US citizen to apply GC for Indian spouse

[nascar007]

Sir,

Sorry if this is a repetitive question. I could not find a clear cut reply anywhere!

I have the following questions regarding applying for GC for my spouse after marriage. I am a US citizen planning to get married in India to an Indian
citizen.

1) Should I apply for his GC in India or can I apply in USA? Is one faster than the other?
2) Are there any other forms required apart from I-130, G-325A, I-864EZ, I-765?
3) I guess I-485 and I-131 are not required since he is in India. Please confirm.
4) Do I have to be physically present with my spouse for GC immigration interview?
5) Anything else we have to be aware of?

Your advice is appreciated.Thank You so much.

[immihelp]

Read https://www.immihelp.com/family-based-greencard/

[nascar007]

Thanks immihelp. But I still have the following questions:

1) Since I am planning to get married in India, can I send the spouse GC application to INS in USA address, while I am in India? That way I will not waste any time in filing the GC application.
2) After I return to USA alone, when my spouse is called for GC interview later, do I also have to be physically present in India for the interview?

I appreciate your reply. Thank You.

[balagar]

if your spouse is India...it has to be done from India. to be honest with you..it will take more than normal...forever(just like Indian government)
if you have an option get him/her here on fiancé visa. if you are citizen..it will be quicker.
as far as forms...i think you are accurate.

[nascar007]

Balagar, You really helped me do more research on this. Thank You VERY MUCH. Since you said GC application will take more than normal...forever,
I think I should go for either K1 or K3 visa instead of waiting for GC approval. Here is what I understand on these 2 options.

1. K-1 fiance visa -> At first I (US citizen) should submit form I-129F and two G-325A. Once the USCIS approves the petition, they forward it to the US Consulate in India where my fiance can apply for K1 visa.

2. K-3 spouse visa -> At first I should submit form I-130/I-864. Then after I receive form I-797 (Notice of Action) indicating that the USCIS has received the form I-130, I should file on my spouse's behalf a copy of this form I-797 along with form I-129F. Once USCIS adjudicate this form, they forward it to US Consulate in India so that my spouse can apply for K3 visa.

My Questions:
1) Is it correct that for K3 spouse visa, I need to file both forms I-130 (petition for alien relative) and form-129F (petition for alien fiance)? Any specific reason for this? (I got this info from an immigration website)

2) Can you please tell me which one is faster, K1 or K3 visa?

3) If K1 fiance visa is faster: can I complete religious marriage ceremony in India (but we will not register marriage in India) and then apply for K1 fiance visa so as to register the marriage in USA?

Anyone who could shed some light on this, please... please... help.

Thank You very much.

[gauravku]

Hi nascar007,

Good luck on applying for your spouse's GC. I have just gone through the exact same case; My wife is a US citizen and we got married in India and today (29th April) I had my immigrant visa interview (which is not what you are looking for though..) at the Bombay consulate. I got approved but they required another form to fill out after which I should get the visa...question of 2 weeks.

In my case (which is consular processing for immigrant visa) we first sent in the forms as a K3 visa case: I130 set first then I129F set in July 2009. So its been 9 months for me to get to the interview stage (with an unnecessary 2 month delay in the middle thanks to the police being real uncooperative in giving me a PCC here in Bombay).

Something to keep in mind about K1 - DO NOT get married here in India with a religious ceremony and then not register. It will be a case for cancellation of your petition! If you are going the Fiance way then you both MUST be fiance all the way till your spouse enters the US. If you get married then you MUST go for K3. It is the US govt. They will find out (I know of this happening!)

Now about K3 - Make sure that you send in your I129F BEFORE they APPROVE the I130 otherwise you will be sent directly to immigrant visa processing (this is what happened to me actually). The minute you get the I797C of the I130 send the I129F then you should be fine.

Some pros and cons: If you look at the Immihelp comparison chart for the different modalities you will see that a spouse waiting in India for the immigrant visa has its advantages (mainly - can work immediately upon entering the US and gets GC within weeks of entering). Though, trust me - the wait is definitely difficult and frustrating!

K1 or K3 are definitely better to get you both together sooner though getting the actual GC takes some more time - but the wait will at least be with you both waiting together at the same place

Hope this helps! All the best!

[gauravku]

Oh and to address your question on why both I130 and I129F are required;

I130 is an IMMIGRANT petition form - you send this as a way of indicating that your spouse will ULTIMATELY be an Immigrant in the US. It is the 'indicator' to the USCIS that the beneficiary will be heading for permanent residence status - this form is to state the FINAL goal of the spouse.

But the I129F is a NON-IMMIGRANT petition - i.e. the VISA your spouse will be entering the US is a non-immigrant visa which then gets converted to the GC process with AOS etc. Consider this visa similar to an F1 except it involves bringing in a spouse through a non-immigrant route...not a F1 student. So this form is to sate the MODE of entry of the spouse.

That is the reason for having both.

[dharmeshtha]

filed I-130 india from US CTZ spouse

my brother was recently married on 15th Feb in india. his wife is US Citizen and they was gone to new delhi on 25th Feb to filed i-130. they says you have to wait 3 months to passport stamps came india. we wait three months and after my brother and his wife gone delhi again to put i-130, and this time they says they complete stop to take immigration pitition I-130 here in India. you have to compalsary put your petition in USA chicago mail address not here in India. they change the rule, no more i-130 we can put in india.

[kapad67]

Thanks for the info

Dear All,
Thanks for the info you provided.
Let me tell you my story.
I filed for my spouse after comming back to USA. I got the i-130 approval notice in 22 days from sending the letter. I wanted to go via the K3 ROUTE.
But I checked the time that the California office will take for processing the I-130 file and then the K3 file. I was surprised to learn that both of them would take 5 months. Then I thought since 20 days have already passed for my I-130 file and now if I file for K3 I will be behind on that by those number of days. Then I happened to ask one of our family friend who is working with a immigration lawyer and that person is a paralegal lawyer. That person agreed to stick to the I-130 file and not go via the K3 route. Obviously the disadvantage with K3 route is spouse comes on a non immigration visa and additional processing time for the GC/Social security/Finger prints/AOS etc. and on top of all that you end up paying more then $1200 for K3 route.
I understand that living with out spouse every single day is like each day feels like a year long, but do you guys have any suggestion to hasten the process.
Please fill your inputs with time lines.
Thanks,
K