DCF In Mexico.

[JJ89 13]

Hi everyone,

 

I am citizen of both USA and Mexico. My fiancé is a citizen of Venezuela and Colombia. We went the k1 visa route, and are at the noa2 stage right before NVC. 

 

Then life happens....

 

We have been traveling a lot and then she got pregnant. Now she is in pregnant and we are in Mexico. She is on a tourist visa and I'm pretty sure the k1 interview can't be done here since she is not a resident. She also only has 2 months on her tourist visa in Mexico.

 

So other wise I have no choice but get married in Mexico. 

 

Being a citizen of Mexico I apply for DCF, but does she ? Does she have to also be a resident of Mexico for 6 months? Or is it only me.

 

 

please help. Thank you

[geowrian 22,337]

Congrats on the pregnancy!

 

Correct, she can't interview on a tourist visa. She will need to interview somewhere where she has legal residency or citizenship.

 

Why must you marry now? What precisely is the issue with continuing the K-1 process and her returning back home for the embassy stage of the process? Based on your VJ timeline, this would likely be just about as fast as DCF anyway.

 

The legal residency restriction to interview is the same for a CR-1/IR-1 (spousal) visa, so marrying in Mexico won't change anything (unless your plan is to use the marriage to obtain residency for her first?).

DCF requirements vary heavily from embassy to embassy. I think Mexico looks at physical presence for 6+ months, but check with the embassy to be sure. The beneficiary (at least) must meet this requirement.

[Alabamak1 688]

if i where you, i would wait for the k-1 and let her go back to the country of residency. It's not a matter of months anymore, but weeks. If you marry now, doing a spousal visa will take 12-14 months and you could've spent time with your future wife and the kid would be born in the USA by that time and not dealing with CRBA and more

[JJ89 13]

17 minutes ago, geowrian said:

Congrats on the pregnancy!

 

Correct, she can't interview on a tourist visa. She will need to interview somewhere where she has legal residency or citizenship.

 

Why must you marry now? What precisely is the issue with continuing the K-1 process and her returning back home for the embassy stage of the process? Based on your VJ timeline, this would likely be just about as fast as DCF anyway.

 

The legal residency restriction to interview is the same for a CR-1/IR-1 (spousal) visa, so marrying in Mexico won't change anything (unless your plan is to use the marriage to obtain residency for her first?).

DCF requirements vary heavily from embassy to embassy. I think Mexico looks at physical presence for 6+ months, but check with the embassy to be sure. The beneficiary (at least) must meet this requirement.

Thanks for the reply.

 

Going back to Venezuela is not really an option with all the issues there. I don't want my baby being in that environment, even if it's still in the womb. I can't even enter there due to government issues between our two countries. If she goes to Colombia for her interview  and the consulate turns down her visa, we are in a tight situation. If she wants to come back to Mexico and get married,  Mexico has a high rate of turning down Venezuelan and Colombian nationals from entering Mexico. When we entered we had a rough time, even though she was with me. Hardly got by. And living in Colombia for any amount of time while pregnant is not really an option. 

 

 

If  she were to marry me In Mexico she'd automatically get Mexican residency. That would allow her to have her cr1 interview in Mexico at the us embassy. Sorry I should have clarified this point.

 

id love to continue the k1 visa, but I don't know how at this point.  The pregnancy complicates matters somewhat.

 

Im very confused with what to do right now. 

 

 

 

[Alabamak1 688]

if you received a noa-2 already....everything can be handled in a matter of 1 month with the interview and medical done as soon as possible. Being a dual national, what visa would they reject? Anyways good luck to you. We are really talking about weeks compared to months in dropping the ball at this stage

[payxibka 10,047]

26 minutes ago, jcon91 said:

Thanks for the reply.

 

Going back to Venezuela is not really an option with all the issues there. I don't want my baby being in that environment, even if it's still in the womb. I can't even enter there due to government issues between our two countries. If she goes to Colombia for her interview  and the consulate turns down her visa, we are in a tight situation. If she wants to come back to Mexico and get married,  Mexico has a high rate of turning down Venezuelan and Colombian nationals from entering Mexico. When we entered we had a rough time, even though she was with me. Hardly got by. And living in Colombia for any amount of time while pregnant is not really an option. 

 

 

If  she were to marry me In Mexico she'd automatically get Mexican residency. That would allow her to have her cr1 interview in Mexico at the us embassy. Sorry I should have clarified this point.

 

id love to continue the k1 visa, but I don't know how at this point.  The pregnancy complicates matters somewhat.

 

Im very confused with what to do right now. 

 

 

 

You could always request if cDj will due the k-1 interview based on medical needs.  All they can do is say no

[JJ89 13]

16 minutes ago, payxibka said:

You could always request if cDj will due the k-1 interview based on medical needs.  All they can do is say no

Do you know how the process to do this is?

 

[payxibka 10,047]

Once you have your case number you send cdj an email laying out your request.  

[Jorge V 195]

3 hours ago, jcon91 said:

Thanks for the reply.

 

Going back to Venezuela is not really an option with all the issues there. I don't want my baby being in that environment, even if it's still in the womb. I can't even enter there due to government issues between our two countries. If she goes to Colombia for her interview  and the consulate turns down her visa, we are in a tight situation. If she wants to come back to Mexico and get married,  Mexico has a high rate of turning down Venezuelan and Colombian nationals from entering Mexico. When we entered we had a rough time, even though she was with me. Hardly got by. And living in Colombia for any amount of time while pregnant is not really an option. 

 

 

If  she were to marry me In Mexico she'd automatically get Mexican residency. That would allow her to have her cr1 interview in Mexico at the us embassy. Sorry I should have clarified this point.

 

id love to continue the k1 visa, but I don't know how at this point.  The pregnancy complicates matters somewhat.

 

Im very confused with what to do right now. 

 

 

 

My wife and I did DCF in Mexico last year, so I can probably clear up some things.

 

As far as becoming a resident of Mexico, marrying you does not automatically grant her residency. You still have to apply and get approved. After our marriage my Mexican citizen wife petitioned me (US citizen) for residency and the process took about 8 weeks. I hear it can take as little as 5, though. So there's 5-8 weeks you have to add to your timeline. Note that once she applies for residency she will not be able to (easily) leave Mexico without abandoning the process.

 

As far as doing DCF, Mexico isn't super strict about it. I actually did DCF as a tourist (yes, even though I applied for residency). I had been living in Mexico as a tourist for 7 years, though. They requested evidence of this and I sent my last two rental leases as well as other evidence. Once they saw that I had actually been living in Mexico for over 6 months they allowed me to continue the DCF process. I have heard that they really only require 3 months though. So if you can get evidence of having resided in Mexico for 3 months then you should be ok. Keep in mind that they'll want evidence that you have resided in Mexico for 3+ months, not just visited/travelled. Evidence such as utility bills and rental agreements in your name will help.

Edited June 10, 2018 by Jorge V

[JJ89 13]

36 minutes ago, Jorge V said:

My wife and I did DCF in Mexico last year, so I can probably clear up some things.

 

As far as becoming a resident of Mexico, marrying you does not automatically grant her residency. You still have to apply and get approved. After our marriage my Mexican citizen wife petitioned me (US citizen) for residency and the process took about 8 weeks. I hear it can take as little as 5, though. So there's 5-8 weeks you have to add to your timeline. Note that once she applies for residency she will not be able to (easily) leave Mexico without abandoning the process.

 

As far as doing DCF, Mexico isn't super strict about it. I actually did DCF as a tourist (yes, even though I applied for residency). I had been living in Mexico as a tourist for 7 years, though. They requested evidence of this and I sent my last two rental leases as well as other evidence. Once they saw that I had actually been living in Mexico for over 6 months they allowed me to continue the DCF process. I have heard that they really only require 3 months though. So if you can get evidence of having resided in Mexico for 3 months then you should be ok. Keep in mind that they'll want evidence that you have resided in Mexico for 3+ months, not just visited/travelled. Evidence such as utility bills and rental agreements in your name will help.

Thank for the comment. My understanding is that you applied for her green card while she was a Mexican citizen and you were in Mexico as a tourist. 

 

Im wondering if since she is only here on a tourist visa if that will not count as being here for 6 months. Do they even requiere that from the beneficiary? Any clues? Who can I call to clear this up. Thanks once again

[Jorge V 195]

35 minutes ago, jcon91 said:

Thank for the comment. My understanding is that you applied for her green card while she was a Mexican citizen and you were in Mexico as a tourist. 

 

Im wondering if since she is only here on a tourist visa if that will not count as being here for 6 months. Do they even requiere that from the beneficiary? Any clues? Who can I call to clear this up. Thanks once again

Yes, we applied for her green card. She's a Mexican citizen and I am a US citizen. I was in Mexico as a tourist, but was actually living there. I had an apartment, electricity, cable, etc in my name. I'm not sure about the DCF requirements for the beneficiary. I'm pretty sure they only care about the petitioner. That said, I'm rather certain that the beneficiary can only interview in her country of origin or residence. If she is in Mexico as a tourist when her interview comes up, they may not let her attend. This goes for any visa, not just those obtained via DCF. I'm not sure if there are waivers available to circumvent this requirement.

Edited June 10, 2018 by Jorge V

[JJ89 13]

10 minutes ago, Jorge V said:

Yes, we applied for her green card. She's a Mexican citizen and I am a US citizen. I was in Mexico as a tourist, but was actually living there. I had an apartment, electricity, cable, etc in my name. I'm not sure about the DCF requirements for the beneficiary. I'm pretty sure they only care about the petitioner. That said, I'm rather certain that the beneficiary can only interview in her country of origin or residence. If she is in Mexico as a tourist when her interview comes up, they may not let her attend. This goes for any visa, not just those obtained via DCF. I'm not sure if there are waivers available to circumvent this requirement.

How long did it take for the whole process? If we get married a week before her tourist visa ends do know if she gets a temporary permit for more time in Mexico ?

[Jorge V 195]

You can look at the timeline in my signature to get a detailed look and a link to a DCF Mexico guide I wrote based on my experience.

 

But in short, getting married in Mexico will take a few days - a couple weeks at least. You need to do blood tests and attend a 4-6 hour group course with a lawyer and marriage counselor (this may vary by state, we got married in Jalisco). Depending on where you live all openings for this course may be booked up. We had to drive a bit out of the way to find a place that wasn't booked up. This is for a civil wedding, if you want to do a religious ceremony then you'll have to allow for more time.

 

Once you get married you may have to wait for an official copy of your marriage certificate to become available. This only took a few days for us but I've read about couples living in other states and/or small towns where this has taken longer.

 

After this your wife can apply for residency. As mentioned, this took 8 weeks for us but it can take as little as 5 weeks. Our lawyer quoted us 6-10 weeks. I'm not sure if she'll be placed in an some form of temporary status, but I would assume so. Many countries do this but I would suggest asking a lawyer. I paid around USD$600 for the total process, about half of that was government fees and the other half lawyer fees. The lawyer did everything, including sending someone to wait in line for our marriage certificate and translations.

 

Once your wife's residency is approved then you can apply for the CR1 via DCF. The process in Mexico is pretty fast, with the wait time for the interview being the most time consuming. The initial I-130 is typically approved within a week, and some times even the same day. Our process took 7 weeks, but we were able to save around 5 weeks because we got lucky and found a cancelled appointment that was 5 weeks earlier than our original appointment. I always recommend that people check for cancelled appointments as often as possible.

 

Once your wife attends her interview in Ciudad Juarez (you won't be allowed to attend) and is approved, they'll keep her passport so that they can attach the visa. They'll mail it back to you within 1-2 weeks but some people get placed in AP (administrative processing) which can add several weeks to the wait. Your wife being from Venezuela could lead to delays in AP.

 

So overall you're looking at

• About 1 week preparing for your wedding (blood tests, government mandated courses)
• About 1 week (though could be more) for your marriage certificate to become available.
• About 6 weeks for her Mexican residency (though it could be 5-8 weeks)
• About 3 months total for the DCF process. Fastest Mexico DCF reported on VisaJourney was 33 days, but that was in 2006 when things went much faster. Ours is the third fastest at 49 days. Average seems to be 90 days.

Grand total: about 5 months.

Edited June 10, 2018 by Jorge V

[JJ89 13]

4 minutes ago, Jorge V said:

You can look at the timeline in my signature to get a detailed look and a link to a DCF Mexico guide I wrote based on my experience.

 

But in short, getting married in Mexico will take a few days - a couple weeks at least. You need to do blood tests and attend a 4-6 hour group course with a lawyer and marriage counselor (this may vary by state, we got married in Jalisco). Depending on where you live all openings for this course may be booked up. We had to drive a bit out of the way to find a place that wasn't booked up. This is for a civil wedding, if you want to do a religious ceremony then you'll have to allow for more time.

 

Once you get married you may have to wait for an official copy of your marriage certificate to become available. This only took a few days for us but I've read about couples living in other states and/or small towns where this has taken longer.

 

After this your wife can apply for residency. As mentioned, this took 8 weeks for us but it can take as little as 5 weeks. Our lawyer quoted us 6-10 weeks. I'm not sure if she'll be placed in an some form of temporary status, but I would assume so. Many countries do this but I would suggest asking a lawyer. I paid around USD$600 for the total process, about half of that was government fees and the other half lawyer fees. The lawyer did everything, including sending someone to wait in line for our marriage certificate and translations.

 

Once your wife's residency is approved then you can apply for the CR1 via DCF. The process in Mexico is pretty fast, with the wait time for the interview being the most time consuming. The initial I-130 is typically approved within a week or some, and some times even the same day. Our process took 7 weeks, but we were able to save around 5 weeks because we got lucky and found a cancelled appointment that was 5 weeks earlier than our original appointment. I always recommend that people check for cancelled appointments as often as possible.

 

Once your wife attends her interview in Ciudad Juarez (you won't be allowed to attend) and is approved, they'll keep her passport so that they can attach the visa. They'll mail it back to you within 1-2 weeks but some people get placed in AP (administrative processing) which can add several weeks to the wait. Your wife being from Venezuela could lead to delays in AP.

 

So overall you're looking at

• About 1 week preparing for your wedding (blood tests, government mandated courses)
• About 1 week (though could be more) for your marriage certificate to become available.
• About 6 weeks for her Mexican residency (though it could be 5-8 weeks)
• About 3 months total for the DCF process. Fastest Mexico DCF reported on VisaJourney was 33 days, but that was in 2006 when things went much faster. Ours is the third fastest at 49 days. Average seems to be 90 days.

Grand total: about 5 months.

Fantastic information Jorge! This is exactly what I needed. I'm in cancun so If i take the marriage route  I imagine it's quick for the marriage certificate. I'm going to make phone calls on Monday. Once again thank you so much. You were a tremendous help. 

[JJ89 13]

On 6/9/2018 at 10:31 PM, Jorge V said:

You can look at the timeline in my signature to get a detailed look and a link to a DCF Mexico guide I wrote based on my experience.

 

But in short, getting married in Mexico will take a few days - a couple weeks at least. You need to do blood tests and attend a 4-6 hour group course with a lawyer and marriage counselor (this may vary by state, we got married in Jalisco). Depending on where you live all openings for this course may be booked up. We had to drive a bit out of the way to find a place that wasn't booked up. This is for a civil wedding, if you want to do a religious ceremony then you'll have to allow for more time.

 

Once you get married you may have to wait for an official copy of your marriage certificate to become available. This only took a few days for us but I've read about couples living in other states and/or small towns where this has taken longer.

 

After this your wife can apply for residency. As mentioned, this took 8 weeks for us but it can take as little as 5 weeks. Our lawyer quoted us 6-10 weeks. I'm not sure if she'll be placed in an some form of temporary status, but I would assume so. Many countries do this but I would suggest asking a lawyer. I paid around USD$600 for the total process, about half of that was government fees and the other half lawyer fees. The lawyer did everything, including sending someone to wait in line for our marriage certificate and translations.

 

Once your wife's residency is approved then you can apply for the CR1 via DCF. The process in Mexico is pretty fast, with the wait time for the interview being the most time consuming. The initial I-130 is typically approved within a week, and some times even the same day. Our process took 7 weeks, but we were able to save around 5 weeks because we got lucky and found a cancelled appointment that was 5 weeks earlier than our original appointment. I always recommend that people check for cancelled appointments as often as possible.

 

Once your wife attends her interview in Ciudad Juarez (you won't be allowed to attend) and is approved, they'll keep her passport so that they can attach the visa. They'll mail it back to you within 1-2 weeks but some people get placed in AP (administrative processing) which can add several weeks to the wait. Your wife being from Venezuela could lead to delays in AP.

 

So overall you're looking at

• About 1 week preparing for your wedding (blood tests, government mandated courses)
• About 1 week (though could be more) for your marriage certificate to become available.
• About 6 weeks for her Mexican residency (though it could be 5-8 weeks)
• About 3 months total for the DCF process. Fastest Mexico DCF reported on VisaJourney was 33 days, but that was in 2006 when things went much faster. Ours is the third fastest at 49 days. Average seems to be 90 days.

Grand total: about 5 months.

Hi Jorge,

 

We got married, and now my wife has Mexican residency. We still have her k1 interview at Caracas embassy, but we are going to cancel that application since we are now married. We are now looking to apply for DCF. Do you know of any  guides that can help with this?

 

I also wanted to thank you for giving me so much information in a time when my wife and I really needed it. We both are extremely grateful to you.