CR1 Spousal Visa

The USCIS announced last week that effective November 1st, 2018, they will require applicants to submit form I-693 Report of Medical Examination and Vaccination Record that is signed by a civil surgeon no more than 60 days before filing the underlying application for immigration benefit. This applies to the adjustment of status or application to register […]

In the spousal visa process, the USCIS is trying to determine that you have a bona fide marriage. And, if you have just recently married most people understandably don’t have many of the typical bona fides, such as a joint checking account, a joint lease or mortgage, joint health insurance, etc.

Prior to our current era of “extreme vetting“, we were seeing times of six to seven months for a CR1 visa, from the time you mailed it so the USCIS until the time that you had the visa in hand. But now, in 2020, our average timelines have increased to an average of 7-10 months.

In the case of a fiance or spousal visa, it usually can take two to three months for the embassy to send your case back to the National Visa Center (NVC) and then the National Visa Center sends your case back to the USCIS where they’ll review your case again.

Back a year or two ago, this used to take four to six weeks. Unfortunately, they are scrutinizing petitions more so now than they have in the past. The National Visa Center is also backlogged with cases, so you’re probably looking at about four to eight weeks right now, maybe even a little bit longer.

Once a petition’s approved by the USCIS, you’ll get an invoice from the NVC by email. It’s going to take a few weeks, could take up to a month before you get it. But, once you get it, you actually have up to a year. Obviously you don’t want to wait that long.

On a fiance visa, your birth certificate is not required until the end of the process when you go to your medical exam and your interview at the U.S. Embassy. You do have some time to correct this birth certificate. You can go to your local civil office and you can have these documents corrected.

What's the difference between immigrant and non-immigrant "intent"? The type of visa is determined by the purpose of the travel to the United States. Immigrant Visa An immigrant visa is for someone that intends to immigrate to the US or permanently live in the United States. Most immigrant visas have a path to citizenship after a number […]

In a disturbing memo issued by USCIS (PM-602-0163) on July 13, 2018, we were made aware of a new policy which will make it much easier for the Trump Administration to issue denials for legal immigration cases across the board (with the exception of DACA), including fiance visas, spousal visas, green card applications and more.

For various reasons, some of which you may never really find out, your case, you may get an update from the State Department that tells you your case is in “Administrative Processing“, or AP. What that means in terms of immigration matters, is that there is something about your case that they don’t like, so they’re going to take a little longer to look at your case.