Questions for Ray

[surfscum]

Ray, an acquaintance of mine married a Peruvian woman in Peru and now they want to start the paperwork. He lives in Houston, TX.  She has no children. Which route would be the fastest for them: K-3 or CR-1?  She has a valid US tourist visa: can she be in the USA on that visa while waiting for her spousal visa?  Which center handles the CR-1?

[Ray]

... in response to Questions for Ray, posted by surfscum on Sep 20, 2005

This is assuming of course that your friend is a U.S. citizen.

The first step is to file a Form I-130 which gets her the CR-1 spouse visa. The K-3 visa is optional and may or may not get her here faster. With ‘current’ processing times, my guess is that he can shave maybe 6 months off of the wait by filing for a K-3. The CR-1 is a “better” visa even if it ends up taking a little longer. If he wants to file for a K-3, he will need copies of the same documents and the receipt notice for the I-130.

To file the I-130, he will need some other forms and documents also. Both he and his wife will need to complete and sign two each original Forms G-325A and he will need 2 passport photos and some other paperwork from her, all translated into English. That should cover both the I-130 and I-129F for the K-3.

He should visit the CIS Web site for more info and the proper forms. He should also check the U.S. Embassy Lima Web site for processing procedures. His I-130 will be filed with the Texas Service Center, but it may be forwarded to California for processing which is a good thing.

She can try to come here on her visitor visa but she might possibly be turned back at the Port of Entry if they find out she is married. She will need to be in Peru much of that time anyway to process the visa paperwork.

Ray