The Fiance Visa Processing and Wait Time

One of things that I wish we’d known when Abby, my wife (fiancee at the time) and I decided to get our K1 Fiance Visa was roughly how long the entire K1 Fiance Visa processing time would take in total, as well as the fiance visa wait time for each individual stage.  Of course, one can never predict an exact timescale for any application as it varies according to how busy the authorities are at any one time.  Plus security concerns and events such as terrorism and organized crime may occur and may lead to a slowdown in the K1 Fiance Visa processing time in some or all areas.  Note therefore that all I can give is my own personal experience and timescale.  Having said that, however, I don’t believe that my own experience was untypical.

(NOTE: If you want to see a simple and straightforward breakdown, showing all the relevant dates, see my K1 Fiance Visa timeline)

Preliminaries

I am not going to go too much into the period before Abby and I sent in our first form, the I129 F, but obviously we spent time making sure that we met the requirements of the K1 visa (such as my wife being a US citizen and us both being in a bona fide relationship) and also collecting all the necessary evidence to send in with our I129 F and related forms.

Stage 1: The I129 F Petition

Abby sent in her I129 F Petition in March.  We weren’t prepared for the long wait time that occurs with K1 Fiance Visa processing at first and naively hoped that they would process the fiancé visa quickly.  We then got frustrated when nothing seemed to happen for a long time.  However, after just over a three month long wait, Abby received her I797, telling her that the petition had been accepted and our documents were being forwarded to the US National Visa Centre.

Stage 2: The National Visa Centre

The National Visa Centre did whatever they do with our documents then contacted the US Embassy in London, as I’m a British citizen and was living in England at the time.  About a month after Abby received her I797, the K1 Fiance Visa Application Forms were sent out to me, or rather I was told where to get them on the internet.  It took me over two weeks to gather my evidence and submit the forms.  I had already done some preparations, however, getting documents such as my Police Certificate together well in advance.

Stage 3: The K1 Fiance Visa Medical

When I received the letter about the K1 Fiance Visa, I was also informed that I needed to book my K1 medical exam and given instructions on how I should go about this.  It’s best to have it done at least 4 or 5 days before the K1 Fiance Visa, so that they have time to process the medical documents and send them on to the US Embassy in London.

Stage 4 The K1 Fiance Visa Interview

My K1 Fiance Visa interview took place towards the end of October.  I arrived at the US Embassy in London early and spent the entire morning there, not leaving until around 1pm.  Everything went well, although there was a lot of waiting around involved and you are not allowed to take any electronic devices such as mobile phones or ipods inside.  You can read a more detailed account of how my interview went here.

Stage 5: The K1 Fiance Visa was delivered by courier

My K1 Fiance Visa arrived in early November, five days after the visa interview at the US Embassy in London.  All in all, the entire K1 Fiance Visa processing time from start to finish for me had taken nearly 8 months.

I was in Florida for Christmas!

You can read a full overview of my K1 Fiance Visa experience here.