Fiancee visa and working

[Ciza29]

Can a girl work in the US while she is here on a Fiancee Visa? How does it work?

[El Capitan]

Ciza,

Take a look at this CIS website, I think it'll answer most, if not all your questions as it relates to the K-1 Visa.

CIS "How Do I" Fiancee Visa Page

In short, she's eligible to apply for a work permit, but CIS will not guarantee that they'll get it processed before her 90 days is up.

[Ciza29]

Thanks that helped alot.

[Bala]

If you just want her to work in the U.S. while here under the 90-day K-1 Fiancee Visa (before marriage), according to Social Security Administration (SSA) and Immigration regulations, all you have to do is take her to the local Social Security office and they are required to provide her with a Social Security number and card good for work. In other words, she is automatically "work-authorized" for the 90 days of the K-1 Visa.

SEE SSA QUESTION AND ANSWER ON THEIR WEBSITE WHICH EXPLAINS THIS CLEARLY: (Answer ID 576, under Category "Social Security number and cards")
http://ssa-custhelp.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/...i=&p_topview=1

If you marry her, you must thereafter file her I-485 Adjustment of Status application for lawful residency, sometimes called "Green Card", and if you want to continue and extend her work authorization, you must file the I-765 Employment Authorization application and get her the EAD (Employment Authorization Document.)

Hope that clarifies the picture.

PS Sorry about the long string cite.
If you cannot get the page, then go to:
http://ssa-custhelp.ssa.gov
and look for their "Answers" page,
and look for Question 232 on Page 12.

[El Capitan]

Thanks Gary, that answered a few of my questions as well.

[Zorro]

Anyone have a feel for how long the wait is for a fiancee visa these days?

My Fiancee's VISA took 3 months to be approved by the Vermont service center. She just received the paperwork from Bogota last Tuesday so her interview should be scheduled for about a month from now. From what I heard if your application is processed at the California Service center it is taking 2-3 times longer than Vermont, 6 months or more.

[FredRichard]

The priority date for my wife's CR-1 visa is July 25, 2005. She's still in Medellin waiting on her CR visa (green card). On August 24, 2006 we did receive notice that the application has finally been sent to Bogota.

My service center was Texas, but the application was forwarded to California. I did the application myself, and as far as I know there were no mistakes. Neither Homeland Security or the State Department ever asked me to re-do any document. The visa was granted by Homeland security in California in about 6 months (as expected), but it then disappeared. It was never forwarded to the State Department as it should have been. From January to April of this year it appeared the application was lost. In late April my congressman got involved and evidently he helped move it along to the NVS (State department).

I've never been told what caused the delay. Perhaps her name or mine appeared in a database search. I don't know. The difficult part was trying to communicate with the USCIS center in California. Their telephone system is horrible. I was given wrong information several times by their representatives. On the other hand, the State Department's NVS seems much better organized. The telephone representatives are respectful and seem to be well-informed. Also the NVS actually has an e-mail system that works. It takes a few days for the responses but they do come. It's not a black hole.

[Clay]

Mine took 7 months.
Gary you should be a judge by now.

[Zorro]

How long does it take to establish residency in Vermont? Looking at Gary Bala's website, it seems Vermont leads the rest of the country by far in processing speed. Looking at Fred's example above, he could have probably taken the time to establish residency in Vermont and then file to bring his fiancee here... and have had her here much faster than going through the Texas Center. I'm joking, but I'm not joking. The system IS a joke; it's so inefficient.