K1 visa and K3 visas process in about the same amount of time. When you hear about differences in processing, it's because the K3 cases that require an I-130 Relative visa processing, are often screwed up by whoever does the case. The do-it-yourselfers screw up the filings and therefore take longer.
The information below is generally correct. However, the USCIS often causes extraordinary delays in their "empire building" process. Watch our Latest News for notices on such extraordinary delays.
The overall timelines (from petition filing to visa interview) range from 6 to 10 months or more, and depend on immigration priorities, and filing errors. The overall typical processing time is 7 1/2 to 8 months when cases are filed properly. Occasionally a case may get done in 6 months or even just a tad under. But those are acceptions, like when a "priority" has just finished.
Priorities vary from month to month and are set by the U.S. Dept. of State. The priorities are always temporary and the extra help is "borrowed" from the K1, K3, and a few other processing lines, thus causing added delays in those areas until the priority is completed. So there's no way to know how long a case will take, and can only be speculated or guessed at, providing a person knows which Consulate has what kind of priorities (and the "present" phase that the USCIS "Transformation" is in).
To better understand the whole process, read this.
The major processing time difference between a K1 visa and a K3 visa is that an I-130 Relative visa petition must be filed first before a K3 visa petition can be filed.
This delay adds to the apparent longer time for the K3 visa. When done right, we are talking a maximum of 6 weeks longer for the K3 visa. This can be cut down to a 2 to 3 week difference. The major problem is getting the I-129F form filled out right - where many people answer 3 questions wrong, which cause delays beyond that of a K1 visa.
The K3 visa has some distinct advantages. Read about the K3 benefits in the benefits section. For many, that's a great advantage. If you want to cut your risk of a spouse running off in two years.
Do NOT take someone elses word for what they say. Do NOT take the word of USCIS - they don't know! Only the U.S. Dept. of State, knows, particularly, the Bureau of Consular Affairs. You can also check with your Congressman's office as they have inside backlines to check these out. Get it from the horses mouth, not hearsay! Neither the Bureau of Consular Affairs nor your Congressman's office have a financial interest or reason to lie to you!!
There are a number of stages at which delays take place and neither of them have a short-cut because they are regulated by law, USCIS regulations, and Bureau of Consular Affairs regulations. Not even the president can change these without an Act of Congress.
If anyone tells you that you can get your honey here in less than 6 months they are either ignorant or liars. It's not legally or physically possible without doing a Concurrent filing. AILA reports show the top 3 lawyers who are consistantly the fastest. One is Apex, and the other 2 are NOT on the Internet and have a regional practice (that's why they are not on the internet). We rank between 1 and 3 in the monthly report. Sometimes 1st, sometimes 3rd. But all within weeks of each other. All others rank lower.
The fastest way to get a visa processed is to avoid any extra delays (which is extremely easy to do). We at Apex, hug the government regulated time profile tighter than anyone, and do not have any extraordinary delays, like crossing into the fraud profile, supplying unacceptable support documents, giving the right answers to the questions on the forms, and a lot of other seemingly trivial details that cause delays of 2 to 6 months extra time, which is VERY common in most self-done and lawyer assisted cases.
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