11 month process for CR-1 with big age gap

[carmel34 3,654]

My husband and I just finished the CR-1 process, and it was 11 months from filing to visa issuance, I just wanted to post our experience for the benefit of others.  This site has been so useful in the last year, I read relevant threads almost every day and the experiences of others were very informative in our process so I feel like it's time to post what we learned and our experience in getting approved.  I am the USC, older by 27 years, with other big differences like culture, language, education, income, many "red flags," so based on everything we read here we got married in Brazil and filed for a CR-1 spousal visa in July of 2018.  My husband wanted to work right away on arrival without the long wait for EAD which would have driven him crazy.  The entire process went smoothly, with no RFEs or other delays, we got assigned to TSC and the petition was approved after 7 months, then another 4 months to visa issuance for NVC and consulate stages.  Because of the big age gap we front-loaded with evidence of four visits and financial co-mingling, also a sample of our daily communications, email log, Facebook friendship, receipts, boarding passes, a few visit and wedding photos...  Then at the NVC stage we side-loaded more evidence of our three additional trips together since filing the petition.  I was concerned that because of the age gap, we would get more questions at the visa interview (I traveled to Brazil to be with my husband for his interview), but it was clear from the quick interview and very basic questions (when did you meet, how many visits to spend time together) that the CO had made a decision to approve his visa before the interview based on all the evidence submitted at both USCIS and NVC stages.  So the lesson learned that I would like to pass on to others who have concerns about an age gap or red flags in general, is to front-load and side-load lots of evidence of visits in person--we had a total of nine visits in an 18-month period, an average of one visit of about a week long every two months.  I was also concerned that the CO might ask about our language difference--I have learned a lot of Portuguese since we first met in November of 2017 but I'm far from fluent.  My husband's English is not good at all.  This was not even an issue at the interview.  The CO asked my husband questions in Portuguese and me in English, but the questions were not difficult, very easy.  So good luck to all of the other couples here on VJ who have a big age gap like ours--you can do it with no unusual delays and get approved in less than a year with evidence of visits to spend time together, at least it worked for us.  I'm not sure if Brazil is considered a high-fraud country like some are, but our experience overall was very positive.  The hardest part was the 7 month wait for the petition to be approved, and we made it work with visits to be together every two months.  Good luck everyone--whatever your situation I hope you will be together soon.  All the best to the Visa Journey family!  Reading your threads has been very very helpful.

Edited June 14, 2019 by carmel34

[Cg2008 16]

sigh this makes me worried... the service i used did not have us front load/side load :( they said pictures were not required .. i have been stressing about this and feel we  did not submit enough info :( but thank you for sharing 

[Ann&James 179]

28 minutes ago, carmel34 said:

My husband and I just finished the CR-1 process, and it was 11 months from filing to visa issuance, I just wanted to post our experience for the benefit of others.  This site has been so useful in the last year, I read relevant threads almost every day and the experiences of others were very informative in our process so I feel like it's time to post what we learned and our experience in getting approved.  I am the USC, older by 27 years, with other big differences like culture, language, education, income, many "red flags," so based on everything we read here we got married in Brazil and filed for a CR-1 spousal visa in July of 2018.  My husband wanted to work right away on arrival without the long wait for EAD which would have driven him crazy.  The entire process went smoothly, with no RFEs or other delays, we got assigned to TSC and the petition was approved after 7 months, then another 4 months to visa issuance for NVC and consulate stages.  Because of the big age gap we front-loaded with evidence of four visits and financial co-mingling, also a sample of our daily communications, email log, Facebook friendship, receipts, boarding passes, a few visit and wedding photos...  Then at the NVC stage we side-loaded more evidence of our three additional trips together since filing the petition.  I was concerned that because of the age gap, we would get more questions at the visa interview (I traveled to Brazil to be with my husband for his interview), but it was clear from the quick interview and very basic questions (when did you meet, how many visits to spend time together) that the CO had made a decision to approve his visa before the interview based on all the evidence submitted at both USCIS and NVC stages.  So the lesson learned that I would like to pass on to others who have concerns about an age gap or red flags in general, is to front-load and side-load lots of evidence of visits in person--we had a total of nine visits in an 18-month period, an average of one visit of about a week long every two months.  I was also concerned that the CO might ask about our language difference--I have learned a lot of Portuguese since we first met in November of 2017 but I'm far from fluent.  My husband's English is not good at all.  This was not even an issue at the interview.  The CO asked my husband questions in Portuguese and me in English, but the questions were not difficult, very easy.  So good luck to all of the other couples here on VJ who have a big age gap like ours--you can do it with no unusual delays and get approved in less than a year with evidence of visits to spend time together, at least it worked for us.  I'm not sure if Brazil is considered a high-fraud country like some are, but our experience overall was very positive.  The hardest part was the 7 month wait for the petition to be approved, and we made it work with visits to be together every two months.  Good luck everyone--whatever your situation I hope you will be together soon.  All the best to the Visa Journey family!  Reading your threads has been very very helpful.

Congratulations and good luck with the rest of your journey 

[Just Paul 4,595]

38 minutes ago, Cg2008 said:

front load/side load

Age gap, different religions, any red flags?   Always front -oad and do what they do for you for free!

[USS_Voyager 1,972]

1 hour ago, carmel34 said:

My husband and I just finished the CR-1 process

Congratulations! This is long overdue for you.

[SalishSea 18,117]

Wow!  Finally!  Congratulations to you both ❤️

[portorusa 431]

Thanks for telling your story. You were lucky to be able to afford seeing your hubby so often (sigh). The wait for NOA-2 is long and difficult, and the long separation makes it a torture. 

Congratulation to your both! It also may be useful remembering that there can be more difficulties with adjusting and making life together, but true love conquers all!

[carmel34 3,654]

Thanks everyone for your kind words of congratulations--it really helps to know of your support and to not feel so alone.  This community has been so positive and that made a big difference, especially during the long wait for petition approval--I will continue to post and comment as our journey continues, in hopes of helping others the way you have all helped us.  I love how this community of strangers shares information and emotional support so freely.  It makes the long, complicated, frustrating, and confusing process so much easier to go through.  Good luck to all of you!  

[Jeanne Adil 1,651]

congratulations

from one who had bigger age gap than  you

 

what really helped you here was the number of visits and commingling of finances

adding my husband to tax returns, bank account and deed is what i had to do to get him approved

i didn't make that may visits (only 5)   but my trips were a month to 3 months long

and in our country they don't allow the USC in during the interview

 

wishing you the best

get him into an English class so he can pass driving test and write a resume 

[carmel34 3,654]

2 hours ago, adil-rafa said:

congratulations

from one who had bigger age gap than  you

 

what really helped you here was the number of visits and commingling of finances

adding my husband to tax returns, bank account and deed is what i had to do to get him approved

i didn't make that may visits (only 5)   but my trips were a month to 3 months long

and in our country they don't allow the USC in during the interview

 

wishing you the best

get him into an English class so he can pass driving test and write a resume 

Thanks so much!  Your posts and comments were VERY helpful in our journey.  And I was prepared to move to Brazil to live and work for as long as needed if the visa was not approved last week.  We have English lessons all lined up that begin soon after his arrival in August, job opportunities ready to apply for that only require basic English, and here in California the driver's license test is available in many languages so he will be okay to get his DL right away.  CA is very immigrant-friendly:

 

The basic Noncommercial Class C knowledge driver license (DL) tests are available in the following languages:
Amharic, Arabic, Armenian, Cambodian/Khmer, Chinese/Cantonese, Croatian, English, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hmong, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Laotian, Persian/Farsi, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Samoan, Spanish, Tagalog/Filipino, Thai, Tongan, Turkish, and Vietnamese.

[Ryan H 3,828]

Moved from Process & Procedures to Progress Reports.

[Cg2008 16]

On 6/14/2019 at 3:56 PM, Paul & Mary said:

Age gap, different religions, any red flags?   Always front -oad and do what they do for you for free!

Yeah I didn't do enough research before applying  and i trusted them... we are only 8 months apart in age and hes Hindu and I'm Catholic, but we respect eachother's beliefs. 

[Mrs.Herrera 3]

My husband and I also has huge age gap and I don't know if we are going to have problems about it. We sent our petition last October 30, 2018 and our SC is Nebraska. We sent lots of photos maybe 50 pieces and he visited me only twice because he is working and only gets 2 months vacation. I am not nervous about the age gap and my home country (ph) being high fraud country because I know our love is real and genuine. We've been together for 2 years and what I love about him is that we have the same personality, we never fight, we talk every single day and he is the most important person in my life because of the love and care he showed to me. I always thank God for giving me a husband that for me is perfect. He has the biggest heart for me and my family loves him so much. Just wanna share this because I want to be more active in this website. We still have a long way to go because of our SC but I believe that if love is real, time is just a number :)

[stefanie.namaste 5]

On 6/18/2019 at 3:48 AM, Mrs.Herrera said:

My husband and I also has huge age gap and I don't know if we are going to have problems about it. We sent our petition last October 30, 2018 and our SC is Nebraska. We sent lots of photos maybe 50 pieces and he visited me only twice because he is working and only gets 2 months vacation. I am not nervous about the age gap and my home country (ph) being high fraud country because I know our love is real and genuine. We've been together for 2 years and what I love about him is that we have the same personality, we never fight, we talk every single day and he is the most important person in my life because of the love and care he showed to me. I always thank God for giving me a husband that for me is perfect. He has the biggest heart for me and my family loves him so much. Just wanna share this because I want to be more active in this website. We still have a long way to go because of our SC but I believe that if love is real, time is just a number

Hi, i'm also new to this site and just learning to navigate it. This is definitely a stressful process.  I travel from the US to see my husband every 45 days for 3 weeks at a time. It's very stressful. We married in India in December 2018. If you don't mind me asking what's the difference in age? I also have a huge age gap, but love see's no number

Edited July 6, 2019 by stefanie.namaste

[Patricia Owuh 175]

On 6/14/2019 at 4:50 PM, carmel34 said:

My husband and I just finished the CR-1 process, and it was 11 months from filing to visa issuance, I just wanted to post our experience for the benefit of others.  This site has been so useful in the last year, I read relevant threads almost every day and the experiences of others were very informative in our process so I feel like it's time to post what we learned and our experience in getting approved.  I am the USC, older by 27 years, with other big differences like culture, language, education, income, many "red flags," so based on everything we read here we got married in Brazil and filed for a CR-1 spousal visa in July of 2018.  My husband wanted to work right away on arrival without the long wait for EAD which would have driven him crazy.  The entire process went smoothly, with no RFEs or other delays, we got assigned to TSC and the petition was approved after 7 months, then another 4 months to visa issuance for NVC and consulate stages.  Because of the big age gap we front-loaded with evidence of four visits and financial co-mingling, also a sample of our daily communications, email log, Facebook friendship, receipts, boarding passes, a few visit and wedding photos...  Then at the NVC stage we side-loaded more evidence of our three additional trips together since filing the petition.  I was concerned that because of the age gap, we would get more questions at the visa interview (I traveled to Brazil to be with my husband for his interview), but it was clear from the quick interview and very basic questions (when did you meet, how many visits to spend time together) that the CO had made a decision to approve his visa before the interview based on all the evidence submitted at both USCIS and NVC stages.  So the lesson learned that I would like to pass on to others who have concerns about an age gap or red flags in general, is to front-load and side-load lots of evidence of visits in person--we had a total of nine visits in an 18-month period, an average of one visit of about a week long every two months.  I was also concerned that the CO might ask about our language difference--I have learned a lot of Portuguese since we first met in November of 2017 but I'm far from fluent.  My husband's English is not good at all.  This was not even an issue at the interview.  The CO asked my husband questions in Portuguese and me in English, but the questions were not difficult, very easy.  So good luck to all of the other couples here on VJ who have a big age gap like ours--you can do it with no unusual delays and get approved in less than a year with evidence of visits to spend time together, at least it worked for us.  I'm not sure if Brazil is considered a high-fraud country like some are, but our experience overall was very positive.  The hardest part was the 7 month wait for the petition to be approved, and we made it work with visits to be together every two months.  Good luck everyone--whatever your situation I hope you will be together soon.  All the best to the Visa Journey family!  Reading your threads has been very very helpful.

Okay, this is nice that it worked for yoj but that was some time ago. Some people today haven't been able to have this many visits because of COVID-19.  Me personally, age shouldn't matter and it usually doesn't if the male is much older. However when the woman is much older they are looked at as just someone who wants to get a man here for a green card. This is not true. Is it really so hard to believe that a man can love an older woman? It's really heartbreaking. You're right about evidence though. The more the better.