I was told this would be easy...

[Laura86 0]

Hello People of VJ Land,

I'm Laura, I'm from the UK and I married my husband in December 2008. At the time he was in the Air Force and we were told that the whole process would be easy and pain-free, fast forward 3 years and one expired attempt at paperwork later, and here we are! I'm still living with my parents in England, while he is in Texas living with his father. Throughout our entire marriage we've lived together for a year, at first being separated because of his duties then because of my work commitments. Unfortunately we've only actually lived on our own for about a month, having either been living with his family or mine!

We've decided enough is enough and we need to get something sorted quickly so we can actually start having a life together and working on making our adorable ginger, British/Texan children!

We've filed the I-130, I-129F and I've gotten my ACPO Police Certificate (in accordance with getting a K-3), but when I phoned up to make my medical appointment today I was asked for our Case Number. After a bit of digging and going back through old emails we found the case number from our first attempt at this, and we realised that you only get the case number once the NVC give it to you. Josh phoned them and asked what was happening, the woman on the other end was very rude and made him feel bad for asking her to do her job! She told us that we would get it once they issued it and hung up. Not very helpful.

It's at this point that I've realised that I haven't asked a question yet, and that I'm just kind of ranting.

Last time the I-130 took 6 months to process, for the K-3 to happen though we need the I-129F to be finished first right? But, I've read elsewhere that the K-3 is almost obsolete, and instead couples are being put through as CR-1.

I don't really have any specific questions, just general guidance would be nice. I don't have anyone to talk to over here who can give me advice other than 'be patient', and the only person I know who's going through the same thing as me is my husband! But the more I worry about it, the more he worries about it, and the more he worries about me being worried etc.

We just want this all to be over as quickly as possible. So sorry for the essay, feel free to say TL:DR.

Thanks,

Laura

[Moomin 292]

Me thinks you'll get alot of "be patient" responses on VJ too. But you could request your topic to be moved to the IR-1 forum and hopefully it'll receive more attention there.

I went through the K1 and don't want to give you bad advise regarding the spouse visa. However, the case number you'll need will be assigned to you at NVC stage. You can use this link as a little guide however it is not all the way accurate but depending on the info VJ members put in their timeline; http://www.visajourney.com/content/ir1cr1historical

Congrats on finally getting the papers sorted out, I hope it'll be a smoother journey than what you have experienced so far.

[cathy2904 97]

Welcome to VJ.

You are right about the K3 being pretty much obsolete. As I understand it (and I'm not an expert) both the I-129F and I-130 will end up being approved around the same time so the I-129F will be closed and you will be put on the IR1 route. This will probably be better for you as when you arrive in the US you will be given a Green Card immediately (and a 10 year one as you have been married more than two years) and you will not have to adjust status as you would have done under the K3. The IR1 is therefore also cheaper.

You have probably got several months to wait before your initial petition is approved (average time is around 5 months). It will then be forwarded to NVC who will issue a case number. This will take anything from a few days to a few weeks depending on how quickly they are processing the paperwork at that time. But once you have that case number things will move much more quickly and, as you say, you can then book your medical.

Good luck, it will pass (very slowly at times) but it will all be worth it in the end.

Edited April 20, 2012 by cathy2904

[spookyturtle 9,466]

Welcome.

[teach_says 4]

Welcome to VJ, I'm new to this process as well so can't give you very much advice. Look in and post on the IR-1/CR-1 forum, there are lots of experts who will answer your questions... Good luck!

[teach_says 4]

Welcome to VJ, I'm new to this process as well so can't give you very much advice. Look in and post on the IR-1/CR-1 forum, there are lots of experts who will answer your questions... Good luck!

[Shoot Em Straight 385]

Welcome to VJ Laura.

First thank you to Josh for serving our country.

I hope you can have a good uncomplicated journey with your visa. VJ is a wonderful and invaluable site.

You have just started and have a ways to go so have patience.

Make sure you continue to read up on the guides, past experiences and empower yourselves for the road ahead. I wish you both good luck.

[Laura86 0]

Thank you all so much for the warm welcome and support. I wasn't sure what to include in my first post so I decided to just bare all! I'll copy paste the relevant parts to the appropriate forum, thank you again!

Laura x

[Owen_London 65]

Thank you all so much for the warm welcome and support. I wasn't sure what to include in my first post so I decided to just bare all! I'll copy paste the relevant parts to the appropriate forum, thank you again!

Laura x

Welcome Laura.

Thanks for the amusing thread title, and good luck.

[Darnell 8,479]

last time?

there was an approved i-130 ?

what's the status of that, as of today?