K-1 Fiancee Visa or Immigrant Visa And Greencard?

The fiancee visa can take anywhere from five to eleven months depending upon the government processing times. The benefit of a fiancee visa is in the processing speed: fiancee visas are issued much faster – you can get your fiancee here faster than with the immigrant visa. Now I know five to eleven months may sound like a very long time to wait, especially when you’re in love, but that is to be considered fast in terms of then United States Government processing time scale.

An immigrant visa can take anywhere from eight to fourteen months. The visa approval process will depend upon the government processing time: it may even be longer.

The benefit of the immigrant visa is that you are allowed into the United States with a green card so you can work and travel once you arrive in the U.S. With the fiancee visa you are not granted a green card, you must marry within 90 days and then apply for a green card and face a two-step process.

Another downside of the fiancee visa is if you don’t marry the person that petitioned you, there are limited exceptions in most cases: for example, you’re not going to be able to change stance to any other status. Unfortunately that’s the downside, sometimes relationships don’t work out and in this case you must leave the U.S. and this is another important consideration to keep in mind.

Based on our experience here at the The Ranchod Law Group, I can tell you many of our clients opt for the fiancee visa because they want their fiancee here in the United States as fast as possible, but then there are also situations where, if you are willing to wait, the immigrant visa is the most practical.