CR-1 instead of K-1?

[marlea 84]

It seems that you are a lot like me and you worry a bit more than others. I, like you, am not great with positive thoughts, but one thing I do like are facts. If you are thinking of getting married and doing a CR-1 instead, realize that you will still have to go through California and you would have lost that 5 months of waiting. As other have said, it would delay things that much more. If you look at the timelines for marriage visas, they are just as slow at California as Fiance visas, so it wouldn't really speed anything up.

Waiting is hard. Yes, I was lucky and we didn't have to wait very long in our process. You are likely going to hear something soon, and as someone whose fiance went through London, I will tell you that once you get the approval things can move pretty quickly. It's typically about a 2 month turn around from the time you are notified by the embassy to when the visa is issued. If you can just make it through, its worth it. Also remember to keep everything in perspective... this wait is incredibly hard (and yes, I'm waiting for my fiance to arrive, it will still be another three months before he gets here) but a few months now is nothing compared to the years you will get to be together. My fiance and I have done the long distance thing for almost 4 years now, so a few months is a bit more tolerable in the grand scheme of things for us than it may be for others, but just remember the years you will get later, if you can just make it through these tough few months now.

[thelastpetitioner 218]

gap,take it from an unlucky ( in general ) csc petitioner,there is no guarantee that oonce you send off your petition they wont send their forces to focus on k-1 instead of cr-1

and all the people who petition while outside of the states have to go through california.

so regardless,it cant go much longer.

i havent personally seen my fiance in about five months,and cant afford another trip,trust me i know how hard it gets,but worst case scenario,you wait five months,you contact them,they wont replay or move a muscle and you move on to cr-1 with a clear conscious

[thelastpetitioner 218]

Well as I said in another thread, someone just got an RFE last week so they ARE looking at I-129F's over there.

i really do hope thats the case,but it could also be that someone spilled coffee on the case and decided to look at it.

hope for the best,expect the worst.i dont blame her for her negativity,its needed in any legal process

[CBM 14]

Regardless of positive or negative thoughts, it is important to be realistic. Realistically, CSC WILL approve I-129's again, and for that matter, they never actually stopped. Yeah, they drastically slowed and trust me, I'm as eager as everyone else to get our NoA2... but I know that one of these days, I'll see NoA2. And if I don't, every representative possible in the 43rd district of California will hear about it!!

[JlovesA 109]

i really do hope thats the case,but it could also be that someone spilled coffee on the case and decided to look at it.

hope for the best,expect the worst.i dont blame her for her negativity,its needed in any legal process

I never said I blame her for negativity...I said there are healthier alternatives.

How you handle stress is a conscious decision and we can argue with me all day if we want. Different strokes for different folks but to me, being optimistic is a better use of my time.

And realism is necessary for any legal process, not negativity.

[Justine+David 218]

To keep your mind occupied, why don't you start reading the VJ wiki UK guides and read through the UK forum here on VJ to learn what happens after USCIS approves the petition? There's a lot more paperwork at the consulate level with the packet 3 and getting the police certificate, affidavit of support, etc etc. You can make your turn-around time at that stage very quick if you know what you're doing. Additionally, you can also look ahead into the AOS section which is quite complex as well.

Good luck!

[AlinaH 38]

Hang in there! I'm only waiting to get an NOA1 yet, but I will be going through CSC too, so I know I'll have a long wait ahead of me. I agree with above posters in that you've already waited three months, you should just keep waiting. You're still within the average approval times, so don't give up yet, or you'll have given up those three months. I have a sister going the CR-1 route, and believe me it's not a fast process either! Her and I both just keep telling ourselves that in the end it's all worth it!

[gap1 21]

To keep your mind occupied, why don't you start reading the VJ wiki UK guides and read through the UK forum here on VJ to learn what happens after USCIS approves the petition? There's a lot more paperwork at the consulate level with the packet 3 and getting the police certificate, affidavit of support, etc etc. You can make your turn-around time at that stage very quick if you know what you're doing. Additionally, you can also look ahead into the AOS section which is quite complex as well.

Good luck!

Thanks! Yes I have already done that. He's getting his police clearance, vaccine history and making sure he has the required type of birth certificate this month. I'm ordering my IRS transcripts tomorrow. He just left my place yesterday and I gave him all of the original documents used in the I-129F.

The minute he receives the packets in the mail we want to send them back the next day.

[RightClicK 17]

Hey , i just have a question and i really don't know if iam right or not , You can visit the US easy ?? if yes , why didn't you visit there then get married and then AOS , why did you even apply ?.....i just wonder .

Sam

[canadian_wife 1,823]

Because visiting the US with the intentions of getting married, and adjusting status is illegal. It's immigration fraud and carries a lifetime ban from the US. for most people, the risk isn't worth it

Good luck

[Meg and Nigel 21]

I know the CSC is really backed up right now (We filed there in August and are right in this boat with you) but it isn't always like that. CSC and all the others go through waves of fast and slow periods because they move around people processing different types of visas. Up until recently, K1s there were going really fast because they had a ton of people working on them. Then they started getting backed up with other work, so they pulled people from K1s and put them on other tasks. Now that K1s are getting backed up, pretty soon they will move a bunch of people back to working on those. That is why some people get through the process in 4 months and some take 8. In retrospect, it would have been nice to have filed in May, but at least it is not a new problem at CSC. This is just a historical trend and we were unfortunate enough to file right at the slowing down point. It will still get processed though, and probably sooner than it feels like now. I really think that you will have an NOA2 soon, at least by the end of November, and then things will move so much faster. I really wish they could keep a steady pace so we could all have a better idea of how much time this will take, but I guess they are doing the best with what they have. Things haven't stopped there, they have just really slowed down. I know that when we filed, people were getting processed so fast through CSC that even with a conservative estimate, I was sure we could get married in March. Now I am having to really rethink our plans. I know exactly how difficult it is, but I think the best bet is just to keep trudging through. Good luck!

[Meg and Nigel 21]

Hey , i just have a question and i really don't know if iam right or not , You can visit the US easy ?? if yes , why didn't you visit there then get married and then AOS , why did you even apply ?.....i just wonder .

Sam

I can't speak for gap1, but we went with the K1 because according to the timelines when we filed, K1s were MUCH faster. Also, we weren't married yet and we didn't want to get married on a visit and then have to return to our separate countries and live apart from each other. It is better to be apart as an engaged couple and look forward to him coming over so we can get married and be together. That isn't a very practical way to look at things, but I would rather keep some normalcy to all of this. Getting married first just to be able to pick the cheapest/fastest/easiest visa seemed to us like emphasizing the visa process more than the marriage. ANd if it had made a huge difference in the time or cost, we may well have gone a different way. But for us, it didn't make much difference one way or the other as far as either was concerned, so we chose to wait to get married until we could be together.

[Filipinawife0210 15]

My advice? Count your blessing that you can actually visit each other. Some people can't.

Agreed. Many of us don't have the luxury of a VWP to allow our sig others to stay with us for months on end. Deal with the wait. We all are.

[Ryan H 3,813]

I'm just curious about quicker options, since the CSC doesn't appear to be doing anything.

We have applied for a K-1 and are 3 months in without an update. We desperately want to be together and this wait is killing us. He is ready to move here whenever he gets a visa and I have all of the paperwork ready. I am visiting him in the UK in January, if we decided to cancel the K-1, get married in England, then I started the CR-1 visa process instead would that save time? Could he live here while that was in progress or would we just end up waiting a million months for approval on that as well? Is there any way to speed this up or are we all just stuck waiting indefinitely?

I'm just thinking of other ways. Any help would be appreciated.

Waiting sucks, there is no sugarcoating it.

OP: As other posters have said, you are already 3 months in; withdrawing your K1 and filing a CR-1 would send you right back to the start and the 3 months you have already spent waiting will have been for nothing. He could not live here while the CR-1 was in process. He could visit, but would have to return when his authorized stay expired. Furthermore, CBP would likely have access to information that an immigration benefit has been filed on his behalf and there is no guarantee he would be allowed entry.

I can't speak for gap1, but we went with the K1 because according to the timelines when we filed, K1s were MUCH faster. Also, we weren't married yet and we didn't want to get married on a visit and then have to return to our separate countries and live apart from each other. It is better to be apart as an engaged couple and look forward to him coming over so we can get married and be together. That isn't a very practical way to look at things, but I would rather keep some normalcy to all of this. Getting married first just to be able to pick the cheapest/fastest/easiest visa seemed to us like emphasizing the visa process more than the marriage. ANd if it had made a huge difference in the time or cost, we may well have gone a different way. But for us, it didn't make much difference one way or the other as far as either was concerned, so we chose to wait to get married until we could be together.

You make a very salient point. However, when dealing with embassies and consulates that have seen high incidences of fraud and therefore are more skeptical of a relationship, the visa process does become a focus in both of your lives. Your objective is being together as quickly as possible. If I had found VJ and CFL this past January instead of July, there is a chance that we may still be pursuing a K1. However, reality being what it is, and reading enough posts about the experiences of others, the K1 process for us proved to be more difficult than anticipated (and I anticipated it would be difficult). Even though our case is straightforward, the K1 process was not best for us and since I had not yet started the K1 process, it was not too late to switch to a process that works better for us. I am fully aware that a CR-1 petition is processed by the NVC (hence the time there is more involved) instead of just being assigned a case number and sent to the appropriate Embassy or Consulate like a K1 petition.

OP: Best wishes to you both in your lives together once this process is through.

[Arabella 4]

You've already invested 3 months. You're more likely to get to be with him sooner than if you get married and file for CR-1. If being together sooner is what you want, stick with the K1.

Edited October 12, 2010 by Arabella