Fiance Visa or Spouse Visa?
Which process is best to bring my girlfriend/boyfriend from a foreign country?
So you have met the love of your life, and you both live in different Countries. You live in the United States and they live outside the USA. You may be wondering, what’s the best way to bring my love here to be with me in the United States.
The answer is: IT DEPENDS.
Do you want to save money, or do you want to save time? Depending on what is most important to you is necessary to decide for yourself, what process is better in your specific situation.
If you want to save time:
You may want to do the Fiancé Visa (because the appointment abroad is scheduled sooner for the Fiancé (K1) Visa, than for the Immediate Relative (spouse) petition.
The downside to Fiancé process is that in order for your Fiancé to get a green card in the U.S., they will need to do a second process with USCIS (Adjustment of Status) and pay a new fee for the application process. So there might be additional costs.
The best part is that you may be together sooner.
If you want to save money:
You may want to consider doing the Spouse Visa (I-130/consular processing), so that when your spouse is approved at the interview appointment abroad, they enter with a green card, from the very beginning. There won’t be additional processes to get a green card once they enter the U.S.
The downside is that your spouse will be waiting for an interview outside the United States for all of that time.
The best part is that you only have to do one process for your spouse to get the green card, and that can save you money.
Please do not take this as legal advice.