Fiancee or Wife... which one is faster?

[Pancho]

Hi,
My fiancee and I are at the beginning stage. She is in Mexico and I travel often to see her. I don't know if it's better to apply for a K-1 visa or marry her over there and then bring her over as my wife. Any help?

[Pancho]

Help with Mexico K-1, green card, process...

Someone told me that it takes just as long to get a K-1 Visa as it does to apply and get approved for a green card if I marry her first. Is this true?

[Bernie31]

pls see our timeline in the thread "Question: AOS in the US for a K3 - from our experience, I would contend that "married" and filing both I-130 and I-129F is the way to go. We know of one couple that only filed I-130 and it took them 8 months to interview at the consulate abroad.

and we did get married abroad in her home town.

[BeenThereDoneThat]

pls see our timeline in the thread "Question: AOS in the US for a K3 - from our experience, I would contend that "married" and filing both I-130 and I-129F is the way to go. We know of one couple that only filed I-130 and it took them 8 months to interview at the consulate abroad.

This was my experience (filed only I-130 and 7.5 months until interview). I guess that consultation with the immigration attorney wasn't money well spent since it seems I-130/I-129F might have actually cut the time we would have had to wait to get my wife here (based on some posts I've seen here).

[Whsia]

yea, from what i have been reading up on, Fiance is the way to go for quickness. Marriage takes up to a year, fiance up to 5-6 months. I really don't think there is a fast way of getting her here...but then again im still new to this ball game.

[leporello]

Well, it took us one year from the filing I-129F (Vermont) to the day when my fiancee got her visa. I can only guess how long it would've taken us if we were married and applied for I-130. One would never know for sure with the immigration process.

[Russell]

I filed 129F end of jan 2009 she stepped off of the airplane end of Sept 2009.