JennP

Hello all,

Firstly, thank you thank you thank you for all the information in this forum! I've spent the last two days finding more information than the past two months of researching in other areas. Ummm, so what did people do before the internet?

Okay so I'm wondering if I could ask you all a question that I hope isn't super boring and been asked nine billion times before. My fiance and I are playing around with a number of possible timelines and we're slowly figuring out all the factors. He is American and I am Canadian. We're going to settle in the US to start. I'm currently finishing grad school and will be done by the end of this summer. We are going back and forth between the K1 and the K3. If I understand correctly (and let's be honest, there is a great chance this is not the case..):

K1
*get paperwork done,
*do a "party" in Canada,
*go on honeymoon,
*me enter the US on the K1,
*have a real life marriage in the USA.

K3
*get married in Canada,
*file paperwork,
*honeymoon,
*me return to canada and him to the US (for work),
*wait,
*me enter the US on a K3.

Yes?

Oh, and I'll be honest that I've not even _begun_ to figure out all that happens once I'm there - a whole other set of letters representing words I don't know

So we've started figuring out more and more about different timelines and pro's and con's.. so this is slowly fleshing out. Now, I think there are some emotional reasons I'm leaning towards each one over the other. Part of it is the idea of having to wait back in Canada AFTER we are married, part of it is the though of not 'really' getting married infront of my family and going on our honeymoon before our 'real' marriage - but I'm a research girl and I'm really interested in how you all decided which route to go.

I'm interested in what you all might have to say as many of you are so well versed in factors I'm not even aware of at this time. So I guess I have two questions:


Why did you decide to go the K1 or K3 (or other) route?


Is there something huge and massive I've totally missed in considering these two timelines?


Cheers,
Jenn

jeffreyhy

Jenn,

My wife's parents wanted her to be married to me before she took off with me. That eliminated the K1.

Regards, JEff

Hypertweeky

Hello Jenn welcome to the NG!
I am afraid the answer to your question isn't easy.
Here is a link that I am sure it will help:
http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?pg=compare
Good Luck!!

Pallyn

My husband came on a K-1 because of speed and us not caring where we married. If we had to pick again today, I would probably choose the I130/spousal visa. We needed for him to work as soon as possible after arriving and (at the time) he got a 90 day, free work card (EAD) before we even married. He started working the day after we married and we filed AOS about a month and a half after that. The temp card is a thing of the past and there are accounts of the alien spouse waiting months for permission to work and (possibly) drive. Some states are linking the driving privilege to the EAD. That can wear on a marriage in more than financial ways, because the alien can be isolated and feeling very stressed about not contributing to the household financially.
Just my two cents, good luck deciding.

utopiacowboy

Sometimes there are other factors at work which leads one to prefer one over the other. My wife is Colombian and the only way she could be married and have her family and friends present is to get married in Colombia. It is extremely difficult for Colombians to get tourist visas. Back when we did the K-3 in late 2003, it was very fast, faster than the K-1 if you can believe that. Now, we would do the CR-1 and skip the K visa.

Hypertweeky

K3 route was fast back in September of 2003, I agree!!, didn't we get approved around the same time?
CR-1 (filing the I-130 and wait for to get approved, not to be confused with DCF) is the way to go.. no AOS or EAD hassle, if you could DCF would be AWESOME!!, it is fast and no AOS or EAD hassle either (doh!!)
Ok I am losing it now..

Noorah101

Hi Jenn,

Pallyn had a good point about the EAD, however the EAD also applies to a K-3 entrant - except that they don't get a 90-day EAD stamp upon entry (available only at JFK now anyway). But a K-3 still has to apply for the EAD in order to work here.

My fiance and I decided to do the K-1 because in our situation, it seemed faster and less of a hassle. The paperwork for it seemed more straightforward (just my opinion). Also, I wasn't prepared paperwork-wise to get married in Turkey when I went there for our engagement. My fiance's family all live in Iran so he wouldn't have had anyone there in Turkey for a big wedding anyway...so that was a non-issue for us. As it turned out, we did exactly the right thing for our situation, and it all worked out very well for us.

Best Wishes,
Rene

Hypertweeky

Rene.. to have a hubby who came on a K1 visa you know a lot about K3's

Noorah101

hehehe...all of that information I learned reading this forum, and talking to Patty and Abdo.

Rene

Hypertweeky

Gotcha!!

JennP

Hello all! Thanks for your help and your stories. I had found that lovely comparison chart (the whole world needs to be put into lovely comparison charts, I think ) and printed it off the other day. Trouble being that my brain started to lead out my ear at this point:



*blink*

oooookay.


I'll be honest, I'm really really trying to do so much research - but I'm all in an eeeek state thinking we need to figure this out TODAY and get going on the process (as some of the threads seem quite scary and talk about a much longer time period than I think I had anticipated).

My working right away in the States is not too pressing. I am wondering if I would be able to do some quick school when I'm waiting?? And we'll be in nyc so the whole driving thing isn't a huge deal. Actually, one could not pay me to drive in nyc. I mean, I'm still working on crossing the street in that city.

But thanks again for all your input!
Cheers,
Jenn

Hypertweeky

LOL Jenn, you crack me up!
If your working in the US is not too pressing you can take either one, Where would you like to get marry?, If you don't care either route is fine, I can't really tell you how long it will take for sure otherwise I will be lying
As for the driving license:
http://www.nydmv.state.ny.us/license.htm#newdrivers
I am sure others will be able to help you out in case you have anymore questions about the driving license. I know what you mean by crossing the street, I lived in New York for 4 months, The very first day I drove I decided it was my last!!
Take care and good luck!

JennP

Ohhh, now see - this is where I'm battling my inner princess. I want my REAL wedding to be in Canada. But as I think the K1 might be a bit better route (for us not being separated after we're married) I've started to reframe that in my mind as follows:

A big celebration with friends and family in Canada, and the "cool factor" of forever being able to say I got really married in New York City.

I just really think I'd get a bit depressed if we were married and then I had to live in my parents' basement for six months waiting to finish the paperwork. Also, at that point I will have finished grad school and won't want to get a job knowing I wouldn't be staying at it.

I fear I'd become a bum and just watch daytime TV all day while stalking the mail-lady.


Thank you so much!

Eric S.

You left out a couple of steps in the K1 plan:

K1
*get paperwork done,
*do a "party" in Canada,
*go on honeymoon,
*me return to canada and him to the US (for work),
*wait,
*me enter the US on the K1,
*have a real life marriage in the USA.


The main difference between the two types of visa is whether you get
officially married before or after you enter the US to live. There are some
paperwork differences, but I think the I think the wait times for both visas
are pretty much the same these days.

- Eric S.


"JennP" <member37536@british_expats.com> wrote in message
news:[email protected] m...
    > Hello all,
    > Firstly, thank you thank you thank you for all the information in this
    > forum! I've spent the last two days finding more information than the
    > past two months of researching in other areas. Ummm, so what did people
    > do before the internet?
    > Okay so I'm wondering if I could ask you all a question that I hope
    > isn't super boring and been asked nine billion times before. My fiance
    > and I are playing around with a number of possible timelines and we're
    > slowly figuring out all the factors. He is American and I am Canadian.
    > We're going to settle in the US to start. I'm currently finishing grad
    > school and will be done by the end of this summer. We are going back
    > and forth between the K1 and the K3. If I understand correctly (and
    > let's be honest, there is a great chance this is not the case..):
    > K1
    > *get paperwork done,
    > *do a "party" in Canada,
    > *go on honeymoon,
    > *me enter the US on the K1,
    > *have a real life marriage in the USA.
    > K3
    > *get married in Canada,
    > *file paperwork,
    > *honeymoon,
    > *me return to canada and him to the US (for work),
    > *wait,
    > *me enter the US on a K3.
    > Yes?
    > Oh, and I'll be honest that I've not even _begun_ to figure out all that
    > happens once I'm there - a whole other set of letters representing words
    > I don't know ;)
    > So we've started figuring out more and more about different timelines
    > and pro's and con's.. so this is slowly fleshing out. Now, I think there
    > are some emotional reasons I'm leaning towards each one over the other.
    > Part of it is the idea of having to wait back in Canada AFTER we are
    > married, part of it is the though of not 'really' getting married
    > infront of my family and going on our honeymoon before our 'real'
    > marriage - but I'm a research girl and I'm really interested in how you
    > all decided which route to go.
    > I'm interested in what you all might have to say as many of you are so
    > well versed in factors I'm not even aware of at this time. So I guess I
    > have two questions:
    > Why did you decide to go the K1 or K3 (or other) route?
    > Is there something huge and massive I've totally missed in considering
    > these two timelines?
    > Cheers,
    > Jenn
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com

Mdunlap24

Ok, so how weird is this. I did a search for a post by my sister,
who's username is JennP and I came up with this!

My husband (from NZ) and I (USC) decided to do the K3 route March 2004
purely by chance. We made a decision not knowing how long either
process would take. If I could have done it over again, I would have
gone the K1 route. He would have been back in the US within about two
months instead of eight. Our Service Center was VT, which was shooting
out K1 applications within weeks of NOA1. Hindsight is 20/20, though.

I would really do some research and map how quickly your service center
has been processing I-129F and I-130 applications historically and see
what the trends are. I'm not sure how quickly Missouri is processing
the I-129F applications anymore, but last summer they were like
molasses. Our application, with an NOA1 date of April 19, 2004 was
finally approved, days after Mike's arrival on the CR-1 in November
2004.

Good luck with it all.

Melissa