Could you tell me your reasons?

[amanda1969]

Hello all,

My BF and I have had very good relationship since met online last year.We will meet in person for the first time next month in China.We both have very serious attitude towards our relationship.Since every kind of visa has its advantage and disadvantage but what I would like to know is when you had to choose one visa among k1,k3 or CR , what was your reason to choose? Tell me your real reasons. If you can give me some suggestion, that will be better!I know there are many visa experts here. My BF and I would like very much to listen to your real reasons and I believe your experiences will be very helpful to us. thanks a lot.

 

 

Best regards,

Amanda from her motherland,China

[dnoblett]

A good place to compare them: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...mp;page=compare

 

 

The K-Visas tend to be fairly quick to process due to being NON-Immigrant, the down side is adjustment of status in the USA and higher fees.

 

K-1 is for marriage in the USA is fairly quick to get, but has the added fees of adjustment of status. Also cannot leave the USA until they have Green-card from adjustment of status, or they apply for advance parole.

 

K-3 is much like K-1 but marriage happens before filing for visa, has the disadvantage of adjustment of status, cannot work until getting EAD or green-card.

 

CR-1 is a TRUE immigrant visa, does not have to adjust status green-card issued at entry to the USA, Can work soon after entry using the green-card.

[Sebastian]

Hi Amanda -

 

Have you read anything here on the forums ?

 

Find a topic or thread with a similar question ?

 

Any chance your boyfriend has found similar question here as well?

[IllinoisDave]

Hello all,

My BF and I have had very good relationship since met online last year.We will meet in person for the first time next month in China.We both have very serious attitude towards our relationship.Since every kind of visa has its advantage and disadvantage but what I would like to know is when you had to choose one visa among k1,k3 or CR , what was your reason to choose? Tell me your real reasons. If you can give me some suggestion, that will be better!I know there are many visa experts here. My BF and I would like very much to listen to your real reasons and I believe your experiences will be very helpful to us. thanks a lot.

 

 

Best regards,

Amanda from her motherland,China

At the time we met/decided to file, the conventional wisdom was that K-1 was a little quicker. I'm not sure if that's still the case now.

 

We wanted to be together as soon as possible but didn't necessarily want the pressure of meeting/getting married in the span of 10 days on my first trip. So I filed as soon as I got back.

 

I'm sure you'll get plenty of pros and cons for each visa type. Good luck.

Edited April 5, 2008 by IllinoisDave (see edit history)

[C4Racer]

Like Dave, the most important issue was for us to start our new life together as soon as possible. At the time K1 was several months to 1/2 a year faster than k3 or CR1. We met several along the way that had waited longer than a year, ours took 10 months start to successful interview once I filed.

[Guest Tony n Terrific]

According to some of the CFL members I have talked with the K-1 runs about 9 months and CR-1 is about 13 months. Again make sure all your paper work is filled out correctly and give the USCIS what they want when the ask for it I have been told.

[credzba]

Best can mean many things, what do you mean by best?

 

1) what is best in terms of time until you are together.

2) What is best for your relationship.

 

The answers to #1 are pretty easy at this point, k1 around 10 months, k3 about 12 months, and ir/1 cr/1 about 13 months.

Take a look in the Consulate Process, p3 -> interview. There is a pinned thread called circling Guz. The content isn't important, but it is people approaching their interview time. Look at what visa they are getting, and how long each took. This will give you a great idea of how each of the visa choices will go for you.

 

 

I believe that the first and foremost decision is what is best for you and your soon-to-be-spouse?

 

Some of the things my wife and I considered was:

1) Where do we want to be married. Do we want our parents/family to attend. Americans can fly to China, but often difficult for Chinese family to fly to America.

2) Are there social stereotypes that might cause one of us to loose face, or otherwise have problems with a live together relationship not married.

3) How would our choices affect our children.

4) How would my wife feel living for 3 - 6 months in america without being able to work?

5) We had plans for our lives that we wanted to pursue now, not wait. They involved finances, and as such were more reasonable to do married.

 

For us, an extended finace relationship was not what we wanted. For all the reasons I listed, marriage was our choice, so that put us into the k3 or cr/1 visa choice.

With the small difference betwen the 2, we choose the CR/1. Even a larger difference we would still have gone cr/1. I can visit China every 4-6 months, and we both have jobs and family that keep us busy.

We would love to be together, but it is not so strong of a need that we can't wait a month or two.

 

As it turns out, these last few months are the most frustrating, both in terms of the visa, and in our personal lives there are some good reasons she should leave China.

Still, even now, I believe the first choice is where do you want to marry, and then based on that, you pick either cr/1 or k1... k3 (in my opinion) is not worth the trouble.

[Guest Rob & Jin]

K-1 & 3 at present are around 11 months, the sweet times of 7-9 months may return in the future who knows

Edited April 6, 2008 by Rob & Jin (see edit history)

[warpedbored]

The decision is a highly personal one. Some people like the security of being legally married. Others have family who think the extra commitment is necessary, for some it is religious reasons. For us the main factor was time. The K-1 visa was and may still be on average about 3 months faster than a K-3. Other advantages of K-1 is there are less fees up front, the beneficiary can get a social security number without an EAD or AOS, it is easier to change the bride's family name to her husbands. If the relationship can't survive the long wait there is no messy divorce.

[ed and ying]

This is almost ancient history, but I knew Ying for almost 2 years before we went for K1 in 2005, because that was the shortest timeline at that time

Edited April 6, 2008 by ed and ying (see edit history)

[xiaofeizhu]

We are still in the CR1 process. We were already married when immigrating became our chosen path, so it's all we really could have done (well, we could have done K3) but we decided on CR1 because there is no AOS. I think if we had decided to immigrate before we decieded to get married we still would have gone the CR1 way. The thing about us is that we are lucky enough to be able to be together the whole way. For us, time isn't the most critical issue. The only thing that sucks about it taking a long time is the fact that we are not in America working so that we can buy a home, etc. We DCFed so I think (hopefully) it won't take that long, but I understand that going the CR1 route can take a long time. I guess for us, we worried about getting married rather than visas so we were kind of stuck with CR1.

Edited April 6, 2008 by xiaofeizhu (see edit history)

[Jay & Ping]

Our experience suggested that we use the K1 process.

We had talked (emailed) for months and grew very close. When we first met in person it was a perfect blend and we wanted to be together quickly. I knew we needed to learn more about each other and that the visa process would be difficult. We both concluded that the K1 process itself would test our resolve and give us the time we needed. It was also a bit quicker than the K3 visa.

At the time moving to China for a year was not possible for me, so we could not do the CR1.

 

We are patiently waiting for the p3 packet (the forms are ready).

Man it seems like forever....

[chilton747]

My opinion comes from "the other side of the tracks." To me, filing a K1 or K3 has a distinct advantage. If the K1 or K3 is denied then at least you have another recourse with the CR1. If one gets denied on a CR1 then you are pretty much up the creek without a paddle.

[georgeandli]

Li and I went the K1 route ourselves. At the time it seemed to offer the fastest way for her to get here. At the same time I wanted her to be able to see Americe first-hand so that she could make up her mind if she wanted to move here and start our lives as one. The streets aren't paved in gold here. Plus as chilton 747 points out it does seem as if you have fall-back options in case of denial.

[Sebastian]

Hi Amanda -

 

Have you read anything here on the forums ?

 

Find a topic or thread with a similar question ?

 

Any chance your boyfriend has found similar question here as well?