FromTheHills

Thanks for replying! Very interesting comparison! Yeah i wasn't either just a curious mind! 😁

That's interesting. So if it's being held at NVC then when they restart then it's waiting for the embassy again from scratch right? No way to have it held at the embassy?

Get engaged this next trip and for k-1 right away. And wait while doing smaller trips to visit each other. Reason I'm saying k-1 over the spousal visa is even the first part of the process is now 16 months and you will be able to be together sooner if you do this.

Yeah OP I think it comes down to these things: Top priority: being together faster and not having to separate: K-1 by a MILE The ability to go to your home country if one of your family members is sick or something: Spousal. (although you can get advance parole after K-1 and I don't know how long that's taking these days so it wouldn't rule out the K-1 completely) And as for where you want to get married. I would say unless it's extremely important to you focus on these two points to make your decision. Unless certain people from you country are unable to be in the US that you really want to be there. If you are going for the spousal visa budget money for visiting each other. The wait is brutal right now and not getting any shorter.

I've chronicled my USCIS estimate in the comments of my timeline. I see no rhyme or reason to it.

Which country/embassy are you going to go through? Also I've documented what the myprogress tab has said in the comments of my timeline. You'll see how utterly irrational it is and not to worry.

I would stick with the k-1 here. it's only a year more till you get the embassy appointment again. whereas with the Cr-1 its the 16 months wait for the i-130 and then another 1 year wait again for the Ciudad Juarez embassy. Not worth changing here. You would be starting from scratch

Thank you again. Such weird wording on the embassy website.

Thank you for this youre helping me think differently. I saw on the embassy website that you have to attend the medical before being able to book the interview. Is this true? To be sure they'll take on my case should I basically move to the UK during the NVC stage?

Thank you for your reply! That's good to hear about the rough timeline. Wow for the medical I thought it only had to be 5 working days beforehand. Is that too tight of a plan doing it the week before? When I submitted my i-130 I lived in the UK but then moved to Mexico to be closer to my husband 7 months later. (I'm a British citizen and now have Mexican temporary residency) Do you think that would cause me trouble?

Can you choose the time for the interview yourself? If so how far out can you choose for the interview to be? If it gets picked for you at what point in the process does this happen? (after being DQed from NVC??) Trying to plan ahead as i'll be travelling from another country for the appointment.

Yes meet up with her and get engaged and you will be filing the i-129f. Check out the guides here and also KsenyaInternational's youtube channel was so helpful to me. You can already start preparing with evidence to show your relationship before you got engaged screenshotting your conversations. You're definitely able to do with without outside help. Be sure to ask any questions you may have about filling out the form and double trip check them before you send them off! Good luck!

Wow! This is really interesting that i-94s arent there for greencard holders. I'm planning for when I get my greencard that i'll be crossing the southern border and theres no inspection leaving. I've had people say to me that having my google maps location on will help track my trips out of the US

So that's 10 months from now is your ideal timeline. You can't hold it back in the NVC since its a K-1. Maybe take your time showing some documents? The wait for the embassy in the Philippines is only 2 months. But one thing is once she gets the visa it allows up to 6 months later you entering the US. Ie its valid for 6 months after. So really you're talking about an extra 2-3 months more. Might be able to stall at NVC and try get a later embassy appointment date and also waiting just before the visa expires to go. Should be able to pull it off! But others may be able to advise better than me.

2 things to note. The myprogress tab is completely inaccurate. so ignore it for your wellbeing's sake. And secondly. Looking at current trends it's taking 13 months for an i-130 to be approved. So that's a more realistic time frame. The estimate here on visa journey seems pretty okay too. You wont have to worry about asking USCIS a question hopefully.

Wow. Even with the temporary residency visa in my passport and a new address? Truly not letting them know at all? not even in the ds-260? I just want to be sure

Yup I'll still have access to my UK address. Any thoughts on my bonus questions?

Yes that's right. So there's nothing stopping me going through London?

Hi, my question is in the title but I will give more context. I'm a British citizen married to a USC and we filed our standalone i-130 in November 2023. When he had to leave the UK after we got married we couldn't stand being apart so we decided that I would move to Tijuana, Mexico and he would cross every day to be with me. He works and will maintain his address in San Diego. I'll be moving to Mexico as a temporary resident by family. (Previously we thought of us each visiting for long periods but that has it's own issues) So that leaves which embassy i'll be doing my American interview through. On the i-130 I put I would be going through the London, UK embassy because that was the plan at the time. But now I will be living in Mexico I just want to be 1000% sure can I still have my interview in London? I have a flexible ticket back so I can easily be there. It's about 1.5 years longer going through either embassy in Mexico compared to the UK. and BONUS QUESTIONS: when I do move to TJ i'm thinking i'll need to let USCIS know. How do I do that? or is it only by the NVC stage i have to submit the documents? We had an extensive amount of evidence up until this point. I've submitted unsolicited evidence before, in this situation should I put through more? It's an odd one for my husband as he will have an address in SD and in TJ and we'll be getting a joint Mexican bank accounts together which was not possible because we lived in separate countries. Great bona fide evidence but is it odd he's living in 2 places at once? Or just he's visiting me or what? It's hard to get my head round. I'm not worried about him having loose ties to the US but should I be? Thank you and hope I put this in the right category although my post has kind of evolved with these extra questions.

Logistically I do agree with what's being said. Might as well finish the process. I do believe if you're both living in Sweden you would be eligible for Direct Consulat Processing. Which is a far shorter waiting time. Of course its the whole process again. But at least you guys wouldn't have to be separated and it would take less time. Good luck in making your decision!

Yeah the i-130 should take around 11 months to he approved. You can learn about the algorithm foe the estimated time if you're interested haha For noa1 have you checked the documents section? It should be there. Gives your number and right at the bottom it gives your service centre. I think everything will go there too so no worries if nothing shows up. But you can double check your address is correct on the account. That's all I can think of

It's hard to get statistics on what chance it will or will not do something because it's all anecdotal and no-one but USCIS workers really know what it takes for the random quick processing times. The i-129F is free to file once you've filed an i-130 Most people who file the K-3 aren't actually seeking for them to be approved. It's actually more expensive entering through the K-3 and doing adjustment of status compared to the CR-1. People apply for it for the chance to speed up their i-130s.

Yeah that's what I said at best it will speed it up. At worst it will do nothing

Look into the K-3 Visa File the i-129F At best you get the visa and get in quicker. Will most likely get denied. But will speed up the CR-1 At worst it does nothing. You've got nothing to lose it's free

We were thinking about K-1 vs CR-1. And we opted for getting married and filing CR-1. It feels great to be married sooner. Feeling more connected to your person. I found engagement to be the most stressful period of my life. Now thinking I don't think I could stand being in planning limbo for potentially 2 years. We were engaged for 6 months. Even then I wish we were only engaged for 3 months. (Also just crossed my mind it's hard to plan a wedding for the K-1 as you don't know which 90 day period you have to plan the wedding for.) He got me a beautiful engagement ring for around $200 and my wedding ring was more expensive. I so think it's more about the sentiment than the money. We had our wedding in my country with 50 people and 7 of his family came over. I so agree with you about having a "celebration wedding" later. Its not the same thing. For me it's the wedding is on the day. And when I'm over there his family want to celebrate me arriving! And us being together. For the immigrant all these things are different to the easier situation of people marrying within their own country. Don't try to feel you have to be the same as people in that situation. I hope this is helpful. You've gotten lots of good answers to do with the immigration side. This is more the sentimental side and my own expirience. Good luck!