Spouse's visa for U.S citizen?

Question

Hi guys,

My wife ( still in Africa..) & I got married back in february this year in Africa and I came back to the U.S. As a U.S citizen I thought I just needed to petition for her with the form I-130.

They were telling me that I may need to apply a form I-129F / K-3 with the receipt of the I-130 that I submitted. I am not sure if the form K-3 is applicable though since it's talking about fiancé visa.

So I wonder if someone had the same situation and could give me some ideas?

Thx alot.

Answer 1

it's up to you whether you want to do the k3 or not. it's not mandatory. my husband and i went through both... but decided in the end to abandon the k3 and go with the i-130. the k3 is originally created to compensate for the long wait for the i-130... but these days there isn't much difference anymore.

we decided to go with the i-130 instead since once i enter the US, i'm an immediate immigrant. on the k3, your wife would need to apply for adjustment of status and work permit... more fees to pay, more waiting to do... and you can't travel outside the country while waiting for the green card (would take more than a year after she enters the US).

when i entered the US, my green card arrived only 3 weeks after... my SSN arrived 2 weeks after that. then i could travel in and out of the country without having to worry about anything.

Answer 2

You will be sending I-129F after you received the Notice of Action or I-797 from USCIS that informs you they received your I-130 petition.You will send to the USCIS Service Center that currrently processing your I-130 and you will include in the I-129F a copy of that Notice of Action.It is not just the fiancee visa that uses that form though they send it in the initial filing.A K-3 filer is also required to file a I-129F after filing the I-130.A very useful guides can be found on www.visajourney.com