Shall I file F2A for my spouse?

[piaopiao09 1]

I am a green card holder since 7/2011. My spouse was in China and she came to visit me using B2 visa.

Now I am thinking about 2 options

1. I wait for myself to get my citizenship in 2016 and apply green card for her.

2. File 130 for her now and have her go through consular processing and wait for PD to be current.

For option 1, we will have to wait for probably 2.5 years.

For option 2, since the PD has been 9/2013 for a long time, we do not know if it is going to move fast so if it is worthy to do that. Plus, I heard the risk to get her B2 visa denied if filing for 130.

Thanks for your advice.

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

If you wait the wait after you file will still be another year. If she has a reason to return that was enough to get the visa then she probably will be ok to continue visiting. She will have better luck if the visits are not long enough to raise eyebrows that she has no ties to home.

[Darnell 8,478]

you might have gotten something for september or october,

if filing the big AOS set , her remaining here in the USA,

as

PDs were current for F2A category, then.

Unsure what's what, now.

[PermanentR 8]

Use option 2. If you get your citizenship you will change category and save your time for approve petition. Or you will get a visa earlier than you will get citizenship.

[sbai2000 31]

personally I would file now under F2A - barring any big hump in the road and if you are really proactive, you could get the interview within 1 year. But you need to file ASAP because a lot of people are filing I-130 under F2A because they saw that that category became current over the summer.

Alternatively, if you wait to file as a USC in 2016 - you still have to add your USC processing time as well as your spouse's GC processing time, both of which could well add 2 years to 2016 date...so realistically it would be 2018 (phew!).

of course filing now as an LPR means that your wife would have to wait out side the US while it is processing because there is a very high risk that she will be denied a B2. But you can try - some have had success. My husband doesn't want to take the chance as an attorney told him that he will probably be denied.

It is definitely stressful being apart and waiting but I do think that filing now as an LPR is the better of two evils.

Best of luck to you and your wife.

Edited January 16, 2014 by sbai2000