How can one judge speed of K1 vs. K3?

[crawford 0]

Hello to all. I'm an American citizen engaged to a Mexican national, and we plan on getting married in July in the U.S. (she has a tourist visa).

From what I can gather, she can apply for either the K1 or K3, so I am confused as to which process would be faster (keeping in mind the ultimate goal is getting her permanently to the U.S. and working legally ASAP following the marriage).

Since she has a tourist visa, is the K1 a waste of time? I have been told that the K1 process can ultimately move faster, depending on circumstances. Others have told me the K3 is much faster.

Then yesterday someone told me we should wait for now and inquire directly following our marriage at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City. This advice was from a friend with a French wife, and he said the process was much faster dealing directly with the U.S. Embassy in Paris, though perhaps the Mexican situation is different (considering there are millions of Mexicans trying to immigrate to the U.S.).

Then there's the issue of her getting married in the U.S. on a tourist visa. Does this raise red flags?

I would hope her application would be straightforward. We have known each other for many years (and have the evidence), and she has significant advanced education and financial resources, so our application should (knock on wood) be routine.

Also, does it matter where we file? I'm in NYC, and I hear the Vermont center is swamped. My family is mostly in Michigan. Can I apply through the Midwest center? Is it faster because there are (presumably) much fewer Midwestern immigrants than in (for example) New York or California?

Thanks for all your help, and apologies in advance for my ignorance!

[pushbrk 13,059]

Hello to all. I'm an American citizen engaged to a Mexican national, and we plan on getting married in July in the U.S. (she has a tourist visa).

From what I can gather, she can apply for either the K1 or K3, so I am confused as to which process would be faster (keeping in mind the ultimate goal is getting her permanently to the U.S. and working legally ASAP following the marriage).

Since she has a tourist visa, is the K1 a waste of time? I have been told that the K1 process can ultimately move faster, depending on circumstances. Others have told me the K3 is much faster.

Then yesterday someone told me we should wait for now and inquire directly following our marriage at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City. This advice was from a friend with a French wife, and he said the process was much faster dealing directly with the U.S. Embassy in Paris, though perhaps the Mexican situation is different (considering there are millions of Mexicans trying to immigrate to the U.S.).

Then there's the issue of her getting married in the U.S. on a tourist visa. Does this raise red flags?

I would hope her application would be straightforward. We have known each other for many years (and have the evidence), and she has significant advanced education and financial resources, so our application should (knock on wood) be routine.

Also, does it matter where we file? I'm in NYC, and I hear the Vermont center is swamped. My family is mostly in Michigan. Can I apply through the Midwest center? Is it faster because there are (presumably) much fewer Midwestern immigrants than in (for example) New York or California?

Thanks for all your help, and apologies in advance for my ignorance!

You've got plenty of time, so please do start by clicking on the word "guides" at the top of any page here.

If you marry, K1 is not an option as it is only for a "fiance(e)". K3 is generally a poor option for a spouse these days. Check out the IR1/CR1 guide. Since you, the US Citizen do not live in Mexico, filing directly with the Embassy or a Consulate in Mexico is not an option.

Marrying on a tourist visa is not a problem as long as she leaves the USA before her allowed stay expires.

[Mononoke28 135]

What your friend told you about is called Direct Consular Filing (DCF) and it only applies for US citizens who have been living in the beneficiary's country for more than 6 months. Since you said you live in NYC, this option is not available to you.

If you plan to get married in Mexico in July, then a K1 visa is also not an option since it is intended for fiancés to enter the country, not spouses.

So you're left with either a K3 or CR1 visa. For the most part, these two visas would take just as long to get processed but some people have said that a CR1 visa may take longer if you're going through the US embassy in Ciudad Juarez. So please do some research on this. If you find out that the difference is just a few months, then a CR1 visa would be the best option.

Diana

[lucyrich 20]

Your own address, combined with the visa type you're seeking, determines where you file. Don't try to file using an address where you don't live; that would lead to complications when they try and examine evidence and/or ask you to come in for an interview. The different service centers have different speeds, but there's not always a lot of rhyme or reason to them. The USCIS will sometimes transfer cases in bulk from one center to another in order to balance the load.

It's frustrating, because the only thing you can get from the USCIS is the timelines for cases that they are finishing. Since things speed up and slow down frequently, the fact that cases which are finishing now took X months doesn't mean that a case filed today will take X months.

When we started our journey (almost five years ago, see timeline in signature), we were in a similar situation -- we didn't care where or when we married, we just wanted the fastest possible option. It looked like a K-3 would be a few weeks faster than a K-1, and a CR-1 was expected to take 3-4 years. But while our paperwork was in the system, the USCIS essentially came to a standstill with K-3 applications for about four months. Simultaneously, they really started speeding up on the I-130 processing. It turns out that a K-1 would have been the fastest, and our CR-1 was second place by a few months, and the K-3 became irrelevant, because they approved the petition a long time after we were already reunited on the CR-1.

I'm not suggesting that will happen to you, but I'm just preparing you for the fact that the timelines aren't a very reliable predictor of the future. I know how maddening that is. You'll drive yourself crazy trying to get the fastest option, and then it still might turn out in hindsight that another choice would have been faster.

So yes, check the timelines and choose an option that seems like it will be the fastest, but also be sure and choose an option that you can live with for its other reasons. If the place of marriage is important to you, or if it's important to go through the waiting while married (or alternatively, to have the separation finished when you go to the altar), then you might want to make your decision based on factors other than the timelines, as long as the timelines aren't too far different.

[crawford 0]

Thanks so much for everyone's help!

After reviewing the comments and my options, I think our best course of action is to move ahead with a CR1 following a civil marriage in the U.S. She has a tourist visa, and will visit for a civil marriage, and she'll then return to Mexico. From that point, we'll wait it out (I'm fortunate to have a job and income where I can take time to visit her in Mexico fairly regularly).

I thought my only options were K1 or K3, but neither would work.

K1 is too risky for our circumstances. K1 is not an option because we need a civil marriage license in order to have our scheduled Catholic wedding ceremony in Mexico in October. They will not marry us without a civil license, and we don't want to get the civil license in Mexico, because of problems we have heard from other couples. With K1, there is no 100% guarantee we will receive approval before October.

K3, while maybe not as risky, appears to be inefficient and poorly suited for our situation. We'll go with the immigration-based CR1 visa.

If anyone disagrees with my train of thought, or if I am making an incorrect assumption, please let me know! Thanks!