Marriage After US Citizenship

[sikander]

Dear friends:

With your help and guidance I recently became a US Citizen! I'm glad and very thankful to you all, particularly to the likes of Bobsmyth, JackoLantern, Triple Citizen and The Real Canadian. As you may recall, I had questions about US citizenship and marriage:

SITUATION:
As part of the arranged marriage system, I'll be heading to Dubai and India (Delhi and Mumbai) to meet ladies there for marriage; I'll hopefully choose one of them as a life partner and get married shortly thereafter.

My understanding is that as a US Citizen, in order to bring my spouse to the USA, I have 3 options:

1) K-1 visa; I would have to get engaged and then apply for a K-1 temporary visa for my fiancee to come to the USA; I'd then have to marry her here in the USA; I've heard that using this process would take 4-9 months to bring my fiancee to the USA.

2) K-3 visa; I would have to get married and then apply for a K-3 temporary visa for my wife to come to the USA; I've heard using this process would take 10-11 months to bring my wife to the USA.

3) Immigrant visa; I would have to get married and then apply for an immigrant visa for my wife (this was the original procedure before K-1/K-3 visas were introduced in ~2001); this would essentially give my wife a green card to come to the USA.

I'll probably have to marry rather than get engaged and wait to bring my spouse to the USA and marry her here. So I think only options 2) and 3) above will be viable for me.


QUESTIONS:

A) Could you please advise how long applying for an Immigrant visa for my wife would take from the time of application to the time my wife would actually be granted the Immigrant visa to come to the USA if she were to apply via the US Consulate in:

1) Dubai?
2) Delhi?
3) Mumbai?

B) What documents would need for my wife-to-be and myself to launch a complete application for an Immigrant visa for my wife.

Regards,

Sikander

 

[Jackolantern]

I'll probably have to marry rather than get engaged and wait to bring my spouse to the USA and marry her here. So I think only options 2) and 3) above will be viable for me.

Don't even bother with (2). K3 takes almost the same time as an immigrant visa, and then after interviewing at the consulate and entering the US with the K3, she would have to file more paperwork for AOS and be interviewed again to get the green card.

But with (3), she becomes a permanent resident resident immediately upon entry with the immigrant visa, and the green card is automatically delivered within 30 days after arrival, without more paperwork or interviews.

Probably the only advantage of the K3 is that your spouse would interview at the consulate in the country where the marriage occurred, instead of her country of citizenship. So getting married in another country may make things faster if the consulate in her country is slow.

 

[sikander]

Jackolantern; as usual, many thanks. So with (3) applying for an immigrant visa, the interview would mandatorily have to happen in he country of citizenship?

 

[TheRealCanadian]

Jackolantern; as usual, many thanks. So with (3) applying for an immigrant visa, the interview would mandatorily have to happen in he country of citizenship?

It would be in any country where the beneficiary has the right of abode. If, for example, she is Indian with a Canadian work visa or permanent residence, the interview could happen in India or Canada.

 

[sreeleshk]

Dear friends:

With your help and guidance I recently became a US Citizen! I'm glad and very thankful to you all, particularly to the likes of Bobsmyth, JackoLantern, Triple Citizen and The Real Canadian. As you may recall, I had questions about US citizenship and marriage:

SITUATION:
As part of the arranged marriage system, I'll be heading to Dubai and India (Delhi and Mumbai) to meet ladies there for marriage; I'll hopefully choose one of them as a life partner and get married shortly thereafter.

My understanding is that as a US Citizen, in order to bring my spouse to the USA, I have 3 options:

1) K-1 visa; I would have to get engaged and then apply for a K-1 temporary visa for my fiancee to come to the USA; I'd then have to marry her here in the USA; I've heard that using this process would take 4-9 months to bring my fiancee to the USA.

2) K-3 visa; I would have to get married and then apply for a K-3 temporary visa for my wife to come to the USA; I've heard using this process would take 10-11 months to bring my wife to the USA.



are these rough estimates ??

whats the time taken on an average for usc's spouse's cp??



3) Immigrant visa; I would have to get married and then apply for an immigrant visa for my wife (this was the original procedure before K-1/K-3 visas were introduced in ~2001); this would essentially give my wife a green card to come to the USA.

I'll probably have to marry rather than get engaged and wait to bring my spouse to the USA and marry her here. So I think only options 2) and 3) above will be viable for me.


QUESTIONS:

A) Could you please advise how long applying for an Immigrant visa for my wife would take from the time of application to the time my wife would actually be granted the Immigrant visa to come to the USA if she were to apply via the US Consulate in:

1) Dubai?
2) Delhi?
3) Mumbai?

B) What documents would need for my wife-to-be and myself to launch a complete application for an Immigrant visa for my wife.

Regards,

Sikander

??