Whitey

I am a canadian and my boyfriend is in Atlanta. We are planning to
get married the end of this year. I am going to stay with him in the
states long-term. I don't know WHERE we shall be married so that we
can live together sooner. Shall we marry in Canada first and then he
will apply for k1 visa in the states. Will it be faster? It seems
that the long wait is so ridiculous when he applies K1 visa for me
before we get married.

Any suggestions?

Whitey

utopiacowboy

The K-1 is for fiances to come to the US to get married. After marriage, you adjust status to premanent resident. These petitions (I-129F) are filed at the service center which services the part of the US where the citizen lives - in your boyfriend's case, the Texas Service Center.

The K-3 is for spouses of US citizens to come to the United States to await processing of their I-130 petitions. The I-130 is filed with the service center where the US citizen lives - in your case, again, Texas, but the subsequent K-3 petition (I1-29F) is filed with the National Benefits Center in Missouri. After the spouse comes to the US, they either adjust status here or return to their home country for processing when the I-130 is approved and reenter the US with a green card. Most people choose to AOS.

At one time Texas was so slow with K-1 petitions that I would have recommended the K-3 which is what I did. Lately Texas has speeded up and Missouri has slowed down so the K-1 may be a better bet. You can check out the processing times here: https://egov.immigration.gov/cris/jsps/ptimes.jsp

Eric S.

Check here for the pros and cons of K-1 (get married after getting a visa)
and K-3 (get married before getting a visa).

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?pg=compare

The site also has information about DCF, but I'm pretty sure the consulates
in Canada do not allow DCF.

Also check here for the general steps involved for K-1 and K-3 visas:

http://www.visajourney.com/faq/k1faq.htm

Your boyfriend will need to send an I-129F petition for you to the Texas
Service Center (since he lives in Georgia). According to this page, it
looks like TSC is processing I-129F's fairly quickly (a couple of months).

https://egov.immigration.gov/cris/jsps/ptimes.jsp

After the service center approves the petition, the process moves pretty
quickly. Assuming no problems with the paperwork or anything, you could
have a visa in a month or two after that.

Good luck.
- Eric S.


"Whitey" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > I am a canadian and my boyfriend is in Atlanta. We are planning to
    > get married the end of this year. I am going to stay with him in the
    > states long-term. I don't know WHERE we shall be married so that we
    > can live together sooner. Shall we marry in Canada first and then he
    > will apply for k1 visa in the states. Will it be faster? It seems
    > that the long wait is so ridiculous when he applies K1 visa for me
    > before we get married.
    > Any suggestions?
    > Whitey

jeffreyhy

Whitey,

Your boyfriend will not be applying for any visa for you. You apply for your own visa.

If you are married, you cannot apply for a K1 visa as that type of visa is only for fiance(e)s.

Regards, JEff