K1 visa timescales

[BHAFATBOY]

Hi all,
I have read quite a bit on here which has been helpful. My dilemma is that I plan to spend time on a tourist visa with my Finacee for now and then apply for the K1 when I am in the states. We need to know apporximate timescales between filing for the K1 and interview times so we can work out when it is best to apply as we plan to marry in Feb next year.
Any help would be useful.

Many thanks

David

[JJJ]

k3

I have just been through the process. I Arrived on B1/B2 into the States. Best advice I can give is get to the US on your tourist v. Then get married and apply for a K3 marriage visa. You can then stay on your tourist until you get your interview for your K3 visa (you then have to leave and go back to your home country to get the visa). Bank on around 6-8 months. good luck

[CharlieAK]

That seems like a lot of wasted time and effort, plus I dont think you can apply for a K1 when your already here.

Yes, it's possible to file the K-1 petition while he's in the US, but he can't stay, he will eventually have to go back to his homecountry for the interview and the visa.

As for K-1 timelines, I think it depends a bit on the country. I'm from Germany, and there the K-1 usually takes about 6 months from the filing of the petition until the receiving of the visa. It also depends on the Service Center.....Vermont seems to be faster than the others, I have seen some cases where the entire K-1 process took only three months.So it's hard to predict a timeline....

Good luck,

Charlie

[CharlieAK]

Now I know people who have come here on different types of visas, B2, students, etc. who met someone and got married and stayed here while they filed an i-130 which is the petition for the actual greencard.

That's exactly the thing:
IF you enter the country on a non-immigrant visa/visa waiver etc. without having the intention of staying, then those "spur of the moment" marriages and the subsequent filing for adjustment of status are completely legal.

But, if you already planned the marriage and the staying BEFORE you came to the US, then that's not legal, and - in order to do it all "above board" - the K-visa would be the "proper" way.

Of course, it would be hard to prove that everything had been planned beforehand, so everyone has to decide for himself......

Personally, I wanted to do it all "perfectly legal", that's why we went the K-1 way

[BHAFATBOY]

Thanks for all your replies as it has been very useful. I am from the UK so I have 3 month tourist visas and of course planned on returning every 3 months so I can then get a new 3 month stay in the US. I thought K1 was the best way to go because it allows, like the tourist visa, a 3 month stay in which time you must get married. My only concern was if we file now and I get an interview in September for example, I would then have to marry earlier than planned which would be no fun as My friends and family would not be able to get out to the US to share the *****al occasion with me and my angel.

[CharlieAK]

I thought K1 was the best way to go because it allows, like the tourist visa, a 3 month stay in which time you must get married. My only concern was if we file now and I get an interview in September for example, I would then have to marry earlier than planned which would be no fun as My friends and family would not be able to get out to the US to share the *****al occasion with me and my angel.

That would not be a problem:
After the visa is issued, you FIRST have 6 months to enter the USA and THEN another 90 days to get married.

The other thing you could do is start the visa petition and then - depending on how slow/fast it is approved - delay the rest of the process in the UK a bit. Either send the paperwork back VERY slowly or you could even call the embassy and ask them to hold the case for a couple of months (you might also have to ask them to extend the validity of the approved visa petition since it's only valid for 4 months after the approval). But that way you could influence the timing of the visa a bit as well.

Good luck,

Charlie

PS: By the way, going back and forth and trying to enter with the visa waiver program for 90 days again and again can backfire as well if you happen to meet one of those "a bit overzealous immigration officers" who think you shouldn't come over so often/stay so long every time......I was always lucky during the years of our long distance relationship but I have heard from others that they encountered problems when they tried to enter on the visa waiver program several times in a row in a year

[LilyAnne]

Yes, it's possible to file the K-1 petition while he's in the US, but he can't stay, he will eventually have to go back to his homecountry for the interview and the visa.

As for K-1 timelines, I think it depends a bit on the country. I'm from Germany, and there the K-1 usually takes about 6 months from the filing of the petition until the receiving of the visa. It also depends on the Service Center.....Vermont seems to be faster than the others, I have seen some cases where the entire K-1 process took only three months.So it's hard to predict a timeline....

Good luck,

Charlie

Hi Charlie, (and hi everyone else)

First of all thanks for all the useful info in your posts (and also thanks to the other posters here), it's a nice change from the immigration books to actually read about the real stories, and it's comforting to know others are going or have gone through the same K1 visa process too...

We are about to file the first batch of papers for our K1 visa in a few weeks, when i'm seeing my boyfriend in the US (i'm going there on the visa waiver program, just on holidays).

You mentioned that in your experience it usually takes about 6 months to get the visa after filing your first paperround to the USCIS. You also said Vermont is the fastest. Some in here have mentioned they even got their visa application approved and sent to the embassy in a few weeks, others say they are still waiting after more than a year.. So i guess it's difficult to make a general projection. But i was curious, where do you base your 6 month average on?

We also have to file in Vermont. But i guess it all might change due to recent filing changes, now all I-129F applications have to be sent either to Vermont or California. (NB. to who is going to file after 30 July: be careful because the fees have also gone up for a number of documents, including I-129F! It now costs 455 dollars I think. You can read this on the USCIS website, see the press releases of 21-22 June).

Take care,

Lily

[CharlieAK]

Hi Charlie,

You mentioned that in your experience it usually takes about 6 months to get the visa after filing your first paperround to the USCIS. You also said Vermont is the fastest. Some in here have mentioned they even got their visa application approved and sent to the embassy in a few weeks, others say they are still waiting after more than a year.. So i guess it's difficult to make a general projection. But i was curious, where do you base your 6 month average on?

As I said, that number referred to "German K-1 visa", and I estimated an average of 6 months because I have been active in a German immigration forum for a few years and have followed many K-1 cases there.....several of them were processed way faster than in 6 months, a few took a bit longer, most of them took around 6 months, though (mine actually took 7, but was processed slower than that of others who had filed at the same time as I had...so you never know ).

Good luck with your K-1,

Charlie

[66James]

I plan on having my girlfriend visit in August . She already has her visa and was interviewed in her country at the US embassy . She told them she was coming here for just a visit , she has been here numerous times . They told her to have a good time ! I called the imm. office in my state to see what we needed to do to get married . I told the lady we were planning to get married while we were here , she said congrats ! She said to get married and start filling out the paperwork . K-1 , I-130 ,AOS , she rambled off everything , she said it would be close to 5K when it was all said and done ( she has 2 kids too ) . She told me expect it to take months , do it right the first time and we shouldn't have any problems .