U.S. Citizen marrying a Canadian

[kiffer]

Hi,
My Canadian fiance and I (an American citizen) are planning to be married in North Carolina on the 14th of August, 2011. After that, we plan to live in NC. Thus far we have been planning to submit form I-129F and go that route. According to USCIS website, the processing times for that form are currently at 5 months. My questions are as follows:

1: Is it better to be married before or after we apply for her immigration? (i.e: is it better to not be married and go the way of the I-129F, or to just get married and do the I-130? - I have heard stories of people doing the I-130 and being stuck in different countries for months or even years.)

2: If we do the I-129F and the form is not processed by our wedding day, we have discussed just faking the ceremony and waiting til we get the visa before we sign the marriage license. My question on that is this: if we wait to become legally married (signing the marriage license), is there any way that she can live in the States until we get the visa, or does she have to live in Canada until we get that?

3: Does going into a USCIS office and handing in the paperwork in person speed the process up at all?

4: Are there any step-by-step directions online or is there anyone (group, organization, etc...) to talk to that can help lead us through this?

Any tips or hints that anyone has would be greatly appreciated.
Kiffer

[barbarajlw]

Hi,
My Canadian fiance and I (an American citizen) are planning to be married in North Carolina on the 14th of August, 2011. After that, we plan to live in NC. Thus far we have been planning to submit form I-129F and go that route. According to USCIS website, the processing times for that form are currently at 5 months. My questions are as follows:

1: Is it better to be married before or after we apply for her immigration? (i.e: is it better to not be married and go the way of the I-129F, or to just get married and do the I-130? - I have heard stories of people doing the I-130 and being stuck in different countries for months or even years.)

2: If we do the I-129F and the form is not processed by our wedding day, we have discussed just faking the ceremony and waiting til we get the visa before we sign the marriage license. My question on that is this: if we wait to become legally married (signing the marriage license), is there any way that she can live in the States until we get the visa, or does she have to live in Canada until we get that?

3: Does going into a USCIS office and handing in the paperwork in person speed the process up at all?

4: Are there any step-by-step directions online or is there anyone (group, organization, etc...) to talk to that can help lead us through this?

Any tips or hints that anyone has would be greatly appreciated.
Kiffer

NO NO and NO
If you wanted to be married in August you should have sent off 129f last October or there about. Yes it is 5-6 months for 129f to be processed and then your fiance has to have interview in Canada where they live.
There are no step by step guides on line to do this but there is an instruction here on this site for what you must do.

https://www.immihelp.com/usa-visas/kvisa/

Your other option is to get married here in NC and the file CR1 spousal visa which takes approx the same time as K1 but your fiance can not stay legally here in the US. You cannot **** a marriage ceremony as if you have a celebrant or whatever they have to sign the license. Even if you just have a ceremony you are still not married hey . No she can't stay legally while petition is being processed she will have to go back to Canada but she can visit you of course while you are waiting approval. Visits from Canada are relatively easy from what I have heard as long as she shows strong ties back to her home as in job, home address, bank account, drivers license.
The stories you may have heard about 130 taking a long time depends on what country the beneficiary is from usually. You cant rort this system or try and commit fraud as it will come back to bite you.
Just go the legal route and then she comes and can stay for always. But if you plan marrying in August forget the 129f its too late for that.