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I have recently joined the forum and have noticed discrepancies on reported visa types / turnaround times.  My calena received her citizenship last year - so I thought I'd chime in on other considerations that impact the speed of other filings AFTER obtaining a visa, having had the opportunity to witness the process for friends' visas different/similar from ours.  We obtained a spousal visa - not a big deal and didn't take but a couple of months at the time.  I paid a couple houndred for an "attorney" to assist with the filing.  In retrospect that was worth nothing more than piece of mind in preparing the paperwork - if your fiancee is sharp she can handle everything with the notary without any assistance, as one friend of mine successfully did. Each notary is different so check several for the easiest requirements.  The fiancee visa took substantially longer (back when we filed).  It seems like if you choose the fiancee route you have to deal with the US middleman (INS), which is like dealing with a ghost.  Items are still processed in Bogota.  The huge difference that I have noticed is that everything takes longer if the fiance visa route is chosen, i.e. green card and eventually citizenship.  Your spouse may be "landlocked" in the US for sometime - just a simple quick trip to Mexico can be a pain paperworkwise.  I have seen mention of a "direct consular visa" - I don't have a clue about this but would be curious to see how that impacts the subsequent filings.  And a tip - establish a P.O. Box for dealing with the INS - odds are you'll move in the amount of time it takes from visa to citizenship - and that address change may come at inopportune time.

Good Luck to all with this sometimes painfull process.

... in response to A Note on Visas and subsequent issues, posted by cancunhound on Mar 25, 2003

with the fiancee visa, she can file for "advance parole" and she can travel anywhere she wants. it usualy takes two months, and my self, i prefer the fiancee visa, just in case she isnt the wonderful person you met six months ago.