[email protected]

Hi,

After almost one year of waiting, my K3 has been approved and is being
sent to Canada...not sure if it is Ottawa or Montreal, but anyway we
are still waiting for a response from the Canadian side consular to
contact us for an interview. Our Green Card application is in the
final steps as well and is ready to submit the final package. Our
lawyer is a daft twit from California and thinks that the process will
be jeopardized by the combination of both applications going through
together. My questions are: Does saying yes to a K3 interview, cancel
the greencard process? If we actually leave to go home to the USA on a
K3, does this halt the GC process? Should we submit both and hope for
the best? How long should I expect for an interview with an already
approved K3 or a soon to be submitted final package for the GC? Thanks
to anyone with an idea, story, or experience involving this. We are at
our wits end, we were told last February tha the K3 would be ready in
about 3 months....not so much.

Sean

Mh

In article <[email protected] .com>,
[email protected] <[email protected]> wrote:
    >Hi,
    >After almost one year of waiting, my K3 has been approved and is being
    >sent to Canada...not sure if it is Ottawa or Montreal, but anyway we
    >are still waiting for a response from the Canadian side consular to
    >contact us for an interview. Our Green Card application is in the
    >final steps as well and is ready to submit the final package. Our
    >lawyer is a daft twit from California and thinks that the process will
    >be jeopardized by the combination of both applications going through
    >together. My questions are: Does saying yes to a K3 interview, cancel
    >the greencard process? If we actually leave to go home to the USA on a
    >K3, does this halt the GC process? Should we submit both and hope for
    >the best? How long should I expect for an interview with an already
    >approved K3 or a soon to be submitted final package for the GC? Thanks
    >to anyone with an idea, story, or experience involving this. We are at
    >our wits end, we were told last February tha the K3 would be ready in
    >about 3 months....not so much.
    >Sean

Isn't the usual process:
-get married
-get K3
-enter US
-file AOS to get GC?

How are you skipping the "enter US" part?

MH

Hypertweeky

Hey there Sean
If you decide to go down the K3 route you will have to adjust status within the US, You won't have to start from the very beginning since you already filed the I-130 but you will have to submit other forms as well such as 1-485, I-864, I-765 for employment which is a royal pain specially if you need to work right away. If your I-130 is already approved why don't you just take the IV route?, that way once you land in US soil you will be a resident!!. Withdrawing your I-129 to go the I-130 route shouldn't be a problem!

Folinskyinla

Hi:

No, the K-3 does NOT cancel the IV route. Many K-3's are admitted to the US and continue consular processing and return "home" to pick up the IV. There is nothing that says the K-3 has to proceed via adjustment.

However, and I'm not all that sure about this, I believe that if your approved I-130 is already be processed by the Department of State, the K-3 then becomes "moot." IOW, K-3 does not "cancel" IV, but IV may very well "cancel" K-3. The whole idea of the K-3 was that I-130's were taking too bloody long and the K-3 would allow for admission while the I-130 was pending. Since your I-130 was approved, it appears you do not even need the K-3.

Folinskyinla

Hey Hype:

Sad to say, you are not correct in much of this post. Please see my other post.

[email protected]

Well, you have to submit your I-130 form initially in order to even
apply for the K3, as you are intending immigrant either way. The I-130
application is the process that an intending immigrant from outside the
USA would apply for a green card...in other words, you do not
necessarily have to apply for a K3...this was supposed to be an interim
solution, to halting a couples business and family life. If I was to
get my green card in Canada before my Visa, I would not have any more
paperwork to do for two years, as I would have immigrated with a SSC
number. The only condition is that I remain married for the two year
period. But now I am not sure about the stage of the process that I am
at. Sean.

Noorah101

Hi Sean,

I don't understand how you would be getting a green card within Canada. If you are following the I-130 which results in a CR-1 visa, you'll be getting your GC after you arrive in the USA. I don't think you can get your GC in Canada before you even get your immigrant visa.

Rene

[email protected]

Hi Foli,

I guess I need to clarify...my K3 is "approved" and being sent to the
Canadian Consulate for further action. I hope to receive further
instructions before the apple drops. My I-30 has made it past all
stages, and the final affidavits of support and other forms are ready
to be sent in. My real question, one that which my lawyer is also
questioning, should we proceed with the I-130, as our goal is to enter
asap. I am hoping for a late January departure via K3, but should I
now or later proceed with the I-130. I am not claiming to understand
any of the process, as it is all heresay from a heretic.

Sean

[email protected]

Hi Foli,

I guess I need to clarify...my K3 is "approved" and being sent to the
Canadian Consulate for further action. I hope to receive further
instructions before the apple drops. My I-30 has made it past all
stages, and the final affidavits of support and other forms are ready
to be sent in. My real question, one that which my lawyer is also
questioning, should we proceed with the I-130, as our goal is to enter
asap. I am hoping for a late January departure via K3, but should I
now or later proceed with the I-130. I am not claiming to understand
any of the process, as it is all heresay from a heretic.

Sean

meauxna

Sean, it all becomes a guessing game at this point. For the I-130, it depends on *what* you have sent back to the NVC. If very little, your K-3 should still go through and you can enter on that.
I think you'll find the benefits of continuing the I-130-->Immigrant Visa (your "green card" example altho you won't get the actual GC until you come into the US with the Immirant Visa) are so great as to make it worth while to continue that process.

Again, no one can answer for you without knowing what has been sent back to the NVC that is specific to the Immigrant Visa/I-130 process.

As to your January departure, stay aware that a K-3 may not work without an Employment Authorization Document, which takes another several months to get, tho you are waiting inside the US. I don't know if that will impact your decision.

Matthew Udall

Canada issues K-3 visas? That's a new one for me, althought I don't practice Canadian immigration law.

Perhaps you meant a U.S. Consulate located in Canada. There is a difference.

Matthew Udall

Hi Folinskyinla,
I recall attending a lecture about K-3s at an AILA conference years ago. I think it was the conference held in Chicago, or perhaps the year prior in Seattle. Anyway, this was back when the K-3 was still just a proposed option that was in the pipeline to becoming a reality, and I recall the AILA expert telling the audience why, in her opinion, she didn’t think anybody in the audience would “ever” be called upon to help someone with a K-3 case.

Apparently she had discussed the details about K-3 processing with her contact(s) at the Department of State, and if I’m remembering correctly her reasoning was that as soon as the Consul catches wind that an approved I-130 is out there, they will no longer be willing to work on the K-3 visa issuance.

But again, this was years ago and I’d have to dig a bit to see what I-130 processing time was like back then. And I can see where a K-3 might be a nice option if the circumstances present themselves (and I’ve done K-3 work since that time).

The way I see it, when I-130s are slow, the K-3 becomes a more attractive option. When the I-130s are faster, the K-3 becomes a less attractive/needed option.

And of course as everybody already knows, the speed of I-130s (and other case types for that matter) is always in a state of flux, so one might start the K-3 process because at that particular time the I-130s are slow, only to find that the I-130s speed up and the K-3 becomes something they might not end up using.

So I think of K-3s as an option some might consider as a back up plan (or ancillary plan) that may or may not prove to be a good idea (or worth the effort and filing fee) sometime after the submissions take place.

Hey, but at least it “is” an available option!

Folinskyinla

Hi:

Pedantic Stuart comments -- you do NOT "get" a green card in Canada. You just will obtain the "immigrant visa" -- you are not a permanent resident until you are admitted at the border or its functional equivalent [e.g. PFI in a Canadian airport].

lfaridi

hi sean,

i have a friend whos I-130 was approved at the same time as his K-3. he was called for an interview for his K-3 and was denied due to the fact that he had an approved I-130. i wouldnt waste time and try to follow thru with the K-3.

linda

[email protected]

Thanks Linda...that was what I really needed to know and hear. I will
not proceed with my I-130 and wait on my K3 Visa Interview. Sean.