The fastest way to bring a foreign spouse to US while the I-130 is being filed

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1. 

   Sarah M. Cross

   Brighton Immigration Attorney

   Contributor Level 15

   1

   Helpful vote

   Answered November 05, 2009 08:59. The process they probably used was Direct Consular Processing. Newer legislation makes DCP less common and much more difficult to obtain. At a minimum, to qualify to DCP the US citizen spouse needs to be legally resident in the foreign country for at least six months. There are some exceptions for emergencies, but they normally must be an extreme hardship (a serious medical emergency for instance (not pregnancy). Unfortunately, our immigration system is slow (but faster then most other countries), processing millions of petitions every year. Each month USCIS office process over 1/2 million new petitions just to give you an idea. Right now, the process is moving faster than in the past due to streamlining at the service centers as well as other issues. To bring your wife you will need to file an immigrant visa petition (the I-130) on her behalf. The K-3 is optional and may or may not save you time on initially bringing her to the US. Even though the application is free to file the overall process of the K-3 is substantially more expensive as she will have to file for adjustment of status after entering the US. I recommend consulting with an attorney to get a better understanding of the two options and to make sure that you avoid any additional delays caused by incorrectly completing and filing the paperwork. Finally, 4 months is a completely unrealistic time estimate. Normally initial processing takes about 4-6 months, NVC and consular processing add an additional 2-4 months.
   
   Sarah M. Cross
   The Law Office of Sarah M. Cross
   6984 Challis Rd
   Brighton, MI 48116
   800-681-2311 or 810-225-0953
   www.lovevisas.com email sarahmaycross@aol.com

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