Let’s dive into expedite request options for K1 fiancé visa petitions and also for CR1 or immediate relative marriage-based petitions.

For those of you who are going through the process, if you already have an approved I-129F fiancé visa petition or if you already have an approved I-130 petition based on your marriage, the next step is the interview phase of the case. Unfortunately, many US embassies and consulates are closed at this time or some are open but they have limited services. They have a limited amount of interviews that they’re doing every month. Many people are unfortunately just waiting in limbo for an interview.

But I want to share with you some really important information that I want anyone who’s going through the process to know about options for an expedite request. If you have children close to turning 21 that are also part of the petition, whether that’s part of the fiancé visa petition or a separate I-130 petition associated with your spouse’s I-130 petition, it’s really important that you look into filing an expedite request for your case.

If any of our clients have children that are turning 21, we make that expedite request. If that is your situation and if you don’t already have an attorney, please book an appointment with one of our attorneys right away. The link is below so we can discuss with you options for expediting your case for an interview.

Appointment Scheduling with Corado-Pastrana LLC

Let me go into a little bit about what an expedite request is and why it matters if you have a child on the petition that will be turning 21. An expedite request is a request to have an interview scheduled at a US embassy or consulate to complete your case. The circumstances in which somebody can ask for an expedite request are pretty limited. It has to be something very serious so there’s other reasons that an expedite request could be made.

For now, I’m only focusing on expedite requests if you have a child that is going to be turning 21. The reason that’s important is because individuals who are United States citizens that are petitioning for their fiancé and any children under 21 or if you have an I-130 petition filed for your spouse and children under the age of 21 and any of those children go beyond the age of 21 they fall out of a category called an immediate relative.

I don’t want to go too much into the legal analysis and requirements and the reason that this happens but basically once a child turns 21, they’re no longer an immediate relative which means that they would have to wait in a much longer line to be able to complete the process. Sometimes several years, sometimes decades depending on what country you’re from. It’s really important that if a child is going to be turning 21, then we ask for that expedite request.

Either immigration will decide to schedule an interview and complete the process before the child turns 21 or immigration won’t schedule the interview right away but that they will freeze that individual’s age. There’s something called a Child Status Protective Act calculator. I won’t get into all of that either. You really need an attorney to help you to determine if your child is protected by that.

But if you have a child that’s going to be turning 21 soon, it’s really important that you look into the option of an expedite request for your case to make sure that your child doesn’t lose that benefit of being an immediate relative.