Can one have more than 1 pending I-130¿?

Question

For example, My boyfriend´s Mom filed an I130 petition for him many years ago. he´s over 21 so it will take several more years. If we decide to get married and file for a K3 visa, we will need to file another I130, but petitioned for by me. What happens to the existing I-130? A lawyer told me nothing, that it won't get canceled or anything, that you can have several at the same time, and take whichever comes in first... any advice?

Answer 1

The lawyer you spoke to is correct.

You may have multiple petitions being processed at the same time, nothing will happen to original petition, except that once you are married the I-130 petition by his mother will downgrade from an F1 preference category to an F3 category, which adds about an additional 2 years onto the waiting time of an F1.

As for the petition from you, it really depends if you are a U.S. citizens or permanent resident of the United States, if you are the latter then it is advisable not to get married, since this will also downgrade his original petition to an F3 and the petition from you will be considered an F2.

If you are a citizen, then marriage is certainly the quickest way to get him to the U.S. Both the IR-1 and K3 will take about 8-12 months. Sometimes slightly longer.

Answer 2

My husband filed and I-129 and I-130 To see which one was faster (we were married ) the I-129  was faster !!!!. I took us 8 months and I was here!. We never finished the I-130.