Which is better is this situation

[indoy 0]

Hi All. I was wondering which route would be better and faster for my uncle. Here's the situation:

My uncle is a US Citizen and has a fiancee living abroad. The fiance is single, never married, but has a child (2 years of age) that she adopted.

Here are the 2 options my uncle was thinking about.

1). Travel abroad. Marry his fiancee. Petition her as a spouse. Then petition the 2 year old child as his step child. Then they all return back to the US.

or

2). Petition hi fiancee. That way the fiancee and her child can come to the US together. Get married. File the rest of the paperwork.

I'm thinking option 2 sounds better since my uncle will be filing only 1 petition. And option 1 might take too long till the 3 of them are physically together.

What do all you immigration gurus think?

[DeeDee&Sam 68]

it will be faster as a k1 with a k2 for the kid, he'll only have to send one petition. i have a friend here that had a kid when she filed for k1 and everything went smooth

[indoy 0]

Thanks Deedee.

I thought that would be a better route.

[aaron2020 11,651]

Hi All. I was wondering which route would be better and faster for my uncle. Here's the situation:

My uncle is a US Citizen and has a fiancee living abroad. The fiance is single, never married, but has a child (2 years of age) that she adopted.

Here are the 2 options my uncle was thinking about.

1). Travel abroad. Marry his fiancee. Petition her as a spouse. Then petition the 2 year old child as his step child. Then they all return back to the US.

or

2). Petition hi fiancee. That way the fiancee and her child can come to the US together. Get married. File the rest of the paperwork.

I'm thinking option 2 sounds better since my uncle will be filing only 1 petition. And option 1 might take too long till the 3 of them are physically together.

What do all you immigration gurus think?

In option 1, the wife and stepchild would automatically get green cards when they enter the US. The wife will be authorized to work immediately.

In option 2, the wife would need to file to adjust her status and the child. She can't work until she gets her EAD or green card. This can take several months.

[Deputy Purple 1,294]

it will be faster as a k1 with a k2 for the kid, he'll only have to send one petition. i have a friend here that had a kid when she filed for k1 and everything went smooth

This is an overly simplistic response.

First, it sounds like the OP thinks that going the CR-1 & CR-2 route means the Mom & Kid can't arrive together which is false. The 2 I-130s should be filed together (in the same envelope) and they will process together so the visas will be issued together.

Second, the time difference between K-1 & CR-1 is on average about 1 month (NVC processing) so it's really trivial given the benefits of landing on a CR Visa vresus a K-1 Visa.

Third, K1 & K-2 would each require Adjustment of Status after they arrive which holds up a lot of things in "normal American life" for 6 months on average and costs $1,000 each. CR-1/CR-2 obtain LPR Status at POE without further processing and the greencard is in their hands within 1 moth of POE (on average).

So in summary, for a few hundred dollars more upfront (petition, application & AOS fees difference) and 4 - 6 weeks longer processing time a CR-1/CR-2 filing eliminates Adjustment of Status which saves over $2,000 and gets the Greencard issuance triggered at POE.

[indoy 0]

hmmm, wow...I knew this was a great website/forum

I guess I never thought of it that way. Now the issue is... what my uncle wishes to sacrifice or keep. Spend a little extra to save more time (in terms of becoming a permanent resident at POE), or initially spend a little less (or maybe a lot more for AOS) but waiting a longer time to have the greencards in hand?

I already told him about option 2. We'll see what he thinks of now after I give him these additional info.

Thanks again guys.

[Deputy Purple 1,294]

I can tell you from experience that having the Greencard within 1 month made the transition easier for my wife for a few reasons:

1 - The process was complete with no further need for worrying about processing times etc for 2 years.

2 - With the Greencard she was able to learn how to drive and get her license.

3 - WIth the Greencard she was able to take college courses and start work when she wanted to.

Basically it gave her a lot of freedom while transitioning to a new land.

Read the AOS forums as you'll see several posts about the frustration of dealing with SSA, DMV work & school while waiting ont he 6 month AOS process.