Luke73

Hi all,
I'm new here

I am a UK citizen who is married to a US citizen and have been for 9 years, living in the UK but we are planning to move to the U.S in the coming years (not sure when). In order to be efficient with our time, I am planning on starting the application and get my visa before we decide to move so when we are ready we can just go, rather then start the process and have to wait.

I understand the visa process, I just have a few questions about the visa pack. If I am successful with application I will receive a visa pack to be handed over on arrival. Does anyone know how long these visa packs are valid for? Secondly if I receive my visa pack before we are ready to move but travel to the US to visit family, can I entre on the visa and "activate" the visa/green card process; once I leave at the end of my visit will this effect the visa/green card?

I hope that makes sense, thanks in advance

Luke

RICH

Good question. I assume you are applying for CR1 visa which I have no experience. How long it takes to be approved is anyones guess these days, but how long it is valid once approved is potentially finite. I am sure someone will be able to answer in more detail!.

Luke73

Thanks for your response, theCR1 visa is for applicants married less then two year, as we have been married for 9 years it would be an IR1 visa.

SanDiegogirl

When should I travel?

You must arrive in and apply for admission to the United States no later than the visa expiration date printed on your visa. An immigrant visa is usually valid for up to six months from the date of issuance unless your medical examination expires sooner, which may make your visa valid for less than six months.

As per: https://travel.state.gov/content/tra...%20your%20visa.

RICH

Tricky.not knowing when the application will be accepted, but needing to move within 6 months. Reminds me of my own immigration experience. Good luck!

Noorah101

You have 6 months to enter the USA once you have the IR-1 visa in hand. You can enter to USA to become a US PR, and you can go back to the UK for a short while (i.e. a few months) to finalize your move. But once you become a US PR, the USA is considered to be your permanent home, and any visits back to the UK must be able to be proven to be temporary in nature, if asked. And yes, lengthy or frequent trips outside the USA could possibly jeopardize your PR status.

I would wait until about a year before you know you want to move, and file the I-130 then.

Rene

S Folinsky

As a professional pet peeve, I disagree with common misuse of the term “activate” for that initial admission as an immigrant. An immigrant visa is a single use visa. It is active upon issuance by the consulate and remains active until expiry or that one use.

That said, the the mother case addressing your questions is Matter of Huang.

Luke73

Hi all,

Thank you for your input, it is much appreciated.

Pulaski

I thought the physical packet that has to be carried by the immigrant and handed over upon arrival had been discontinued? .... You still only have six months though from the date of issuance though.

Jsho

not quite, its 6 months from the date of your medical. We had to wait for our son to have a vaccine, 8 weeks apart. So we had a little over 4 months validity when our visa arrived

You can also withhold/ wait to supply some documentation or payments at various stages which could slow the process intentionally if needed, timelines on the uscis website are useful fairly accurate guidelines. As long as you dont intend to delay for more than a month or two at each stage it wont harm the process. I'm unsure of the timeout procedures fully.

There is no pack, simply a page printed into your passport that is shown to the immigration officer on arrival ( we also had to supply some of the detail to the airline, much like the Esta process) that page is then stamped by the officer and acts as a temporary green card with one year validity ( good enough to apply for state ID, drivers license etc) and the permanent resident should arrive within 90 days.

The whole process took around 18 months, we made a few minor errors which delayed it a little.

Southernboy123

Yep no ‘Pack’ to take through immigration just the visa vignette in your passport.

S Folinsky

I was thinking of posting information on the former Packet System. When I was a baby lawyer, the IV process involved Packet 3A, Packet 3, and Packet 4 which were generated by the local consulate. This was before computerization and stateside processing of visa applications and it was ALL done at the consulate. (This was problematic with the IV files of the US Embassy in Tehran as of November 4, 1979, but I digress).

Google being your friend, I found this link on the LND website. Yes, in most visa applications, no physical package is created. However, for some applications, the classic “do not open” envelope is generated. LND says this no cause for concern. I have no idea why this is done other than knowledge that some documents do not scan well, and in fact are designed not to scan.