If you as a U.S. citizen are legally married to a foreign citizen, you may need an immigrant visa so that your wife or husband can legally enter the country and live with you without any immigration problems. In these cases, the first step is to apply for the US spouse visa, officially known as K3 visa.
By having this visa, your spouse will be able to travel with you to the United States, and thus initiate the necessary procedures to regularize their immigration status, and even in the future obtain U.S. citizenship through the bond he/she shares with you.
Although this process can be a bit confusing due to the different rules that the immigration law establishes to complete it, with the help of our family immigration lawyer you will have the opportunity to complete each step that is necessary, having the security of having a team of experts that will take care of every detail of your application to obtain the best results.
Work with our family immigration lawyer and let’s get your spouse on the road to receiving a K3 visa, which will allow he/she to legally enter the United States. Schedule an appointment now!
What is a K3 Visa?
In order to bring your spouse to live with you in the United States, as a citizen you must go through the proper process for your spouse to receive the immigrant visa that will allow him or her to settle in the country, and even to eventually be eligible to become a U.S. citizen through the bond with you.
However, after filing an immigrant visa application for your spouse, it may take a while for your petition to be approved, the same time in which you and your spouse would not be able to be together on U.S. soil.
It is precisely to shorten this waiting time that the K3 visa, or US Spouse Visa, exists, which is a non-immigrant visa that can be applied for outside the country, and which also allows your spouse to travel to the United States and stay with you while waiting for the approval of the immigrant visa.
Steps to apply for the US spouse K3 visa
The process of applying for a K3 Spouse Visa to bring your spouse to live in the United States requires several procedures to be completed initially by you, as a U.S. citizen, and then by your spouse at the U.S. consulate or embassy in the country where the marriage between the two of you has taken place.
Here we explain the process in 3 very simple steps: Here we explain the process in 3 very simple steps:
Step 1: Submitting requests
You, the sponsoring U.S. citizen, are required to first file Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), USA. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) office that covers the area where you live. USCIS will send a Notice of Receipt of Action (Form I-797) to inform you that it has received the petition.
Next, you must file Form I-129F, Petition for Alien Fiancé(e), for your spouse and stepchildren with foreign citizenship. After petitions are approved by USCIS, and will be sent to the National Visa Center (NVC) for being processed.
Step 2: Start the K3 Visa Application Process
On receipt of the approved I-129F petition by NVC prior to receipt of the I-130 petition, NVC will process the I-129F petition. Next, the NVC will send the I-129F petition to the United States. Embassy or Consulate in the country where the marriage was celebrated
The U.S. Embassy or Consulate in which you, the foreign spouse, will be submitting the application will provide you with specific directions, such as where to go for the necessary medical examination. Fingerprints without ink will be taken during your interview. Certain visa applicants may require additional administrative processing, which takes additional time after the visa applicant’s interview with a consular officer
Step 3: Wait the necessary time to receive the K3 visa
Once NVC has received your case from the U.S. Embassy or Consulate that will proceed, the time frame varies from case to case according to your individual circumstances. Some cases are often delayed by applicants who do not comply carefully with the instructions or provide incomplete information.
If you are issued a K-3 visa, the consular officer will give you your passport with the K-3 visa and a stamped envelope containing the civil documents you presented, along with other documents prepared by the U.S. Embassy or Consulate. It is recommended that you do not open the sealed envelope. This package should only be opened by the DHS immigration officer when you enter the United States.
Our family immigration lawyer can provide assistance with the U.S. Spouse Visa K3.
While the application process for a K3 spouse visa may be relatively simple, if you do not have the proper understanding of the immigration procedures and the process of issuing visas to travel to the United States, you are very likely to commit a mistake that will result in you not receiving a positive response to your application.
With the assistance of our family immigration lawyer, you can depend on the support of a team that not only knows in depth each of the procedures for applying for visas to travel and live in the United States but will also guide you through each stage of the process, so that you can receive the visa you require for your spouse to be allowed to legally enter the country. Schedule your appointment now!