Erica B.

Today was the first time I had ever heard of CR-1 and IR-1 visas, and it sounded hopeful as far as speeding up getting my husband here since his I-130 is approved at this point. I spoke with the NVC today and I asked if I would be able to apply for the IR-1 visa now meanwhile we wait for our first packet to arrive. The woman said since we've been married for three years, that I could write a letter requesting that his condition of CR-1 be changed to IR-1. I was under the impression that this was a visa, not a condition? Please someone help... I'm dazed and confused.

does anyone know if while I'm waiting for my information packet to arrive from NVC since my I-130 has been approved, if I can apply for my IR-1 now? I can't seem to find that information online and I thought I would throw it out there on the forum before waiting 30 minutes on hold to ask. thanks !

-erica

My name is Erica, and I'm a new member hoping to get some feedback/similar experience stories. My story is, I was married in Mexico three years ago to a Mexican citizen. We applied for both the I-130 and K-3 in May/June 2003. My husband had his K-3 interview by October that year. He was rejected for the k-3 due to unfortunate circumstances and we were told that he would be ineligible for any and all visas for three years. When I received the approval notice for the I-130 in 2004, I called the INS 1-800 number and asked since my husband was rejected for the K-3, did that mean he was ineligible for his I-130 now even though it had been approved. They informed me that sometimes there was lack of communication between consulate and NVC, that the notice was an error, and he was in fact ineligible for all visas until the three years had passed. Since the three year mark is just months away, I returned to the US to begin the process only to be greeted with extremely unfortunate news. It appears that our I-130 was in fact approved 2 years ago, and is actually in the process of being terminated since so much time has passed. They did however inform me that as long as I wrote a letter requesting that the case be re-opened and we will have to start "all over again". NVC will not however give me a time estimate. I am completely confused, and wondering what it is exactly we have to "start over" again. As far as I'm concerned we never even "started" after the I-130 had been approved. I'm extremely confused about TIME. How long will it take to re-open the case, will the IR-1 make things any faster? If things are in our favor and go quickly and we manage to get an appt. date BEFORE the three years sentence, will they allow the interview to take place? NVC is telling me yes, and yet the consulate is telling me no. Does anyone have any idea how long any of this is going to take? Has anyone heard of anything like this happening? Any sort of feedback would be extremely helpful, because I feel more in the dark than ever, and I JUST want to finally be with my husband!!!

-Erica