CR-1 Risky choice for our plan?

[Sabrina&Haydn 0]

Hi everyone,

I am having a dilema as to if the CR-1 visa is a risky choice in our situation. Me and my Australian fiance are getting married early May, 2014 in the US. We then plan to travel South America for a month or so after the wedding for our honeymoon. We are willing to get married ASAP (like tomorrow) in Australia so that we can apply for the CR-1 visa and hopfully it will be process in time. My questions are...

1. Based on applying from Australia, in general, do you think the process would be complete by this time next year? (I know this is just opinion and that the procceing time is generally a year)

2. IF the visa is not approved and finalized on time, is it very risky to enter the US on the VWP while the CR-1 is pending, get married, and then have him leave the coutnry until it is processed? Since we plan to have our honeymoon out of the country anyway, he will have an outgoing plane ticket, can have a letter from his boss saying he has a job in Australia, and really anything else he needs to prove he isn't going to do something illegal. (He has an excellent immigration history with the US as well)

3. With that said, what documents or proof would most gurantee that immigration does not stop him from entering in the case of #2?

We could do the fiance visa, but this would prevent us from going on our honeymoon in SA and from him working for a few months after he arrives. We would much prefer him to have his green card when he arrives.

Thank you in advance for your responses!

[Alaska2012 462]

Yes a year is a fair estimate. Maybe around 10 months if everything goes smoothly...

[TBoneTX 45,044]

*** Thread moved from CR-1 Process forum to General Immigration Discussion -- OP is contemplating a visa path and has general questions. ***

[Lainie B 465]

If I were in your shoes I would definitely do the CR-1. Chances are he'll have the visa within a year (though it's hard to say for sure since waiting times change rapidly). He shouldn't have a problem visiting in May next year on the VWP if the visa is not ready. Plenty here have visited on the VWP while waiting for a K-1 or CR-1.

[Sabrina&Haydn 0]

Thanks for the advice! I think we will probably end up going with the CR-1 now. Do you know if using an attorney/agency would speed up the process anymore? Since we are applying out of the country, it would be good if not all mail correspondance had to go back and forth between the US and Australia. And it should eliminate the risk of errors on our application.

[Lainie B 465]

Unless you have any red flags, having an attorney will actually slow things down, because you send everything to them, and then have to wait for them to send it in, and this will not be their top priority (whereas it will be YOUR top priority). You go in the same queue as everyone else. If you're worried about making errors, just follow the guides here and the USCIS instructions to the letter, triple check everything, and you'll be fine. There have been many stories here about lawyers making errors.