Living with your fiancé while your K1 visa is being processed

[Golfnut 0]

I am currently living in the Philippines with my fiancé and we are trying to decide between getting married in the Philippines and applying for a CR-1 visa or waiting to get married and applying for a K1 visa and get married in the US. 

 

Currently the processing time for a CR-1 visa in about 12-16 months and the processing time for a K1 visa is showing at about 4-7 months. We would like to take advantage of the shorter processing time but only if we can continue to live together in the Philippines. Looking at all the information I can find on the internet, it is not clear to us weather I need to return to US to process the K1 visa and wait for her to travel to the US after she receives the visa or if I can file for and have processed the visa while we continue to live in the Philippines. We are both retired in our respected countries so getting her a work permit upon arrival US is not an issue.

 

If anyone has had experience with this, can you please let us know. 

[Edward and Jaycel 462]

I don't believe there is anything that says you have to live in the US  while it is processing. The only thing that would be of concern is having a US address where you can receive the notices from USCIS (NOA 1 & NOA2) and then when it's time to process the visa, during the interview the Consular Officer will want to know an address where you and she will be living in the US and CBP at her Port of Entry will want to know the same thing. If you can stand the wait, I would highly recommend getting married there and doing the CR-1. If for no other reasons, it's cheaper and on the K-1, once she enters the US, she is stuck here in the country until either the green card is issued after the AOS or if you pay the extra money for the Advanced Parole which could also take months to process

[j&ana 378]

I read your post, and you mention that you are living in the Philippines with your fiancé. you are asking about K-1 visa being faster. I am just curios why are you worry about the processing time of cr-1 visa being slower. is there a reason why you need faster visa? Most couples are living in other countries while doing the K-1 or cr-1 visa. But you mention that you are living in the Philippines with your fiancé. so, it seems whichever visa you decide to do you will be able to wait with her. I married my wife at Pres Garcia Bohol Philippines 2014 she arrived in USA June 2015.That was 10 years ago.so I know the processing time is different.  I know people have different reasons why they will choose one visa over the other. My main reason was that if my and I married in the Philippines. Her mom, dad and family could attend the wedding. 

Any way I did not mean any offense for my question. I am just curious why you need faster visa

 

[Golfnut 0]

1 hour ago, j&ana said:

I read your post, and you mention that you are living in the Philippines with your fiancé. you are asking about K-1 visa being faster. I am just curios why are you worry about the processing time of cr-1 visa being slower. is there a reason why you need faster visa? Most couples are living in other countries while doing the K-1 or cr-1 visa. But you mention that you are living in the Philippines with your fiancé. so, it seems whichever visa you decide to do you will be able to wait with her. I married my wife at Pres Garcia Bohol Philippines 2014 she arrived in USA June 2015.That was 10 years ago.so I know the processing time is different.  I know people have different reasons why they will choose one visa over the other. My main reason was that if my and I married in the Philippines. Her mom, dad and family could attend the wedding. 

Any way I did not mean any offense for my question. I am just curious why you need faster visa

 

 

I am in my 70's and my fiancé is in her 60's. We are both retired but she has a very small income to support herself and we mainly live on my social security income here in the Philippines which is well above average but still does not allow us to live the retired life we would like to. Our plan is to get her US citizenship in the 3 to 4 years required for a spouse to live in the US so that she can continue to collect an additional 50% off of my Social Security even after we return to the Philippines or wherever we decide to live outside the US. Also, if I were to pass while we are living abroad she will be able to collect my full Social Security. 

 

At the present, the processing time for a CR-1 spousal visa 12-16 months and the time to process a K1 fiancé visa is 4-7 months. I know it doesn't sound like much, but when you are our age, 6 months to a year is a long time to wait before we can start really enjoying the active retirement we plan to live until we are physical unable to do so.

[OldUser 7,400]

14 minutes ago, Golfnut said:

 At the present, the processing time for a CR-1 spousal visa 12-16 months and the time to process a K1 fiancé visa is 4-7 months.

Both of the estimates you posted are very optimistic. It's more like 2 years for CR-1 and 9-12 months for K-1. But K-1 estimate is only time until entry to the US. To get GC, K-1 will take additional 6-18 months after entry to the US.

Plus things will likely slow down very soon with new administration. 

[OldUser 7,400]

29 minutes ago, Golfnut said:

Our plan is to get her US citizenship in the 3 to 4 years required for a spouse to live in the US so that she can continue to collect an additional 50% off of my Social Security even after we return to the Philippines or wherever we decide to live outside the US.

To naturalize, it'll likely take close to 5 years from now even with K-1 route. Let's produce an optimistic estimate.

* K-1 approval - 6 months

* Visa Interview, visa issuance - 3 months.

* AOS - 6 months

* 3 years as LPR before filing for N-400. Assuming she still has pending I-751 at that point when becoming eligible to file for natualization.

* N-400 processing - 8 months. 

 

Total: 6 months + 3 months + 6 months + 36 months + 8 months = 59 months, which is give or take 5 years from start to finish if you file today.

But again, this is very optimistic. I've seen AOS taking easily 12-18 months and N-400 taking 12+ months. So overall it could be close to 5.5 years 

[Golfnut 0]

1 hour ago, OldUser said:

To naturalize, it'll likely take close to 5 years from now even with K-1 route. Let's produce an optimistic estimate.

* K-1 approval - 6 months

* Visa Interview, visa issuance - 3 months.

* AOS - 6 months

* 3 years as LPR before filing for N-400. Assuming she still has pending I-751 at that point when becoming eligible to file for natualization.

* N-400 processing - 8 months. 

 

Total: 6 months + 3 months + 6 months + 36 months + 8 months = 59 months, which is give or take 5 years from start to finish if you file today.

But again, this is very optimistic. I've seen AOS taking easily 12-18 months and N-400 taking 12+ months. So overall it could be close to 5.5 years 

I understand that the time to get her Naturalized may be longer that i am estimating, but if we do the CR-1 visa, that clock would start 6 to 12 months later than doing a K1 visa. I'm not seeing any benefit to doing a CR-1 instead of a K1. Being married before we arrive in the US does not have any advantages to us that I can see.

[DELTAFOXTROT 75]

5 hours ago, OldUser said:

Both of the estimates you posted are very optimistic. It's more like 2 years for CR-1 and 9-12 months for K-1. But K-1 estimate is only time until entry to the US. To get GC, K-1 will take additional 6-18 months after entry to the US.

Plus things will likely slow down very soon with new administration. 

Wrong

 

Things are likely to speed up due to not so many applicaitons being done.

[DELTAFOXTROT 75]

3 hours ago, Golfnut said:

I understand that the time to get her Naturalized may be longer that i am estimating, but if we do the CR-1 visa, that clock would start 6 to 12 months later than doing a K1 visa. I'm not seeing any benefit to doing a CR-1 instead of a K1. Being married before we arrive in the US does not have any advantages to us that I can see.

I like your plan of getting her a US Passport so she can collect Social Security, Good plan on that.

 

K1 is your best option and fastest option, Don't listen to all these people whom want you to get married in Philippines, nothing good can come from getting married in Philippines, bring them to USA where it is easy. 

 

Good Luck.

 

[Boiler 45,994]

5 hours ago, Golfnut said:

I understand that the time to get her Naturalized may be longer that i am estimating, but if we do the CR-1 visa, that clock would start 6 to 12 months later than doing a K1 visa. I'm not seeing any benefit to doing a CR-1 instead of a K1. Being married before we arrive in the US does not have any advantages to us that I can see.

The clock does not start until she becomes a LPR, and as mentioned above that could easily be a year after she enters on a K1, or longer.

 

You may need to look at things like Health Insurance, fiancee vs spouse. And other day to day practicalities such as DL.

[Crazy Cat 42,183]

6 hours ago, Golfnut said:

but if we do the CR-1 visa, that clock would start 6 to 12 months later than doing a K1 visa.

Maybe not.  The clock for citizenship starts when she receives a Green Card.  I think your estimates for a K-1 are unrealistic. Then, you have to add a year or more for her to obtain a Green card.

 

Every couple has their own priorities, and each couple must decide which visa is better for their situation.

K-1 
  More expensive than CR-1
  Requires Adjustment of Status after marriage (expensive and requires a lot of paperwork)
  Spouse can not leave the US until she/he receives approved Advance Parole (approx 3-6 months) 
  Spouse can not work until she/he receives EAD (approx 3-6 months) 
  Some people have had problems with driver licenses, Social Security cards, leases, bank account during this period 
  Spouse will not receive Green Card for many months after Adjustment of Status is filed.
  A K-1 might be a better choice when 18-21 year old children are immigrating also
  In some situations, marriage can affect certain Home country benefits, making a K-1 a better choice 
  A denied K-1 is sent back to USCIS to expire
  K-1 entrant cannot file for citizenship until after having Green Card for 3 years.
  Once an I-129F has been approved, delaying the case is difficult to impossible if the need arises.

CR-1/IR-1
  Less expensive than K-1 
  No Adjustment of Status(I-485, I-131, I-765) required. 
  Spouse can immediately travel outside the US 
  Spouse is authorized to work immediately upon arrival. 
  Spouse receives Social Security Card and Green Card within 2 or 3 weeks after entering the US 
  Opening a bank account, getting a driver's license, etc. are very easily accomplished with GC, SS card, and passport.
  Spouse has legal permanent Resident status IMMEDIATELY upon entry to US.
  The clock for citizenship filing starts immediately upon entry to the US.
  A CR-1/IR-1 case can be delayed indefinitely at NVC if the need arises. 
   

 

 

 

[Crazy Cat 42,183]

8 hours ago, Golfnut said:

I'm not seeing any benefit to doing a CR-1 instead of a K1.

It seems you are doing a great deal of research.  Just be aware that benefits are sometimes not as apparent as you might think.  You are already living together.  Having a Green Card immediately upon arrival in the US has big advantages. 

Final thought:  I have seen many, many K-1 couples regret their decision.  On the other hand, I have seen only 1 or 2 couples regret a spousal visa.  Good luck on your journey from 70+ year old codger. 

BTW, she can start getting spousal SS benefits after 1 year of marriage (assuming she is 62+)....Doesn't require citizenship.

Edited Saturday at 03:53 PM by Crazy Cat

[Edward and Jaycel 462]

2 hours ago, Crazy Cat said:

Final thought:  I have seen may, many K-1 couples regret their decision.  On the other hand, I have seen only 1 or 2 couples regret a spousal visa.

 

We are one of the couples that regret going the K-1 route now that we are doing the AOS process. I wish we had married when I was living with her in the Philippines and gone the CR-1 route. Oh well, hindsight and all  

[j&ana 378]

14 hours ago, Golfnut said:

 

I am in my 70's and my fiancé is in her 60's. We are both retired but she has a very small income to support herself and we mainly live on my social security income here in the Philippines which is well above average but still does not allow us to live the retired life we would like to. Our plan is to get her US citizenship in the 3 to 4 years required for a spouse to live in the US so that she can continue to collect an additional 50% off of my Social Security even after we return to the Philippines or wherever we decide to live outside the US. Also, if I were to pass while we are living abroad she will be able to collect my full Social Security. 

 

At the present, the processing time for a CR-1 spousal visa 12-16 months and the time to process a K1 fiancé visa is 4-7 months. I know it doesn't sound like much, but when you are our age, 6 months to a year is a long time to wait before we can start really enjoying the active retirement we plan to live until we are physical unable to do so.

K-1 visa might be faster to get your fiancé to the USA. Hower it might not be the fastest or cheapest way for her to become LPR, with K-1 you will have to addition steps of applying For Adjustment of status. with Cr-1 visa a green card is issue right away. it will take longer than 3 or 4years for her to get US citizenship. I think the min time before she can apply is 5 years. I think there are certain rules for a LPR spouse to collect SS benefits. I am guessing that you still have some kind of o residency in the USA. AS you will have to prove that and income no matter which visa. you choose. Another option that you might consider since both of you are in the Philippines Is DCF (direct consulate filing) you could get Marry in the Philippines and file for the spouse visa there. I have heard it is quicker than filing for CR-1 visa here. Most people cannot go that route. As one of the partners in relationship is usually living in USA at time of visa processing

 

[j&ana 378]

9 hours ago, DELTAFOXTROT said:

I like your plan of getting her a US Passport so she can collect Social Security, Good plan on that.

 

K1 is your best option and fastest option, Don't listen to all these people whom want you to get married in Philippines, nothing good can come from getting married in Philippines, bring them to USA where it is easy. 

 

Good Luck.

 

I married My wife in the Philippines in 2014.We have been married over 10 years now. We have an 8-year-old daughter. My wife has her US citizenship and is dual citizen. She has her own car. she has a job and help pay our bills. she has own saving account and credit card. I guess nothing good came from us getting married in the Philippines