Doing the K-3 from abroad

[terrell 0]

My wife (a Chinese citizen) and I (a USC) married last month here in China, and now we'd like to go to the US (I haven't been home in almost two years). Unfortunately, my residence permit expired a couple months ago and now I'm on a one year "visiting family" tourist visa, which doesn't qualify me for a new residence permit. Therefore, unless I make a promise to a school to become a teacher or student for over six months (which I'm loathe to do unless the option below is out of the question), I am unqualified for a residence permit, and thus DCF is out of the question.

This requires me to file for the K-3 in the US. The trick is, we don't want to separate, and the plan is and always has been to go back together. My question therefore is: Since the filing is all done through the mail, is it possible to route the I-130 and all other forms from here in China to my home address in the States and from there to the USCIS Vermont service center (China -> VA home -> Vermont -> VA home -> China)? Can I petition for my wife "in the U.S." from outside of the U.S.?

Basically, is there any step in the K-3 visa process that actually requires my physical presence in front of a bureaucrat?

And finally the newbie question (I'm still a bit confused by the timelines): In this situation whats the estimated time (assuming no problems) from mailing the I-130 to K-3 visa approval?

Thanks!

-terrell

[terrell 0]

Actually the important newbie question is how long will it take for the VSC to acknowledge receipt of the I-130 so that we can move on to step 2?

[terrell 0]

(I apologize for all the replies - the board doesn't allow me to edit)

Another newbie question: Is the waiting time from the Guangzhou consulates receipt of petition to interview date (listed here as 127 days) the same if the petition is received from VSC as opposed to DCF? I assume it would be... which would mean in this case DCF is not a whole lot quicker than going through the VSC (avg. time to approval listed as 50 days).

[payxibka 10,047]

My wife (a Chinese citizen) and I (a USC) married last month here in China, and now we'd like to go to the US (I haven't been home in almost two years). Unfortunately, my residence permit expired a couple months ago and now I'm on a one year "visiting family" tourist visa, which doesn't qualify me for a new residence permit. Therefore, unless I make a promise to a school to become a teacher or student for over six months (which I'm loathe to do unless the option below is out of the question), I am unqualified for a residence permit, and thus DCF is out of the question.

This requires me to file for the K-3 in the US. The trick is, we don't want to separate, and the plan is and always has been to go back together. My question therefore is: Since the filing is all done through the mail, is it possible to route the I-130 and all other forms from here in China to my home address in the States and from there to the USCIS Vermont service center (China -> VA home -> Vermont -> VA home -> China)? Can I petition for my wife "in the U.S." from outside of the U.S.?

Basically, is there any step in the K-3 visa process that actually requires my physical presence in front of a bureaucrat?

And finally the newbie question (I'm still a bit confused by the timelines): In this situation whats the estimated time (assuming no problems) from mailing the I-130 to K-3 visa approval?

Thanks!

-terrell

There is no requirement for you to be physically in front of a bureaucrat here in the US during the process.