Many people are familiar with the K1 fiance visa, but the K3 visa is less familiar. The K3 visa was established in 2000 as part of the Life Act. The K3 visa allows the spouse of a U.S. Citizen who has an approved or pending I-130 immigrant visa petition to obtain a non-immigrant visa and enter the U.S.

This visa was created because even though there are no numerical caps for visas for spouses of U.S. Citizens the processing time can take more than 1 year. Congress created the K3 visa in order to unite U.S. Citizens and their spouses faster. This was a good thought; however, it makes little sense to me why Congress would think a K3 visa would be processed any faster than a I-130 as both are processed by the same dysfunctional organization.

Take a look at this processing time report from the USCIS. Currently, the California Service Center is processing K3 visas which it received on October 8, 2007. It is currently processing I-130 petitions that it received on August 19, 2007. So, according to this report, the current difference in processing time between a standard immigrant visa petition and a K3 is less than 2 months.

The I-130 will probably take a bit longer to process than the K3 once it leaves the USCIS but probably not much. In my experience, worst case scenario, the I-130 will take about 3-4 months longer to process than the K3.

Three to four months is a long time for a couple to be apart, but these extra few months can be very costly if a couple decides to apply for a K3. This is because a K3 applicant will enter the U.S. as a non-immigrant and then must adjust status to a lawful permanent resident upon approval of the I-130. The current filing for for an adjustment of status petition is about $1000 and this does not include the filing fee for a work permit or travel document which most people will want since the AOS petition will take at least 12 months to process. Those items will add another $700 to the process. The K3 petition filing fee is free if the I-130 is filed by the same U.S. Citizen. Thus, the end result is that the chance for the couple to be united 3-4 months earlier will cost over $1700.

The last time I filed a K3 petition it wasn't approved until after the beneficiary was in the U.S. on an improved I-130 non-immigrant visa. I understand the intent of the K3, but in my experience its a costly waste of time.