Understandably, married couples want to be together
as soon as possible. The K-3 spousal visa is now the
available option to maximize speed and efficiency in bringing
this about. (While the K-3 visa has been available in other
Latin countries for some time, it had no applicablity to Colombia
since the Consulate in Bogota up to now had always accepted DCF.)

The K-3 visa is a non-immigrant two year visa. It allows
mutiple entries to the U.S., thus no additional travel permission
is required. However, it does not allow work permission,
and thus work authorization must be secured. Furthermore,
the K-3 visa must be "adjusted" to legal residency, the
so-called "green card", and thus further immigration
petition work will be necessary.

The K-3 visa is conditioned on first properly filing
the I-130 petition with the appropriate BCIS Service Center,
and securing the receipt notice. As a "receipted" I-130
petitioner, the gentleman submits the K-3 visa petition request to the
the BCIS National Benefits Center (formerly the Missouri
Service Center). After approval, the case moves on the
the National Visa Center in Portsmouth, NH, and then the
Consulate in Bogota for final processing and visa issuance.

Current time frames (as of 07/03) for most cases in most parts of the country:
1. BCIS Service Center I-130 receipt notice - about 2 to 3 weeks
2. National Benefits Center decision - about 45 to 60 days
3. National Visa Center processing - about 2 to 3 weeks
4. US Consulate processing - about 4 to 5 weeks
Total time about 3 to 4 months in most cases.
Keep in mind that every case is a little different, that some
security and background checks take longer, and that
processing time frames constantly keep shifting.

Those who want more detail can visit my website,
and click "Check Petition Status", scroll to the bottom
for current processing time reports for all the BCIS Service
Centers, and timeframes for both the K-3 and for that matter the K-1 visa.
Type my name into any major search engine to reach my website.

Good luck to all of you Gentlemen,
Gary Bala

Are they still doing direct consular filing but with longer approval periods?  I thought they stopped the DCF on June 27th and the only option now was the K-3 visa.