Immigration Update

Upon receiving word that the USCIS planned to change their immigration system, I decided to immerse myself in the new rules until I could be certain of what the new system entails. According to the USCIS, all immigration visas must now be processed through the USCIS office at the address of the Chicago Lockbox. This took affect August 15, 2011. The USCIS claims that using this system will create a faster system by which applicants may hear back from the immigration services regarding their visa statuses. Unless the USCIS has recently hired hundreds of new employees to fill their offices, I don’t see how this is possible, but the USCIS claims that the processing time should now be, on average, 5 months per case. In some countries, one may be allowed to file from the USCIS office in that country; however, there are not many countries that have a USCIS office. The following countries are the only countries in the world to currently have a USCIS office:

Vienna, Austria – Beijing, China – Havana, Cuba – Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic – San Salvador, El Salvador – Frankfurt, Germany – Accra, Ghana –
Athens, Greece – Guatemala City, Guatemala – Port-au-Prince, Haiti – Tegucigalpa, Honduras – New Delhi, India – Rome, Italy – Kingston, Jamaica – Amman, Jordan – Nairobi, Kenya – Ciudad Juarez & Mexico City & Monterrey, Mexico – Panama City, Panama – Lima, Peru – Manila, Philippines – Moscow, Russia – Johannesburg, South Africa – Seoul, South Korea – Bangkok, Thailand – London, England

Basically what that means is that if you have not been residing in any of the above countries for 6 months – 1 year (depending on the qualifications of that country), you will need to apply for a visa with the Chicago USCIS office. Your application, after reaching the USCIS office in Chicago will then be sent to one of the four USCIS Service Centers in the US for processing.

For those of you wishing to bring your Egyptian fiancé or spouse to the US, I have devised this guide for your convenience:

You must first decide if you are going to apply for a visa for your fiancé or spouse from the US, or from Egypt. If starting the process in the US, you will go through a series of paperwork, and any interviews needed of your Egyptian counterpart will be handled directly with the Egyptian citizen and will take place at the US Embassy in Cairo, in the Egyptian Citizen Services section. If filing from Egypt, you must be aware that the processing time will most likely take longer now, as sending mail between the US and Egypt is not only expensive, but also very time-consuming.

The number one thing to remember during the process is to follow the instructions of filing the visa application very carefully. One wrong move and you could be setting yourself a month or two behind schedule.

You will also have to decide if you would prefer to apply for a spousal visa, or a fiancé visa. Some say that fiancé visas are granted within a shorter period of time, though I have been told from the head of the US Consulate in Cairo that fiancé visas are given less priority, and are therefore usually the slower process of the two. According to USCIS, both processes take the same amount of time.

The Difference between a fiancé visa and a spousal visa:

A fiancé visa is a form that petitions that your fiancé be allowed to travel to the US for you to marry. The requirements state that you must have met in person at least once in the last two years and that you must marry within 90 days of your fiancés arrival to the US. If you do not marry within that time frame, your fiancé is required to return to their country, or they will be in violation of immigration laws and will be legally removed. This visa not only allows your fiancé to travel to the US for you two to marry, but it also allows them (after you marry), to remain with you in the US during the processing time of the immigration visa. The down side to this visa is that it is less trustworthy than the spousal visa, meaning that more fiancé visa applications are denied than spousal ones. Because the fiancé visa requires (after you and your fiancé have married in the US) the spousal forms in addition to the K-1 forms (the fiancé forms), the process of bringing a fiancé to the US is usually more expensive than bringing your spouse.

A spousal visa is a form that petitions that your spouse be allowed to travel to the US with the status of a permanent resident. This means that even though the process is more complicated at first, your spouse will arrive in the US, having already been approved to receive their green card. The upside to this visa is that because the marriage process has already been dealt with, you will usually end up paying less, and the granting of the visa is more likely.

For current processing times, you may refer to the table generator provided by the USCIS, though you should note that the processing time is really the allotted time before you are legally allowed to complain about the length of the process, so it is possible, and even likely that the process may take months longer than that. I have known of people who have gone through the process in four months, and those who have waited two years.

Unfortunately, the process that I went through personally is now unavailable. I lived in Egypt for six months, and then filed for my husband’s immigrant visa (I-130) from the US Embassy in Cairo. Because of the new laws by which the US has decided to alter their immigration system, this is no longer an option.

I understand that the process is very complicated, so if you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me at my provided e-mail address to the right. If you would suggest that I expand on a certain area regarding this topic, you may leave your request in the comments below, and I will gladly update this blog entry, or create a new one with your requested specifics.

Good luck