Hypothetical scenario (split topic)

[MacauPDX 24]

Apologies to mods if this is in the wrong place...

Call me crazy, but if me and my wife of 12+ years were to divorce, could we reconcile, agree to remarry and then apply for a K1 visa? It's a long shot, but hey, we're desperate...! At least we'd probably get through the process in a third of the time of an IR-1 if we could go the K1 route. Sure, I know it will cost more and there's the whole AOS hoop to jump through later, but I'm missing out on my 2 kids growing up and I can't buy that time back...

BTW, I'm serious about the K1 - any ideas?

[Blueberry Pancake 311]

Apologies to mods if this is in the wrong place...

Call me crazy, but if me and my wife of 12+ years were to divorce, could we reconcile, agree to remarry and then apply for a K1 visa? It's a long shot, but hey, we're desperate...! At least we'd probably get through the process in a third of the time of an IR-1 if we could go the K1 route. Sure, I know it will cost more and there's the whole AOS hoop to jump through later, but I'm missing out on my 2 kids growing up and I can't buy that time back...

BTW, I'm serious about the K1 - any ideas?

How about join us here? http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/459909-usc-green-card-petitioners-committee/

I know it's hard. It breaks my heart to read how people are suffering because of this brutal process

Let's try to change things. No one will do it for us..

[Ryan H 3,834]

Posts split from unrelated thread.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

Apologies to mods if this is in the wrong place...

Call me crazy, but if me and my wife of 12+ years were to divorce, could we reconcile, agree to remarry and then apply for a K1 visa? It's a long shot, but hey, we're desperate...! At least we'd probably get through the process in a third of the time of an IR-1 if we could go the K1 route. Sure, I know it will cost more and there's the whole AOS hoop to jump through later, but I'm missing out on my 2 kids growing up and I can't buy that time back...

BTW, I'm serious about the K1 - any ideas?

Divorce takes longer than a CR-1 visa.

But why are you separated from your kids? Usually if people live abroad they stay together there until the visa is approved. Generally, people who live abroad together even get their I-130s approved faster too. For China, you can file directly with the embassy and be approved fast. Is Hong Kong prohibited from that? Is it a part of China, isn't it (I know it's slightly separate, not sure on how USCIS sees it)?

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

My response to you didn't make it in the move. I said...

MacauPDX, on 21 Oct 2013 - 10:30 AM, said:

Apologies to mods if this is in the wrong place...

Call me crazy, but if me and my wife of 12+ years were to divorce, could we reconcile, agree to remarry and then apply for a K1 visa? It's a long shot, but hey, we're desperate...! At least we'd probably get through the process in a third of the time of an IR-1 if we could go the K1 route. Sure, I know it will cost more and there's the whole AOS hoop to jump through later, but I'm missing out on my 2 kids growing up and I can't buy that time back...

BTW, I'm serious about the K1 - any ideas?

Divorce takes longer than a IR/CR-1 visa.

But why are you separated from your kids? Usually if people live abroad they stay together there until the visa is approved. Generally, people who live abroad together even get their I-130s approved faster too. For China, you can file directly with the embassy and be approved fast. Is Hong Kong prohibited from that? Is it a part of China, isn't it (I know it's slightly separate, not sure on how USCIS sees it)?

But to answer your question, yes you could, but it would take longer than the IR-1.

Edited October 21, 2013 by Harpa Timsah

[MacauPDX 24]

My response to you didn't make it in the move. I said...

MacauPDX, on 21 Oct 2013 - 10:30 AM, said:

Divorce takes longer than a IR/CR-1 visa.

But why are you separated from your kids? Usually if people live abroad they stay together there until the visa is approved. Generally, people who live abroad together even get their I-130s approved faster too. For China, you can file directly with the embassy and be approved fast. Is Hong Kong prohibited from that? Is it a part of China, isn't it (I know it's slightly separate, not sure on how USCIS sees it)?

But to answer your question, yes you could, but it would take longer than the IR-1.

Thanks for the reply, although a divorce + K1 taking longer than a IR-1 is a moot point. It seems my wife and I could complete divorce proceedings within 6 weeks or so; the divorce would, naturally, be uncontested. Say it takes 5-6 months all in before POE, it's still potentially quicker than what I'm looking at right now. So, my question still stands - is it doable?

I did plan on being away from my kids but not for as long as it's turning out to be. Funnily enough, and I have to laugh, an Immigration Officer at the US Consulate in Hong Kong told me the process for an IR-1 visa takes about 3 months when filed from the US; and I thought to myself, 'Hey, a US State Department official knows what he or she is talking about, right...?' But I was young and foolish in those halcyon days of June 2013! Also serves me right for not doing more research than I did, but I assumed my circumstances (I've also held a GC that I voluntarily surrendered due to working o'seas) meant I was already in the system and a shoe-in. Told ya - young n' foolish...

The US Consulate HK & Macau is a separate entity from mainland China and stopped DCF a couple of years ago.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

You've been waiting 3 months already, so I would guess 3 more months to NOA2 then on to NVC and interview.

TImelines flip flop all the time; sometimes the I-129F is faster, sometimes it is the I-130. By the time you got a divorce and then filed a K-1 you might be looking at a 6 month I-129F wait and the I-130s might be getting approved in 4 months.

So personally, I wouldn't "switch horses midstream." Best of luck, and know you can visit in the meantime.

[Ryan H 3,834]

Is Hong Kong prohibited from that? Is it a part of China, isn't it (I know it's slightly separate, not sure on how USCIS sees it)?

The USCIS field offices in mainland China do not have jurisdiction in either Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) or Macau SAR. Since neither SAR has a USCIS field office, DCF is unavailable for cases that will go through the Consulate in Hong Kong.

[Ryan H 3,834]

Two additional posts moved into appropriate thread.