CR1 Spousal Visa

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.

“Once the USCIS and NVC approves the case, and the case is mailed out to the beneficiary’s local embassy for interview, should the interviewer still look at adjusted gross income or gross income?”

For the fiance visa, absolutely. Because they don’t even look at income until the embassy.

The CR1 visa process is quite a bit different from the K1 visa process, specially when it comes to the National Visa Center. As far as processing times, the longest processing time is with the USCIS. You’re looking at easily about five to six months at the USCIS for the removal of conditions.

“I’ve read they passed a bill on where they go into your social media after interview, which would prolong the process, and that’ll effect a lot of K-1 Visas and my fiance is from the Philippines.”

The government has always had that authority to investigate pretty much anything.

“My girlfriend lives in Columbia, and she has a fiancee visa. Does she need to buy a ticket one-way or round trip?”

We actually receive that question quite often. If they do in fact have the fiancee visa, they’ll only need a one-way ticket because they are coming to migrate to the United States and then apply for a lawful permanent resident status (a green card).

New standards are being rolled out that are designed to basically make it harder to immigrate to the US. The process to immigrate has always included a quite extensive vetting process, but these new measures are likely going to make it even harder.

Abigail asks, “I got declined for a tourist visa. What are my chances of a spousal visa?” I would say that doesn’t affect your spousal visa at all because a lot of people get denied for tourist visas, especially if they have a spouse in the US.

“Do Social Security Disability payments count towards the income requirement when bringing my fiance or spouse to the USA?” Income is income. Regardless of the source of the income, you can still count it and still use it. You must provide proof and evidence of income.

We have a question from Yan, and she asks: "Is it faster or better to file my IR1 spousal visa directly with the embassy in China, or by mailing it off to the USCIS?" Because direct consular filing bypasses the USCIS and National Visa Center, the process can be quicker than the normal inquiry process. […]