|
Title: Question for Ray Post by: Troy on March 17, 2004, 05:00:00 AM You are by far the most knowledgable and helpful person here, so please help me with this question.
In your opinion, which is better, the K-1 (fiancee) visa or K-3 (spousal) visa. Assume that the girl and her family have no preference. I'm considering time, amount of red tape, costs, and likely hood of acceptance. thanks Title: Re: Question for Ray Post by: Ray on March 17, 2004, 05:00:00 AM ... in response to Question for Ray, posted by Troy on Mar 17, 2004
A woman who has no preference for the type of wedding? That’s highly unusual! Normally, I would highly recommend that you give your bride the kind of wedding she really wants and then use the visa that matches that choice. However, if you assume that she actually has no preference, and both of you are fully committed to and ready for marriage, then the rest depends on several factors. If you want the shortest time between filing and approval of a visa, the K-3 will beat the K-1 every time unless you live in a state where you come under the jurisdiction of the Vermont Service Center, in which case the K-1 will usually be faster. For amount of red tape, the K-1 and K-3 will be about the same overall. For costs, as in immigration filing fees, the K-1 will be a little cheaper (by about $130) up to the point that the visa is issued, but in the long run they will probably be very close in total costs. Since a relatively small number of spousal or fiancée visas are outright disapproved, the likelihood of approval would be almost identical. In the cases where there are grounds for disapproval, it would probably result in a visa denial no matter which visa you went for. There are other options available. If you marry overseas and don’t apply for the optional K-3 visa, then it will take longer for the IR-1 visa to be issued, but the amount of red tape involved will be much less in the long run and the overall costs will be about the same. If the country where you marry will allow you to file directly with the U.S. Consulate, then that may be the fastest and least complicated way overall. Ray Title: As usual, thanks Ray n/t Post by: Troy on March 17, 2004, 05:00:00 AM Title: According to Dan on the Russian Board Post by: Jeff S on March 17, 2004, 05:00:00 AM ... in response to Question for Ray, posted by Troy on Mar 17, 2004
http://www.planet-love.com/wwwboard/russian/archives/display.php?archive=000247&id=95642 Title: I can't figure what he's talking about. Post by: HaroldC on March 18, 2004, 05:00:00 AM ... in response to According to Dan on the Russian Board, posted by Jeff S on Mar 17, 2004
The K3 is much slower than the K1 since 9/11?! I think he is confusing K3 with I-130. I believe Russia used to let anyone Direct Consular File (DCF) an I-130 which got you an immigrant spousal IR-1 visa real quick, so no need to go K3. US Embassies are supposed to allow DCF IF the US Citizen resides in the foreign country. Some allow anyone to do so. Apparently Russia did but no longer does. |