Fiance Visa

Why does the fiance visa take a long time to process? If I filed for it tomorrow, correctly followed the processing instructions, and we plan on getting married December 2007, will I recieve my visa then? If not.. WHY NOT?!

Filing the K-1 with the USCIS

A word about the processing time: The Fiancee Visa process moves slow! There are no quick ways to get this Visa, and it is not something to be requested lightly. Your paperwork needs to be very organized and easy to follow or the application will take even longer. If you visit the Immigration websites and check the processing times you will see that Fiancee Visas are typically 4 to 6 months behind in backlog. You can track your application once you have a tracking number from the Immigration Office.

There are other factors to slow the process such as: The area you live in dictates where you send the K-1 application to a specified regional office. Each office has different processing times and issues. Also--the country of your Fiancee's origin will dictate issues with when she can complete the required physical and interview in her home country. This will be done at an American Embassy where many applicants must report to be interviewed and approved to receive their visa. Once approved, your Fiancee will have 180 days to use her Visa (enter the US) and once in the US will have 90 days to marry you or return home. There are no known exceptions to this rule unless extreme situations occurred, and usually those are dealt with after the woman has returned home--unmarried.

Why does it take so long? I thought they were speeding the system up?

You have to consider that million of applications are filed each year. Your request for your Fiancee is one of many that must be hand processed. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) relies on about 55 million paper-based files to adjudicate applications for immigration status and other benefits. Ensuring the currency and availability of these manual files, referred to as alien files, or A-Files, is a major challenge. To address this challenge, USCIS has initiated efforts, both long and near term, to automate the A-Files. The long-term effort is now being re-examined within the context of a larger USCIS organizational transformation initiative. In the near term, USCIS has begun a digitization program, which it estimates will cost about $190 million over an 8-year period to electronically scan existing paper files and store and share the scanned images.