What happens when both K3 Visa and IR-1/CR-1 Visa are Filed

[Couples360 0]

Filled for both K3 and IR-1/CR-1

Filing Location: California service center CSC

Already had the NOA1 for the both petitions

I-130 (NOA1 Recieved October 3, 2012

I-129F "K3" (NOA1 Recieved October 23, 2012

I need comments please

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

Usually they will be approved at the same time , both get to NVC together, and the K3 is closed there administratively. Once in while the K3 beats the I130 and gets processed.

[Couples360 0]

Usually they will be approved at the same time , both get to NVC together, and the K3 is closed there administratively. Once in while the K3 beats the I130 and gets processed.

It's like CSC is moving on now and approving alot on K1, hopefully they start approving k3

[Darnell 8,479]

1. when the I-129F arrives at uscis, the I-130 is pulled out of it's queue position and it put at the end of the queue with the I-129F.

2. when the two casefiles get in front of an adjudicator, if no problems, the two casefiles are approved on the same day.

3. when the two casefiles are approved on the same day, they are sent out to NVC on the same day.

4. when the two casefiles arrive together at NVC, NVC administratively closes the I-129F, as the main requirement to continue , to pursue a K-3 visa, an unapproved I-130 petition in the pipe no longer exists.

and that's it.

[RomeoJuliet 0]

Congrats to you and thank you for the replies it helped me allot. My I-130 was approved in March but have had no reply since. Yesterday we received notice of K3 approved and that explains why the hold up. Thank you and all the best :-)

[Ontarkie 14,364]

~~Duplicate post removed~~

[Silnjoe 0]

Hi Darnell,

Do you have any links or evidence that what you posted is true?

1. when the I-129F arrives at uscis, the I-130 is pulled out of it's queue position and it put at the end of the queue with the I-129F.

Two immigration lawyers have told me otherwise, and a Tier 1 at the USCIS also tells me the same, that they are two separate files treated independently. Tomorrow I will call again to USCIS to talk to a Tier 1 and 2, to see if there's reproducibility in their responses. I've also done various google searches with nothing very illuminating.

Please tell us how it is that you know what they do with our I-130 in the queue if you submit an I-129F. Thanks!

[Darnell 8,479]

Alas, my answer changes over time.

Why? Many I-130s were sent to local offices for adjudication, even with having an 'MSC' receipt number. When the I-129F is submitted, the I-130 is yanked from the local office, joined up with the I-129F back at MSC or TSC, then there's a new clock on the I-129F.

As to stats, uscis/nvc/DoS pages, no, sorry - but - I'm a reader and a gister - the pattern I wrote about, earlier in post # 4, was current. It did change, that pattern, starting sometime in May.

If you've not filed yet, then you might want to try, as I-129F approvals are going rather quick this quarter.

[jaycali 415]

Hi Darnell,

Do you have any links or evidence that what you posted is true?

1. when the I-129F arrives at uscis, the I-130 is pulled out of it's queue position and it put at the end of the queue with the I-129F.

Two immigration lawyers have told me otherwise, and a Tier 1 at the USCIS also tells me the same, that they are two separate files treated independently. Tomorrow I will call again to USCIS to talk to a Tier 1 and 2, to see if there's reproducibility in their responses. I've also done various google searches with nothing very illuminating.

Please tell us how it is that you know what they do with our I-130 in the queue if you submit an I-129F. Thanks!

The K-3 has been virtually unobtainable for years now. It is de facto obsolete. You will not find this anywhere on the USCIS website. Why? Because the USCIS adjudicates and approves both and send them off to a different agency, never to be seen by the USCIS again.

The K-3 was designed for a time when I-130 petitions often took several years to process. Recent processing times have shortened the processing times of I-130 petitions to close to that of the I-129f, thus leaving them approved at the same time, and forwarded to the NVC at the same time. Leaving the K-3 administratively closed.

The K-3 is alive and well on paper, but I have yet to see an actual K-3 visa be issued since the late 2000s.

Edited November 5, 2013 by jaycali

[Silnjoe 0]

Thanks Darnell. It looks like the basis of your claim is on anecdotal data. As much as I hate going on such, it seems like anecdotal data is the only data at our disposal.

What exactly do you mean by I-129f being processed quickly this quarter? If they are processed together with I-130, you mean that new I-130s are being processed in parallel quickly this quarter?

I filed the I-130 in August (from overseas, as USC resident in Spain, but with a pitstop in Virginia for my parents to add documents to the package). Are you suggesting that sending an I-129f right now could be processed more quickly than leaving the I-130 as is?

Hi Jaycali,

The major complaint I see in this forum is that the I-130 is taking longer than the expected 6 months, sometimes significantly longer. So, the rationale for keeping the K-3 seems quite strong. The two lawyers I referenced above say they regularly process K-3 visas, but I did not ask them how many get approved before the I-130 (and don't want to pay for another consultation to find out!).

Thanks for the replies!

[Kate52 5]

I filed and received NOA1 for both I-129F (K3) and I-130 in early April.

Both applications are at NBC and will be "adjudicated at the same time". I've been married 20+ years and both children and husband are all US citizens. We were filing from abroad. Congressional aide received letter from USCIS today confirming the above and that my case would be adjudicated within six months of date of letter (so April 2014). Delay was due to workload factors and not because of my case (no red flags).

So I think it's safe to say the K3 is useless.

[NikLR 13,231]

I think I've noted maybe one person on the board who have actually gotten k3 visa since 2012. According to the statistics... 0.33% were granted in 2012 (about 210) so I'd say if that's not obsolete, I'm not sure what is until they take the path off the books?

[Silnjoe 0]

Alas, my answer changes over time.

Why? Many I-130s were sent to local offices for adjudication, even with having an 'MSC' receipt number. When the I-129F is submitted, the I-130 is yanked from the local office, joined up with the I-129F back at MSC or TSC, then there's a new clock on the I-129F.

As to stats, uscis/nvc/DoS pages, no, sorry - but - I'm a reader and a gister - the pattern I wrote about, earlier in post # 4, was current. It did change, that pattern, starting sometime in May.

If you've not filed yet, then you might want to try, as I-129F approvals are going rather quick this quarter.

I think I've noted maybe one person on the board who have actually gotten k3 visa since 2012. According to the statistics... 0.33% were granted in 2012 (about 210) so I'd say if that's not obsolete, I'm not sure what is until they take the path off the books?

Perhaps this link sheds a little light:

http://www.travel.state.gov/pdf/FY2012NIVWorkloadbyVisaCategory.pdf

If I am reading this table correctly, they issued 290 K-3 visas in Fiscal Year 2012. That number seems very low, and I imagine there were many more then 290 applications for a K-3 visa. Key word "imagine"--I don't know how many were submitted. Total Workload says 353 and Waived/Overcome says 35. This could mean they received only 388 applications for a K-3 visa in FY 2012 (?). Or, perhaps it indicates only those K-3s that were processed before an I-130, so we don't know the real denominator.

Compare that with the following table on Immediate Relative Visas:

http://www.travel.state.gov/pdf/FY12AnnualReport-TableII.pdf

Grand total was 88,769 Spouse IR-1/CR-1. Note, that these are issued at foreign service posts, so not the case of a K-3 entering and then adjusting status (I think).

Earliest records I could find were 2001, where they processed 3 K-3 visas, and then 2002 - 2006 was the big pick-up, peaking in 2003 at 13,623 K-3s awarded (vs 46,411 Spouse IR-1/CR-1). It seems at that time, there were better figures for K-3s awarded vs. the long haul I-130, approximately 1 to 3.4. 2012, it looks like it's closer to 1 to 341.

http://www.travel.state.gov/pdf/NIVClassIssued-DetailedFY1997-2001.pdf

http://www.travel.state.gov/pdf/FY06AnnualReportTableXVIB.pdf

http://www.travel.state.gov/pdf/FY2003%20table%20II.pdf

Disclaimer: I do not say that these tables mean that submitting a K-3 visa alters or affects your I-130 in any way, such as changing it's position in the queue. I still want to know if that is a fact or coincidence with reported cases. These tables do seem to indicate that the number of K-3s awarded are miniscule and probably not helping the vast majority reunite with their families faster.