File I-130 now at lockbox or wait 6 months and DCF at London?

[S&SUSAUK 1]

Hi All

Looking for your opinions.

I am a UK citizen residing in the UK and my wife a US citizen residing in the US. Looking at our options for filing the I-130 and related documents for a CR1 visa.

We could file at the lockbox now with approx 6 months to NOA2 then a further 2 months to interview. So an interview date around Dec/Jan?

Or as my wife will be arriving on her UK spouse visa at the start of May. We could DCF when she has been here 6 months. So we would be applying around mid-november. Ive seen that DCF processing can be much faster, is this just the NOA1 to NOA2 stage? Ive seen figures of 1-3 months flying round, would this be to NOA2 or interview?

Let me know if any of my timelines are way off.

Thanks guys

[trojam227 18]

Well, I don't have experience with DCF through london but according to timelines here it cuts processing time in half. But adding the 6 month wait for your wife, it still brings you to about an 10-11 month wait altogether. You can potentially do it in less time having your wife file in the US. It really depends on your personal situation what makes more sense. There are factors to consider when doing DCF...if your wife leaves her job here in the US, who will be your sponsor for Affidavit of Support? How much will she be giving up to move there? Is there any chance you will need a waiver of inadmissibility where living abroad with her spouse would make it difficult to prove extreme hardship? Just examples of things to look into. If none of this applies to you both and you have a USC/LPR sponsor for the I864, then the bonus of DCF is being able to live together while you wait.

[JoannaV 174]

Like trojam227 said, I hope you have the sponsorship aspect figured out!

It would almost certainly be faster to apply today rather than wait till you can use DCF, as DCF is not 6+ months slower than SCF. Current cases I know of using DCF though London have taken about 6 months from I-130 till interview. Of course there is always variation so you could be approved super fast using SCF or be unlucky and be in a slow group for DCF. However if you apply in the US and then your wife moves to the UK you may potentially have issues receiving mail related to the petition, which could slow you down slightly.

[Ryan H 3,812]

Moved from IR-1/CR-1 Process & Procedures to UK regional forum.

[S&SUSAUK 1]

Well my wifes current address is her parents address so if any mail gets sent there they could forward it to us. Also once we have a receipt number, I believe we can change the address related to the application online? (www.uscis.gov/addresschange)

Yes we are fortunate enough to have the AOS taken care of through a co-sponsor and our savings.

Thanks guys.

[grrrrreat 109]

Well my wifes current address is her parents address so if any mail gets sent there they could forward it to us. Also once we have a receipt number, I believe we can change the address related to the application online? (www.uscis.gov/addresschange)

Yes we are fortunate enough to have the AOS taken care of through a co-sponsor and our savings.

Thanks guys.

Actually, probably the fastest you could go is wait for her to move to the UK, then file using the Chicago lockbox. The reason is that USCIS sometimes processes petitions from USCs living abroad faster, although it's not clear what circumstances this applies in or if they will not do this because you could otherwise DCF in London. In any case, even under non-expedited processing they are predicting 6 months or so time from the Chicago lockbox, so that's probably better than waiting 6 months and doing DCF.

[S&SUSAUK 1]

I had seen that some people were getting expedited without requesting it at the chicago lockbox. I thought this would just be for people in the countries where DCF is no longer an option. Does anyone know of any UK filers who have been expedited under this process?

[grrrrreat 109]

I had seen that some people were getting expedited without requesting it at the chicago lockbox. I thought this would just be for people in the countries where DCF is no longer an option. Does anyone know of any UK filers who have been expedited under this process?

Yeah, I looked through the thread on auto-expedite and couldn't find any UK filers. In any case, chicago lockbox is still going to be faster than waiting six months to be able to DCF anyway.

[hjones 1]

I had seen that some people were getting expedited without requesting it at the chicago lockbox. I thought this would just be for people in the countries where DCF is no longer an option. Does anyone know of any UK filers who have been expedited under this process?

We sent our petition to the Chicago lockbox and got approved in 10 days. I am living in the UK under a Tier 2 work visa (ie not indefinite leave to remain) so the embassy told me that I wasn't eligible for DCF. That might not have been accurate info from them, but regardless it seems our petition was 'auto-expedited' anyway. It's up to you, but in my opinion you might be fastest to apply through the lockbox once your wife lives in the UK but make sure she lists her UK address on everything. That's the only way you'll be put into the auto-expedite queue. Good luck!

[S&SUSAUK 1]

Thanks hjones. I think that is the way we are going to go. If we do not get auto-expedited we have lost 2 weeks, if we do we have gained a few months so it seems worth the chance.

Also my wife has sent our original marriage certificate in for her UK visa without taking a copy for the I-130 packet so we're waiting for that to come back anyway.

[grrrrreat 109]

Thanks hjones. I think that is the way we are going to go. If we do not get auto-expedited we have lost 2 weeks, if we do we have gained a few months so it seems worth the chance.

Also my wife has sent our original marriage certificate in for her UK visa without taking a copy for the I-130 packet so we're waiting for that to come back anyway.

If it takes too long, you can get a certified copy of the certificate from the local government to send with the I-130.