Immigration Officers – What You Should Know
For couples who are just starting out in their immigration journey, one of the scariest parts of the entire process is the immigration interview. You’ll have an immigration officer on the other side of the desk asking you important questions about your immigration history, marriage, and relationship. It can be oftentimes a little invasive and…
USCIS Courtesy Letter Received – How Long Until Interview?
How long does it take for an interview after being told we need evidence or a form needing a physical from the doctor? If you file an adjustment of status without the medical exam included, they send you a courtesy letter. It’ll say that you need to bring your medical exam to the interview. There…
Interview Scheduled But No Work Permit – Should I Worry?
When someone’s applying for an adjustment of status, either straight from another type of visa or they’ve already come into the United States on a K1 fiancé visa and gotten married, part of that process involves applying for temporary work authorization at the same time. Lawyers will present the typical process as you apply for…
K1 Visa versus K3 Visa – Which is Better?
K1 versus K3, which is better? One of the things people have been doing with their immigration cases is trying to unearth secret strategies that maybe will help them skip this whole process. Unfortunately, a lot of these alternate theories that people are unearthing are things that simply don’t work right now. The K1 visa…
High Priority? CR1 Spousal Petitions
K1 fiancé visas have been designated as high priority. What about CR1 spouse visas, are they high priority too? Are they being ignored? What’s going on with my CR1 visa application? The CR1 is the spouse visa for individuals who are married to United States citizens or lawful permanent residents. The K1 fiancé visa is…
Failure to Marry in 90 Days – K1 Visa
One of the requirements of the K1 fiancé visa is that you marry your fiancé upon entry to the United States with your K1 visa within 90 days. But what happens if you don’t get married in 90 days? Immigration is very strict. It has to be 90 days, not 91 or 92. There’s no flexibility. It’s…
Special Option – Direct Consular Filing
Are you wondering what is the fastest way to receive your green card? There is a special option available to couples who are going through the immigration process that is the fastest way to receive a green card. It’s called direct consular filing. Direct consular filing is an option where you can skip two offices of…
Case Status – Ready to Be Scheduled for an Interview
If you’ve recently checked your USCIS case status online and it shows “my case is ready to be scheduled for an interview”, your next question is likely “When will I receive my interview?”. For those of you who are filing an adjustment of status case, that is a case that is completed inside of the…
CEAC – Ready Status
We’re starting to see things slowly but surely moving in the world of immigration because more and more interviews are being scheduled. There are also more approvals of K1 visas and more couples finally be able to be together in the United States. One of the questions that we are receiving is about the ready…
K1 Visa – Joint Financial Evidence
If my fiancé comes to visit soon and I have her added to my current apartment lease and utilities bill before her visit ends after three weeks. If I do that, will that draw unwanted scrutiny or would that work as two solid pieces of proof? We have a free resource in our resource center…
Lawsuit Filed – Work Permit Delays
There was a lawsuit that was filed by the American Immigration Lawyers Association against USCIS because of the long work permit delays. If you’re eligible and you file your application for adjustment of status in the United States, part of that application is a work permit. The idea of the work permit is that USCIS…
Can I Get Married on a Tourist Visa to a US Citizen? (ON ESTA at 2020?)
If someone who’s not a US citizen comes to the US, either on a tourist visa or on a visa waiver program, or commonly referred to as ESTA, can they get married and apply for a green card in the US? With this question, there’s a lot of online forums that have said that they…
How Do I Confirm USCIS Received My RFE Response?
If you do not respond to a request that USCIS sends you, they’re going to deny your case automatically. It’s important to figure out whether it was actually received. When you respond to the government, you always want to keep a copy of what you send in case it gets lost. But they actually want…
Top 3 Reasons for K1 Fiancé Visa Denials
There can be many reasons for a K1 visa denila but there are three things that we commonly see for denials. With the K1 fiancé visa, there are certain requirements that an individual has to meet. 1. Eligibility Requirements The first basis for denial with K1 fiancé visas is that the person is not eligible. We…
K1 vs CR1 – Which is Faster?
One of the most frequently asked questions we have been receiving in the past few weeks and months is whether it’s faster to do the fiancé visa or the spouse visa. A lot of couples become paralyzed by this decision. The K1 is the fiancé visa route and the CR1, also called IR1, is the spouse…
Important Tips USCIS Form I-134 – 2021
Important tips for USCIS form I-134. For those of you who are going through a fiancé visa process, you are probably already familiar with this form. Form I-134 is a form that’s used specifically for tourist visas and fiancé visas. Focusing on fiancé visas, form I-134 is used during the fiancé visa process right before the…
Work Permit and Travel Document – Processing Times
We have received a lot of questions about work permits and travel documents from where are they processed to how long will it take. Are they two separate documents? What do they look like? The work permit is processed separately in a completely separate place from where your interview will be. To answer that first…
Truth About Green Card Processing Times
Most people are shocked to find out that it can take more than a year, oftentimes, many years to receive a green card by marriage to a United States citizen. If you’ve ever seen a Hollywood movie that has any kind of reference to immigration, it makes it seem like you just marry someone from…
K1 Visa Welcome Letter Timing
K1 visa welcome letters and when you can actually begin the next step in the K1 visa process. We’ve had a lot of people asking questions ranging from “When will I receive the welcome letter? “When can I get started with the next steps?” “I have received multiple letters, what do they mean?” “Can I…
What is 221(g) Administrative Processing?
What is 221(g), also called administrative processing or admin processing? When you have an interview in a US consulate, it can either be because you want a K1 fiancé visa or because you are getting a spouse visa or other types of visas as well. 221(g) is not a rejection of your case. It doesn’t…
K1 Visa – How Long is the Process? 2021
For K1 Visas, how long is the process in 2021? The thing about guessing visa time frames is that we are always predicting. We can only say what’s happening currently for different clients and look at the known variables looking forward from here and make our estimates based on that. As far as what we’re…
Is It Better to Apply For a Work Permit or Wait For Your Green Card?
“Does it make sense to apply for a work permit or wait for your green card instead?” Definitely still apply for your work permit. We do that for all of our clients. The best practice when you’re filing your adjustment of status case is to file your work permit application. Immigration is so random that…
Refused Immigrant Visa Status Explained
“I’ve checked the status of my case online and it shows visa refused. What does this mean? Is my case over? What can I do?” Usually, when a visa refusal would show up, it’s for individuals who are going through consular processing or a fiancé visa. Part of the process after a petition has been filed and…
Who Qualifies for Adjustment of Status?
The number one requirement for adjustment of status is that the immigrant is physically present inside the United States when you apply. They have to stay there until the process is complete unless they get travel authorization. The general rule says that you have to be here legally. That means you would have some type of…
Bypass the USCIS Phone Robots
“How do I get past the phone robots when I call USCIS?” If you’re going through an immigration process, you may have had a need to call USCIS. You need to know what’s going on with your case or you haven’t received a receipt notice or you haven’t received your green card among other things.…
DIY Immigration Case
If you are at the beginning of your immigration journey, you might be asking yourself, “Should I do my own immigration case? Is DIY immigration a good idea?” You do not have to have an immigration attorney assist you with your immigration case. There’s no requirement that you have an immigration attorney. For those of you who…
How Long Do I Have to Have a Green Card Before Becoming a US Citizen? (3 vs 5 Years)
It’s a long haul to get a green card no matter which way you got there. A lot of couples are asking, “What’s the next step? When do we get to actually become a US citizen?” There’s a lot of confusion because some people are eligible at three years and some people are eligible at…
K1 Fiancé vs CR1 Spouse, Which is Better?
Which path should I choose? The K1 fiancé visa or the CR1 visa? To help you really understand which option is better, it’s important to understand there isn’t a one-size-fits-all option or there’s no best option for everyone. The option between a K1 fiancé visa and the CR1 spouse visa is going to depend a lot…
Scheduled for a Second Immigration Interview?
Part of the immigration case for couples is proving to immigration that you have a real relationship that’s based on love and not just to receive an immigration benefit. For most couples, the process is submitting relationship evidence and an interview with an immigration officer who asks the couple questions about their relationship. Typically, it’s…
USCIS Outside Normal Processing Request
“I’ve checked online and I see that the date of my receipt notice, that my case is actually outside of normal processing times. What can I do? Should I make a request? Will it help?” USCIS has a tool for checking case processing times for various forms at https://egov.uscis.gov/processing-times. We regularly use this tool in…