DCF in Madrid
 

I have been looking at the alt.visa.us.marriage-based listserv for
some time no, since my boyfriend of 2 years (recently turned fiance)
lives in Spain and we are planning on bringing him to the states as
soon as possible. I had initially investigated the K-1 visa route
since it had sounding that it was the fastest, and acutally posted a
message on here last week asking about that process. Nevertheless,
after looking at the listserv comments a bit more I discovered the
possibility of using Direct Consular Filing in Spain instead. So now
I would like to ask anyone who's gone through this a few questions
about their experience. I am planning on being in Spain for about a
week and a half in March and I'm wondering if it will be possible to
have a civil ceremony in Spain and file the initial petition within
that time period? I will have to return shortly after and it will be
up to him to complete the process from there on his own, so I just
want to be sure that it is possible, according to anyone else who has
dealt with that specific system. I spoke with the Embassy and they
said it would definitely be possible to file as long as we had
received the marriage certificate (anyone know about how long that
takes?) So I'm not too worried about that part of it. What I am
wondering, however, is if we will be able to set up the civil ceremony
details in that short amount of time? Were there extra documents that
needed (such as a consular certificate of No Impediment or Consular
Registration Certificate)? Is there anything else I should
specifically be weary of when initiating the process? Any information
you all could send me would be very, very much appreciated.

Thank you so much for your help. Sincerely,

Lisa

Re: DCF in Madrid
 

[email protected] (Lisa P.) wrote in message news:...
    > I have been looking at the alt.visa.us.marriage-based listserv for
    > some time no, since my boyfriend of 2 years (recently turned fiance)
    > lives in Spain and we are planning on bringing him to the states as
    > soon as possible. I had initially investigated the K-1 visa route
    > since it had sounding that it was the fastest, and acutally posted a
    > message on here last week asking about that process. Nevertheless,
    > after looking at the listserv comments a bit more I discovered the
    > possibility of using Direct Consular Filing in Spain instead. So now
    > I would like to ask anyone who's gone through this a few questions
    > about their experience. I am planning on being in Spain for about a
    > week and a half in March and I'm wondering if it will be possible to
    > have a civil ceremony in Spain and file the initial petition within
    > that time period? I will have to return shortly after and it will be
    > up to him to complete the process from there on his own, so I just
    > want to be sure that it is possible, according to anyone else who has
    > dealt with that specific system. I spoke with the Embassy and they
    > said it would definitely be possible to file as long as we had
    > received the marriage certificate (anyone know about how long that
    > takes?) So I'm not too worried about that part of it. What I am
    > wondering, however, is if we will be able to set up the civil ceremony
    > details in that short amount of time? Were there extra documents that
    > needed (such as a consular certificate of No Impediment or Consular
    > Registration Certificate)? Is there anything else I should
    > specifically be weary of when initiating the process? Any information
    > you all could send me would be very, very much appreciated.
    >
    > Thank you so much for your help. Sincerely,
    >
    > Lisa

Hi Lisa we were recently married in Spain . I don't know anything
about the filing in Spain but I do know that it takes about a month to
a month and a half to get approved to get married. I had to go once
and sign all the papers and them wait a month to have the judge
approve our marriage. Hope this helps!!

Bruce

Hey Lisa, I know this is a bit late, just did a search on DCF. Here's a website that has a good bit of info on the process:

http://k1.exit.com/dcf.html

Every consulate and country has it's own quirks, so you need to be in as close contact with them as you can. We DCF'd in South Africa and it took 33 days from marriage to visa. If you have any questions please let me know. The key is to gather all your paperwork ahead of time. Affidavit of Support, police report, birth certificates etc....Good luck,

Jerry

Re: DCF in Madrid
 

Hi Lisa,

We DCFéd in Copenhagen, Denmark. My husband game to do the petitioning in person, like they request at the american embassy here. We got the petition filed and he went back to the US after that. Im now waiting for my interview date and have all the papers ready. In most countries they actually say its faster if you DCF rather than if you go through the INS service centers in the US.

I think your bf will have to gather some info there. Those things vary from country to country... here it takes about 30 days to get an appointment for a civil marriage ceremony. After that I think you get the papers quite fast - the marriage certificate, I mean. But he should investigate that. When those things are done, you go to the embassy and fill out the petition etc, then you wait for the interview and finally the VISA. The embasy here claims the whole process is a lot faster if you DCF.... heres the average case takes 3,5 months whereas in the US its up to 2 YEARS.......... So I say go for it but have papers and the appointment for the marriage ready before you go to Spain and find out what days you can go do the petitioning at the embassy. Like here they might only be open on fridays for those purposes.

Kind regards Lisa