Christian Olgaard

I have a question that someone hopefully can help me answer. I have a girl
friend in China. I am a permanent resident in the US with about 1 year to
go before I can apply for US citizenship. My understanding so far has been
that the fastest way for her to get here would be that I would wait until I
can become a US citizen, and then we can apply for a K1 visa.

However, someone told me that it could be faster to get married now, and
then file for I-130. The I-130 is likely to get approved while I wait to
become a US citizen, and as soon as I become a US citizen, I can notify the
NVC that I am now a US citizen, and a VISA number should be available.
They can then transfer the I-130 and it can get processed. This should have
the advantage that she can get her green card immediately, and there should
be no AOS needed.

Does anybody have experience with this, and are there any drawbacks?

Thanks in advance
--
Christian Olgaard
Minds are like parachutes -
in order to function they must be open

geofftex

Christian,
The time for the I-130 depends on which service center you will be using. You can check those timelines out on Matt's site here, http://members.aol.com/MDUdall/sctimes.htm. Some of the service centers are just now processing I-130s from late 1998. That is not fast. The K-1 process seems to be about 6 to 8 months. Also in the I-130 you get dinged for being a permanent resident vs. a citizen so processing is slower.
Also I am pretty sure there is no getting the green card immediately for your spouse. My wife and I thought that too. I am a US citizen and was rudely awakened from ignorance to find that it took 8 months just to get my spouse here legally. Then another 3 or 4 months to get her employment authorization. Then up to 2 years after that for her to become a permanent resident. I would suggest reading up on your options. I don't like the message board, but this site has a great overview of the K-1 process, http://k1.exit.com/. It will give you a glance at the steps it takes.

I know it sucks, but it pays to figure out the best steps before rushing into any INS stuff. BTW once you are married the option for a K-1 is not available and as a permanent resident you cannot file for a K-3.
Good luck.
Geoff

donahso

The PR status is the killer for you. K-type visas are only available to USC's so you're pretty much stuck with marrying and filing an I-130, or, waiting to file until after you are naturalized. You should be aware that either choice will involve a long wait.

You said that you can file for naturalization in about 1 year and depending on where you file, it will take up to another year to gain citizenship (little fuzzy on that part but other posters can give you a better idea on that timeline). After you gain citizenship, even a K-1 through GZ will take up to a year so you would be looking at maybe 3 years in total. K-3's are taking about the same time these days.

You may want to consider marrying now and filing the I-130. It should be approved about the time you gain citizenship. If it is approved first, it will go into the waiting que for an available visa number that is years out. But, as soon as you become a USC, a number will issued and your spouse can join you in a short time as a permanent resident. This is the option that I would take if I were in your shoes.

I will put in a plug for 3 sites that deal with China/US couples. There are more, but you can find the links from these 3 sites.

http://www.candleforlove.com/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Asian_American_Couples/

Chinese language site:
http://www.001.com.cn/forum/usa/

-Don H

jeffreyhy

Geoff,

A foreign spouse who enters the USA on an immigrant visa becomes a Permanent Resident on entry. This is the trade-off that used to be made in the decision as to marry abroad and enter on an immigrant visa, or enter on a non-immigrant K1 visa, marry in the USA, and then Adjust Status to become a Permanent Resident. In the 1st situation, the foreign spouse will become a Permanent Resident sooner than in the 2nd situation, but they will have to wait longer before they can enter the USA. So the choice is what's more important to you - get into the USA ASAP or became a Permanent Resident ASAP.

The K3 visa was supposed to give people who are already married the same choice that people who are engaged have. How successful that's been is subject for another discussion.

Complicating the situation at hand is the fact that Christian is not yet a US citizen, so he has some waiting time to figure in before he can even consider the K visa options. Maybe, in his case, since he's got that waiting to do anyway, the traditional marriage route by which his wife would enter as a Permanent Resident will also be as fast as any for getting her into the country.

Regards,
JEff