Filing I-130 - usual time to completion?

[wilefrankie26 0]

Hi guys,

My wife is a US citizen and I am currently in the UK.  We are looking to file our paperwork begining of September and after doing a lot of research, I thought we were looking at 10-14 months from start to finish and then 6 months at the most from date of visa to entry into the US.

 

However, some peoples timelines seem to show that the visa process only takes a few months.  Which do i believe?  I am saving for my medical fees and flights etc and will need to hold off from filing if its only going to take 6 months or less to get my visa.

 

Can someone help as to current times?  I know it will be sent to Chicago but apart from that, I cant make head nor tail of how to figure out the processing times.

 

Sally

[Coco8 1,042]

IR1/CR1 visa for spouses takes 12-14 months.

 

Maybe the people that took a shorter time are those who are both living in the UK. If both spouses are in the US they can do DCF -- direct consular filing- and it takes a few months. But that does not seem to be your case.

 

There is, however, variation, so it could be + 1 month, - 1 month.

 

It could also be that you are looking at other visas. A fiance visa takes 6-8 months. 

 

 

[geowrian 22,338]

~12-14 months is the average right now for a spousal visa. Some take less time, sure. And some take longer.

 

The I-130 is the first step. That is taking, on average, 6 or 7 months. Then it's close to another 6 months at NVC for processing. Then it's on to the embassy to interview and issue the visa (if approved). This timeline varies heavily from embassy to embassy.

[Jorge V 195]

24 minutes ago, Coco8 said:

IR1/CR1 visa for spouses takes 12-14 months.

 

Maybe the people that took a shorter time are those who are both living in the UK. If both spouses are in the US they can do DCF -- direct consular filing- and it takes a few months. But that does not seem to be your case.

 

There is, however, variation, so it could be + 1 month, - 1 month.

 

It could also be that you are looking at other visas. A fiance visa takes 6-8 months. 

 

 

Slight correction on this (I'm guessing a typo). If both spouses are in the UK* they can do DCF.

 

The US citizen must also have a resident visa. Living in the UK on a tourist visa does not count.

 

As mentioned this process is much shorter. My wife and I are currently going through the DCF process and we have our interview on August 15, only 50 days from filing the I-130. If we had not done DCF this would've taken 10-14 months as mentioned.