Our law firm is currently in negotiations regarding what we believe to be the improper policy by the US State Department to close K3/K4 Visa petitions under certain circumstances. The State Department notice is as follows:
Important Notice: Effective February 1st, 2010, when both the I-129F petition for a nonimmigrant K visa and the I-130 petition for an IR-1 (or CR-1) spouse of a U.S. citizen visa have been approved by USCIS and sent to the National Visa Center (NVC), the availability as well as the need for a nonimmigrant K-3 visa ends. If the NVC receives both petitions:
- The nonimmigrant K visa will be administratively closed.
- The application process explained below will not be applicable and cannot be used.
- The NVC will contact the petitioner and you with instructions for processing your IR-1 (or CR-1) immigrant visa. For more information on the immigrant visa process review the Immigrant Visa for a Spouse webpage.
According to this notice, spousal visas are still available. However, the K3 visa petition will be closed in favor of spousal CR visa processing. In our experience, CR visa processing has its advantages, but also some disadvantages. We believe the State Department should not be at liberty to administratively close K3 visas without adjudication at the consulate abroad. We contacted the State Department legal advisory office with our comments. You may review here:
Response From Allan S. Lolly
Feb 22, 2010 (pdf)
State Department attorneys responded, explaining reasons for case closures, and we replied. You may review the exchanges here:
State Department Email Exchange
March 3-10, 2010
Negotiations are ongoing in an attempt to resolve matters informally and amicably.
To Mr. Allan Lolly
Thank you for your on-going work in providing hard to find information on immigration issues. For myself and the readers of my blog, we agree with your objection to the U.S. Department of State (DOS) administrative closure of the K3 visa. This issue greatly affects my U.S. readers and there family members now waiting in China.
I hope to draw attention to this post and the possible consequences of the CR or IR visa as apposed to the use of the K3 visa. There are still questions surrounding the statement " If the (NVC) does not receive your I-130 petition and I-129F at the same time, the (NVC) will process your I-129F petition". So, If the K3 visa is closed, what does this mean?
In the past, after receiving a receipt notice on the I-130, the K3 petitioner would then file the I-129F. Being they are not filed together or at the same time, what happens now?. If the I-129F gets approved first and is forwarded to the U.S. Consulate overseas, will it be dropped in the process if the I-130 gets approved later and before a foreign spouses interview?
This also brings into question the G-325A. At the bottom of this form it asks, "This form is submitted in connection with an application for: (1) Status as Permanent Resident or (2) Other. In the past for a K3, other was always answered as: Spouses K3 Visa.
What will happen now? We don't know if (NVC) will forward an I-130 or an I-129F. Does it come down to pots luck in the hands of (NVC).
Respectfully,
Randy Marsh