IR-1/CR-1 or K-3 Visa which one???

[SophieTheGamer 9]

Hi,

 

My husband and I are about to begin our paperwork for getting myself immigrated from Australia to America, we are really unsure of whether we should be doing the IR-1/CR-1 or the K-3 visa, whats the difference in waiting times? Is there a better one?

 

 

[geowrian 22,337]

Hello!

 

You can apply for a K-3, but it's obsolete and has an extremely low chance of making it all the way through the process. It's a relic from back when a CR-1/IR-1 was taking 2-3+ years to process. Nowadays, even if the I-129F for a K-3 is approved, NVC will administratively close it in almost every case. Only just over 120 were issued last year, whereas ~130,000 CR-1/IR-1s were issued in the same time period.

 

If you decide to do a K-3 anyway...when the I-129F gets closed at NVC, the I-130 will remain open and you will continue down the CR-1/IR-1 path normally.

 

CR-1 is taking about 12-14 months on average right now.

Edited September 6, 2017 by geowrian

[SophieTheGamer 9]

In your opinion which one is faster? Or how much processing time am I looking at?

[geowrian 22,337]

9 minutes ago, SophieTheGamer said:

In your opinion which one is faster? Or how much processing time am I looking at?

K-3 is faster by a couple months. But again, it's almost certainly going to turn into a CR-1 anyway.

 

Edit: Just to clarify the above...getting the visa is a little faster. But a K-3 needs AOS to get a green card, so it takes several months longer total to get LPR status (i.e. a green card).

Edited September 6, 2017 by geowrian

[EG&XY 144]

2 minutes ago, geowrian said:

K-3 is faster by a couple months. But again, it's almost certainly going to turn into a CR-1 anyway.

 

Edit: Just to clarify the above...getting a the visa is a little faster. But a K-3 needs AOS to get a green card, so it takes several months longer total to get LPR status (i.e. a green card).

Also, because you have to go through aos there is additional money required and time before you can work. The benefit of the ir1/cr1 is that you automatically get the green card when you enter, and can immediately start working. For the k-3 you may get the visa a month or two faster, but the aos will take another 6 months - 1 year, and if I recall correctly is another ~$1000.

[geowrian 22,337]

Just now, EG&XY said:

Also, because you have to go through aos there is additional money required and time before you can work. The benefit of the ir1/cr1 is that you automatically get the green card when you enter, and can immediately start working. For the k-3 you may get the visa a month or two faster, but the aos will take another 6 months - 1 year, and if I recall correctly is another ~$1000.

Exactly (although the cost is actually $1225 for AOS now).

[EG&XY 144]

1 minute ago, geowrian said:

Exactly (although the cost is actually $1225 for AOS now).

Thanks, that's what I was thinking, but I didn't want to go look it up so I just used the "~" 

[SophieTheGamer 9]

Thanks so much guys, I really appreciate it, we will probably be going with the CR-1, wish me luck haha......ironically my father is an American citizen whom immigrated to Australia when he was 14 and he couldnt pass citizenship to me, America sure arn't making it easy LOL

[geowrian 22,337]

Good luck!!

[EG&XY 144]

Good luck, and no they really don't. Hopefully you are a patient person, USCIS seriously tests the patience of even the most patient person.

[SophieTheGamer 9]

Being now married and not together is so much different, it just makes no sense that its this difficult when we are married, gotta do what we gotta do.......hopefully my consulate is fast considering its Australia and numbers are smaller for immigrating to US

[EG&XY 144]

The good thing is that you may be eligible for upload of your documents (electronic processing) at the nvc stage of the process. If that is the case then the nvc should review your documents in a matter of days, rather than the possible 11 weeks that it can take for people that have to submit by paper. We were not eligible for upload, but we were able to use email processing and our documents were reviewed in about 1 week. So even if USCIS is slow to approve the petition, you should be pretty quick at getting through the nvc part.

[SophieTheGamer 9]

I have booked tickets to fly to the US for a few months on Visa Waiver in February, Am i going to have issues with that. Just to be safe im going to take letters from my employers stating I am required to return back to work. All info about this would help. I'm so worried I will get to US port of entry and they will deny my entry??

[geowrian 22,337]

21 minutes ago, SophieTheGamer said:

I have booked tickets to fly to the US for a few months on Visa Waiver in February, Am i going to have issues with that. Just to be safe im going to take letters from my employers stating I am required to return back to work. All info about this would help. I'm so worried I will get to US port of entry and they will deny my entry??

For VWP entry, you should be fine. There's no guarantees, and you should definitely carry any ties to AU still (i.e. the employer letter), but unless you have abused or it looks like you're abusing the privilege, you should be fine. Having a USC husband is a negative factor for you, but many people visit their spouses fine. I don't want to misquote the CBP statistics, but IIRC the refusal rate was like 0.1% or less.

[EG&XY 144]

There is no way to know for sure. Just take anything you can to help show that you will return to Australia. The letter from your employer is good. Do you own any property or any other significant assets? Have you visited the US before? A history of having complied with the regulations on previous entries is good. Just be honest and you will probably be fine.