Do we have time?

[Christine + Blake 18]

amykathleen, we did look into this beforehand but I got advice that cr-1 would be much quicker and easier for us in our circumstances.

[JlovesA 109]

I'm currently on the wait for a K1 visa in Canada and have been waiting for 4 months with ZERO movement but I really think you'd be done before September. That's 10 months away. Just make sure you get it in very soon and you didn't overlook anything that may cause a Request for Further Evidence, which would delay you a bit. You can always post a thread listing what you're sending to USCIS and members here will look it over for you and suggest any additions or changes you may have overlooked.

Edited November 15, 2010 by JlovesA

[Christine + Blake 18]

I'm currently on the wait for a K1 visa in Canada and have been waiting for 4 months with ZERO movement but I really think you'd be done before September. That's 10 months away. Just make sure you get it in very soon and you didn't overlook anything that may cause a Request for Further Evidence, which would delay you a bit. You can always post a thread listing what you're sending to USCIS and members here will look it over for you and suggest any additions or changes you may have overlooked.

Thank you! I think we'll be able to put our application in the mail by monday, so here's fingers crossed!

[Jadenjewel 9]

Hi,

Canadians and the US have had an amicable relationship so I think we thought ( we did ) it surely won't take too long. A lawyer told us 5-6months at the most. Well Cr1 journey for us took 14 months. There was a problem with an RFE for a passport photo that was lost somewhere. Also a hiccup in the EP processing. If we had any concrete plans we would have been up s$it creek so to speak.

I hope you plan carefully and hope that MONTREAL SPEEDS UP!!! June case completes are still waiting for an interview.

All the best to you and your future partner. This should be a stress free journey !!

[Yellowhead 12]

Hi,

Canadians and the US have had an amicable relationship so I think we thought ( we did ) it surely won't take too long. A lawyer told us 5-6months at the most. Well Cr1 journey for us took 14 months. There was a problem with an RFE for a passport photo that was lost somewhere. Also a hiccup in the EP processing. If we had any concrete plans we would have been up s$it creek so to speak.

I hope you plan carefully and hope that MONTREAL SPEEDS UP!!! June case completes are still waiting for an interview.

All the best to you and your future partner. This should be a stress free journey !!

Lawyer's estimates are just that, estimates. From my experience, every lawyer I spoke with about the K-1 had a different answer for me. USCIS processing timelines are the most accurate estimates we have.

To the original poster, keep in mind that the processing time will vary depending on a number of factors. Depending which service centre your case is routed to, you will be waiting anywhere between 4-6 months at this point. That is with NO bumps along the way whatsoever. Montreal interviews are taking a while as well. As long as you are a thorough as possible, you should be okay, but with immigration, it is always a gamble - and there is no guarantee for approval to begin with! Not to try to discourage you, but denials do happen, so be prepared for the worst either way. Most people who do the K-1 process do not set a wedding date until approved, especially not with concrete plans as anything can happen with this process. Most get married within the 90 days by going to a court house, or planning something more flexible that allows for changes. With this type of arrangement, you can always plan a bigger, more meaningful wedding later, that friends and family can save the date for.

As someone else mentioned, it might be smart to try to change your dates a little, risking losing part of your deposit, to ensure you don't lose all of the money if the wedding has to be cancelled altogether due to delays. We never know what will happen with USCIS, the service centres or the consulates. RIGHT NOW you SHOULD be okay with your timing, but anything can happen and we all need to remember that when planning for the future.

[MSR 6]

My fiance and I went through this process in a little over 7 months. We got our NOA 2 after 57 days ( Vermont ) and waited about 61 days for an interview in Montreal.

My personal opinion is to get your application submitted before November's end and you "should" make it through before next September.

Good Luck !!!

[brightskte 18]

Everything is a risk, but there's never a guarantee for anything.

We were one of the couples who took a chance and had our entire wedding paid for before he even had his visa in hand. I'm not saying it was the right thing to do, but we planned far enough out and made sure we were prepared in case of RFE's. Thankfully, we didn't have one and everything worked out, but just because it did for us doesn't mean it will for everyone. We filed in September 2009 and he had his visa in hand well in advance before our wedding on June 26th of this year. My advice is to plan enough time for processing and in case of delays. We had one minor bump in the road because he didn't write his apartment number on the Xpresspost envelope for his visa and that set us back a month, but it still worked out.

Good luck in whatever you decide to do!

[C and Lore 3]

As long as you file soon, you should be back in time. Just make sure your fiancee is meticulous with his documentation so he avoids RFE's which would slow you down.

[Barbara J 115]

So originally we thought the cr1 visa would be the best for us, but now I am reading that our best bet would be to file a k1 application. I live in Canada and want to immigrate to the US to be with my fiance. We have a deposit down for our wedding september 9th, 2011, in Atlanta. If we were to start filing for a k1 ASAP do you think we would receive it in time for our wedding?

thanks so much

I say go for it Christine, we planned our wedding for Sept just gone and I made it lol by a week was not supposed to be that way but they misplaced a document and we had to send it to them express post from the US to Sydney and then they did not see it till I emailed them and I had my visa the next day lol was a panic time but it worked out. Not that I had a big wedding anyways just saying I really should have been home 2 weeks before but was not to be. The interview date also put me back arriving as had to wait 3 weeks for that. So get it in now and you should be fine for Sept. Make sure if any divorces put all decrees in as well and make sure you go over everything before putting in envelope. If you have a clean cut case should not be an issue but I wish you all the best keep us informed ok.

[CanAmBride 5]

We filed in February for a CR-1 and based on the advice of our lawyer, planned our "wedding celebration" for September 25 (we were already legally married in order to file) .

1. Our lawyer was an idiot and didn't know what he was talking about ...fired him in April

2. Our interview is 2 weeks from today, yay!!

3. We still had a beautiful celebration, but my husband had to go back to Canada afterwards

Everyone understood our situation, and it didn't put a damper on the day at all, but it would have been nice to be able to go home with my husband after our wedding, haha!

[Christine + Blake 18]

Hi everyone - just wanted to mention in this post that we talked to our venue, and our wedding date is now 11/11/11, to give us an extra two months. Thanks for the advice and help.

[Canadiandggal 49]

Hi everyone - just wanted to mention in this post that we talked to our venue, and our wedding date is now 11/11/11, to give us an extra two months. Thanks for the advice and help.

Thats a fantastic day to be married. I want a do over now he he.

Glad you guys moved it a touch, now get them papers out and Good luck

[Hugglebuggles 60]

Everything is a risk, but there's never a guarantee for anything.

We were one of the couples who took a chance and had our entire wedding paid for before he even had his visa in hand. I'm not saying it was the right thing to do, but we planned far enough out and made sure we were prepared in case of RFE's. Thankfully, we didn't have one and everything worked out, but just because it did for us doesn't mean it will for everyone. We filed in September 2009 and he had his visa in hand well in advance before our wedding on June 26th of this year. My advice is to plan enough time for processing and in case of delays. We had one minor bump in the road because he didn't write his apartment number on the Xpresspost envelope for his visa and that set us back a month, but it still worked out.

Good luck in whatever you decide to do!

We did the same thing. We filled in October of 2008 and had a wedding planned for the first week of August 2009. At the time we were both a little naive as to the different hiccups that can cause the process to take longer than normal. In the end, I had my visa in hand the first week of May so there was plenty of time to make the wedding date.

As everyone has said, there is a level of risk involved. You just never know what will happen. I say there is a great possibility you will have the visa in time, but nothing is a guarantee. I think you need to be completely prepared to move the date if you need to, and lose some of that deposit money if that's what needs to happen. Every vendor we booked was asked what would happen if we needed to move the date. They all said it was fine as long as they had an alternate date open we wanted. I would double check with anyone you book to make sure they have a similar policy- you may be surprised how willing they are to work with you.

[Christine + Blake 18]

Thats a fantastic day to be married. I want a do over now he he.

Glad you guys moved it a touch, now get them papers out and Good luck

I sent him my stuff for the I-129F by expresspost today Thank you!

Hugglebuggles - our venue let us change our date today no problem, we lucked out already having a venue thats willing to work with us!