Unsure whats best, K1 or K3. Currently in NZ

[Tompearson 3]

Hi all,

My girlfriend and I have decided we'd like to be together for the long term and have been looking into the different visas we can obtain. A little background on us:

I'm from the UK and she is from the US.
We are not yet married, but intend to depending on which visa.
We are currently living and working in New Zealand on a working holiday.
We are fairly young. I am 25 and she is 23, we do not earn a substantial amount of money. Certainly not enough to meet the strict financial requirements of the UK and have decided to look into the US visa system. We have potential affidavits of support in the US and the UK.

We were wondering which visa would be best for our circumstance. We don't like the thought of being apart from long periods, we have done a few months here and there without each other and have been together for about 2 years or so total. I used to work in the US for 3 years on J1 visas.

We don't know whether to start the process here in New Zealand (which is incredibly far away from our true home countries), or bite the bullet and wait it out at our respective homes whilst paperwork is being done over the atlantic.

We plan to stay in New Zealand for the next 6 months or so before we have to leave. What would anyone recommend?

Thanks for any input, as someone who has just started, the mountain of things to do looks massive so I really appreciate it.

Cheers

Tom

[Hotter Otter 1,211]

Well the K3 is pretty much obsolete so your choice would be K1 or marry and file a CR1.

If US embassy in NZ allows DCF then the best/fastest route may be marrying there and doing that but I'm not sure if the NZ embassy allows it or not.

[mebinkle 3]

If you do the K-1 I would start it now, especially if your paperwork gets sent to the Texas Sercive center. My fiance and I just got ours and we filed the paperwork in February, and didn't have any delays, it just was slow. Things sped up for us once it got passed onto the UK. Also I had just graduated so and job hunting at the time so my dad was our cosponsor and this was no problem. Good luck with what you decide!

[Tompearson 3]

Thanks for your replies, we don't know much about the CR1 so we'll look into it.

We've read that you have to apply for the K1 in the US and currently we both reside in New Zealand, and will be here for the next 5 or 6 months. Can we apply for it here or do we have to be in USA and UK to get the K1 done?

[Penguin_ie 5,993]

You can be in NZ while petitioning for either visa; you would simply need to send the paperwork to the USA.

[NikLR 13,227]

Some of what you want to think about is where you really want to get married. In the UK? In Oz? In the USA? or do you not mind having a small wedding, waiting a year (or so) and then having a big family "wedding" where everyone an attend. Women may say they want a small wedding but really, would rather have a big one, or maybe they really do want a small one (I did, it was fantastic!)

Those are some considerations. No matter how you look at it though, a visa into the USA to live permanently is getting married. There are some big culture shock things you have to deal with when living in the USA even for people from Oz, UK, and Canada.

[Ryan H 3,812]

If US embassy in NZ allows DCF then the best/fastest route may be marrying there and doing that but I'm not sure if the NZ embassy allows it or not.

No DCF in NZ, USCIS doesn't have a field office there.

[Tompearson 3]

Thanks for all your input.

We eventually phoned the Auckland US consulate and talked to a lovely lady named Ivy who answered a bunch more of our questions, they were so incredibly helpful. We've decided to go ahead with the K1 and apply whilst we are here. Once we get the petition approved we will get my paperwork done when I'm back in the UK and then fly out to US when and if it all goes to plan.

Oh and in actual fact they do have DCF, but we asked and they only use it for emergencies such as life or death.

Once again, thank you so much for all your help and input.

Thanks

Tom & Kira

Edited January 6, 2015 by Tompearson