Just Married Need Guidance

[CHILLTOWN_JC 0]

Good Morning All,

Hope all is well, I am brand new to this website and I hope to receive guidance and knowledge through what will be a life changing experience for me. I just got married in colombia, and I have chose to bring her to the states by the k-3 visa. I have two questions, First is the k-3 visa the only option I have? My second question is regarding her current residence. She was born in Colombia but currently living in Ecuador on a tourist visa. Will this situation effect the visa process down the line? Please let me know if I have forgotten any key addt'l info. Your responses will be greatly appreciated.

[raymaga 25]

First of all.... welcome to VJ. Hope you can find lots of useful information and guidance here. There are a lot of very knowledgeable people who are willing to answer your questions.

I am sorry that I can't offer you any guidance on the K-3 Visa, as I came to the US on a K-1 (Fiance) Visa. You should read the "Guides" and "Visa FAQ" sections (at the top of the VJ home page) and most of your questions and concerns will be answered there.

Good luck with your journey and we look forward to seeing posts from you in the future.

[Reba 2]

You have 2 options, K3 or CR1. The K3 is really just a tag along concurrent process to the CR1, so you do them both anyhow, and just wait to see which gets done first.

For the K3 the interview will have to happen at the US consulate in the country in which you were married, so in your case Columbia.

I'm a bit confused as to how your wife can "live" in Ecuador with only a tourist visa. A tourist visa is just a temporary visit, not to "live" or work. Her primary residence would have to be, I assume, Columbia. No idea how Ecuador immigration works, but I'll guess she'll have to return to Columbia anyhow before either the K3 or CR1 process is complete.

[billyboy601 0]

Welcome to VJ, you'll find much useful information here along with a community of folks that are in the same boat as you.

I was married in Nairobi, Kenya this past April.

While in Kenya I went to the US Consulate/Embassy twice in an attempt to get information on how to get around whatever barriers there were to bringing her home ASAP.

Two trips to the embassy, two very frustrating experiences. The embassies just aren't setup to deal with situations like ours (i.e. marrying the person you love and expediting the the process).

However I was able to speak with a Consular employee at the embassy over the phone; after explaining the situation that we were married and the desire to bring her home, she stated that the K-3 process was the quickest alternative (no snickering out there folks! ).

A travel visa won't give you the amount of time you need to get everything done, plus your spouse would absolutely need to return home before expiration. Overstaying a travel visa would cause big problems.

My wife wanted to go the travel visa route anyway, yet in questions submitted here at VJ and side conversations of my own, staying on the I-130/I-129F path we're on was the best option.

It can be frustrating because we're going about this the right way, proper way, legal way when there are 15 million folks here in the US that did not go about this the right way, proper way, legal way.

Yet I'm not going to stoop to that level and will do everything asked of me as a US Citizen.

Mainly I want to bring my baby home and whatever needs to be done to make that happen is what I'll do.

After doing much reading on the immigration process before my trip to Kenya, while in Kenya and since I've been home, the I-130/I-129F process is the best alternative (I know that isn't saying much).

The above really only addresses your first question. I have no idea on what to provide for the second answer, so I'm hopeful somebody in the VJ community can provide you some guidance.

Don't lose hope.

Best of luck!

Billy