Korean Job Discussion Forums

[DjKniteX]

I'm over here in the US and my GF will finish her degree this year and was wondering what would be the easiest way to bring her here?

I read that people who get married in Korea (I will be here during my 2 weekt rip) can go to the US and then fill out immigration forms then or should I play it safe and invest into the K1 visa and wait 6 months?

[bucheon bum]

The K-1 visa might take longer than 6 months. For us, it took nearly a year from the time we sent in the application to the day she arrived here in the US. 4 months of that was due to USCIS losing track of our file/case, but even if you take that out of the equation, it would have been about 8 months. Right now, the process is a bit quicker than that, but since all applications are going through the California Service Center now, it might become slower in the near future.

Getting married in Korea, then coming to the USA via VWP and then adjusting for status (what you describe as the immigration forms) is technically illegal. You have to file for a IR-1/CR-1 visa and go that route. The upside to that is it is cheaper than the K-1 visa (which is $340 for the initial application, then $165 for the visa itself, then $1070 for the green card application). It takes around a year though, from what I've read. The upside is once she arrives in the USA, she can immediately work and will have a green card.

One other option is for your gf to fly to the USA and you two get married there. She would then file an adjustment of status after that. Arguably illegal since one is not supposed to enter the USA via VWP with the intention to immigrate, but if you can come up with a story, you should be OK.

[DjKniteX]

Might just go the K1 route to be safe. When should I do the green card application? As soon as we get married? Or is there a time limit?

[bucheon bum]