Processing time for foreign husband's visa

[tdawson]

I am a natural born citizen of the US and my fiance is Swedish. We currently live in in our separate countries due to job responsibilities and family. We have planned to get married next spring in Sweden but will live here in the US. I've been going through the immigration sites and find them very confusing. I realize that in the end we will probably need the help of an immigration attorney but maybe someone here can answer a few quick questions for me. As he won't be moving until after the wedding takes place we obviously have to file for a visa then. How long does the process take after filing for a visa for your spouse? We would like to obviously make the move quickly after the wedding. I had read somewhere that visa numbers for spouse's were immediate available but then was confused by something else I had read. Any help or guidance would be appreciate.

[Adrian Gruber]

K-3/K-4 Nonimmigrant Visas

I am a natural born citizen of the US and my fiance is Swedish. We currently live in in our separate countries due to job responsibilities and family. We have planned to get married next spring in Sweden but will live here in the US. I've been going through the immigration sites and find them very confusing. I realize that in the end we will probably need the help of an immigration attorney but maybe someone here can answer a few quick questions for me. As he won't be moving until after the wedding takes place we obviously have to file for a visa then. How long does the process take after filing for a visa for your spouse? We would like to obviously make the move quickly after the wedding. I had read somewhere that visa numbers for spouse's were immediate available but then was confused by something else I had read. Any help or guidance would be appreciate.

Since you and your Fiance are marrying outside the US you will file through consular level/embassy.
This will be a 3-4 step process. While it is true that as a spouse of a USC there is no waiting for a visa # you will still need to file for Petition of immediate family the I-130 in addition for your K-3 Visa.
In addition you will need to provide an affadavit of support. Normal processing times for the I-130 are 5 months.
Normal processing time for a K-3 visa is five to eight months, reports VisaPro. Two agencies must approve a K-3 visa application: the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services and the applicant's local U.S. consulate. USCIS approval takes three to five months, and consulate approval takes another two to three months.