Starting F1 process while fiance is still in the US?

[Austramerican 83]

Ben and Brandy here,

We came to this site originally to get some advice on which route we should take, and the knowledge we got led us to realise we would not be able to afford our first choice at this time, so at least we now know which visa we are going for!

Here is a short run down of our story: Ben is 23 from Australia and I am 27 from America. We met online years ago in 2006 on a forum, but didn't start to really get to know and like each other til 2009. I went to Australia for vacation and to meet him in Feb 2010, we exchanged promise rings, and made a promise that we'd be together again. We had grown very close in the year before we met and when we met we just knew even then we wanted to be together forever. But we didn't want to rush into marriage right then since we hadn't ever lived with each other yet and we wanted to be sure our hearts weren't getting ahead of us, so we researched other visas and found that he was eligible for the J1 exchange visa. He arrived in the US in Sept 2010, and he's been living with me ever since. Now we are both absolutely sure we want to get married, and since at the end of Sept his Visa will end, we wanted to figure out which visa would be best for us.

Adjusting his status WOULD have been an ideal way to go, but we don't have enough money for the fees (1500...) and we don't have anyone able or willing to loan it to us. His parents had recommended that he return to Australia, work and save money while the F1 visa is being processed, and then come back with a good sized nest egg so he wouldn't be marrying me with no safety net, which is a pretty smart thing to do. Even though I'll miss him we want to do this right so that we are setting us up to have the best possible future together, as both of our parents' don't want us to have to struggle.

So basically the question I'm asking, is would it be possible for us to get a head start on the F1 visa by starting the process now? Would we be able to send off the first forms right now while he is still in the country? He will be going back to Australia in a little more than a month but since it takes so long, and the part that he will need to do something in Australia wouldn't be for awhile now, right? We can swing the first fee, just not the whole thing right now. If we can get a head start since I know the process is long I would love to do that!

Just for reference we have no previous marriages, no previous kids, no criminal records etc Thank you in advance and I'm sorry if this is a dumb question, I couldn't find it anywhere >.<

[Austramerican 83]

Ok I managed to find a thread here from 2009 that said it's ok to start the process with him in the country as long as he will be able to be in Australia when it's time for him to be interviewed. So that makes me feel a bit better. And just to make sure they won't look down on us starting an F1 visa process when hes already in the US on a J1 visa right? This won't make them cancel his J1 visa and force him to go back now will it?

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

No problems. And it's a K-1 process, not F-1

Edited August 10, 2011 by Harpa Timsah

[Austramerican 83]

No problems. And it's a K-1 process, not F-1

OMG!!! I'm so dumb XD I'm thinking about WAY too much lately LOL thank you, I'm changing the title now lol

Edit: for some reason it won't let me edit my first post -.-!

Edited August 10, 2011 by Austramerican

[KLS2010 30]

There shouldn't be any problems with sending in the intial petition now while he is still in the US.

We sent in our I-130 about a week after I arrived in the US for a 90-day stay on the VWP.

I'm sure you have your reasons for going K1, but just thought I would mention that, since he is still in the US, you could get married now and file CR-1 instead. Either way, he will still have to come back to Australia, and CR-1 does take a little longer to process, but it is cheaper and allows the beneficiary to work pretty much straight away after entry.

Either way...good luck on starting your journey!

Edited August 11, 2011 by KLS2010

[jingo 38]

Yes its totally fine and legal to do that. Good luck!

[Austramerican 83]

There shouldn't be any problems with sending in the intial petition now while he is still in the US.

We sent in our I-130 about a week after I arrived in the US for a 90-day stay on the VWP.

I'm sure you have your reasons for going K1, but just thought I would mention that, since he is still in the US, you could get married now and file CR-1 instead. Either way, he will still have to come back to Australia, and CR-1 does take a little longer to process, but it is cheaper and allows the beneficiary to work pretty much straight away after entry.

Either way...good luck on starting your journey!

We do like the fact that it's cheaper and it allows him to work right away afterwards. It bothers him a lot to think he might ever be a burden on me even though if its something that can't be helped I'm ok with it. I will admit I don't know much about that visa so I will have to look into it and compare, how long is the wait difference between the two?

The main reason we were going to go the K1 way is because of our families. My dad would definately advise against getting married so fast after being engaged, and his parents would probably be upset too since he would be the first one getting married of his brothers. We did think about getting married legally and just not telling everyone and then having the ceremony later but that makes us both feel a bit awkward...

It is tempting though...so maybe we'll do some research and talk about it. I never knew before coming here there were so many options! Thank you all

[KLS2010 30]

We do like the fact that it's cheaper and it allows him to work right away afterwards. It bothers him a lot to think he might ever be a burden on me even though if its something that can't be helped I'm ok with it. I will admit I don't know much about that visa so I will have to look into it and compare, how long is the wait difference between the two?

The main reason we were going to go the K1 way is because of our families. My dad would definately advise against getting married so fast after being engaged, and his parents would probably be upset too since he would be the first one getting married of his brothers. We did think about getting married legally and just not telling everyone and then having the ceremony later but that makes us both feel a bit awkward...

It is tempting though...so maybe we'll do some research and talk about it. I never knew before coming here there were so many options! Thank you all

Well, the processing of the intial petition for either K1 or IR-1/CR-1 is the same - both petitions are sent to USCIS. I believe the goal processing time for this is around 5mths, but they don't seem to be taking that long for most people.

After the intial approval from USCIS (what we on VJ term 'NOA2'), this is where the variation in the timeline between K1 and IR-1/CR-1 starts. The approved petition is forwarded to the NVC (National Visa Center). This is just a 'stop-over' for K1s to be assigned a case number before being sent for further processing at the consulate/ embassy in the benficiary's country. CR-1 will also go to the NVC for a case number, but the NVC does the further processing instead of the consulate. This is why it takes longer for CR-1 - the NVC is slower at this than Sydney Consulate is. Sydney is very quick!! Once this processing is completed then an interview date is assigned. Just to let you know - not sure where in Australia your fiance is from, but Sydney is the only consulate that does the immigrant visas so his interview will be in Sydney. For CR-1 this is pretty much all they need to do. For K1, once they enter the US and get married they then have to send in more paperwork in order to Adjust Status.

So basically, K1 will (in most cases) enter the US quicker than CR-1. Overall, I think K1 for Australia takes around 6 or 7mths, CR-1 around 8 or 9.

Of course there are lots of other things to consider while trying to decide which way to go. If your families are not going to be happy with you getting married so quickly, then maybe K1 is the way to go (although in reality, this is really only going to delay you getting married by 8mths or so, since you have to get married within 90days of entry to the US).

If you haven't come across it yet here is a link to the Aussie forum. You can ask any questions on there and can get Aussie-specific answers. Checkout the timelines from some of those that are going, or have just gone, through this process.

Ok...essay over lol!

Good luck!