3 interview, many simply reschedule the K-3 interview, and if the CR-1 is received by consulate, the K-3 gets dropped in favor of the CR-1.

[pushbrk 13,067]

No delays if you pursue both.

I-129F Gets an NON-Immigrant visa that you then need to adjust status from

I-130 Gets an IMMIGRANT visa that gets green-card upon entry and allows you to do things like get SSN, Drivers License, and WORK, many want to work ASAP especially in this economy. CR-1 can K-3 CANNOT.

If you do keep both moving, and it looks like CR-1 may make it to consulate around the time of K-3 interview, many simply reschedule the K-3 interview, and if the CR-1 is received by consulate, the K-3 gets dropped in favor of the CR-1.

Theoretically there are no delays in pursuing both but the reports I'm seeing from individual cases indicates that when the two cases are put together, the service center treats them as if the priority date for the later filed I-129F is the standard by which they judge their performance. This adds a month or more, maybe much more to the date after which you can make any official inquiry and in many cases actually delays petition approval.