Filipina and the IR1 Visa

United States Citizen Filing a IR petition (I-130) for a IR1 Visa

A spouse of a United States Citizen is considered an Immediate relative (IR) and can immediately apply for an immigrant visa. Sounds like a great thing, right? It sounds good but below you will find out why it is not usually so great. The American must file a I-130 petition at the appropriate USCIS office in the United States. An American can possibly file the petition at the Embassy in Manila, but that is only if his place of residence is still in the United States. I have not received any feedback lately, but if it were be I would just wait until I returned home from my trip and then file. Men in the military can of course file from where they are stationed overseas and do not have to file from home.

Children (under age 21 and not married) of the Filipino spouse are also have (IR) status and can receive an IR visa if individual
petitions are filed for them by the U.S. Citizen spouse.

I did not have to deal with the child issue when I petitioned Melinda to come to the United States. I could not have imagined asking her children behind in the Philippines and having to go through the filing process again. Then you also have the added expense of travel. That is why when there are children involved you really have to ask yourself if you like children, and are you willing to love them and accept them as your own. Do not think you are doing them a favor by bringing them to the United States, and that the children will just live happily ever after with no support from you. Please, if you do not like children then choose a spouse without any children. It is not fair to place them in an environment where they are not welcome. Your spouse will probably end up regretting her decision to marry you and get a divorce.

Once an I-130 petition is approved, the National Visa Center (NVC) in the United States notifies the petitioner and provides guidance on how the Filipino spouse and children can apply for IR1 and IR2 visas respectively.

The National Visa Center (NVC) queues the applicant (your wife) for an interview and sends your information to the Embassy in Manila. The NVC will also notify your wife when she will go for her medical exam an visa interview. It can take 6 to 24 months for this process and from what I have been told it is closer to the 24 months. This in itself makes the IR1 process very unattractive to mainy folks. In most cases it seems more logical to me to petition for the K3 visa. I am sure there are certian circumstances when the IR1 is the only or best option, but for trhe majority of people the time involved is just too long. A lot of things can happen in 2 years and it just seems unbelievable to me that the NVC and the U.S. Embassy cannot do any better than 24 months. I wonder is this is by design?

The USCIS website offers more information on how to petition alien spouses to live in the United States.