US Immigration 2010: The CR-1 Visa
The Immigrant visa process for obtaining a CR-1 Visa will probably not experience a great deal of change in 2010. That being said, some proposed legislation currently pending in the US Congress could impact all aspects of US Immigration law. The following article explores this issue.
The CR-1 visa (Conditional Resident Visa) is a travel document often utilized by Immigrant spouses of United States Citizens who wish to reunite with their American counterpart to take up lawful permanent residence in America. Currently, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) is estimating that it takes 5 months for to adjudicate an I-130 application (the application used when applying for a CR-1 visa). This shouldn't be mistakenly viewed as the entire time it takes to obtain this visa as CR-1 visa applications must process through the National Visa Center (NVC), this can be a very time intensive phase of the process. Also, a US visa applicant will need to process their application and have a visa interview at a United States Consulate or Embassy abroad. A good estimate of the time line of the entire process is 11-12 months from initial application submission until final decision.
Another issue with regard to the overall legal disposition of an immigrant present in the United States on a CR-1 visa is that of conditionality of residence. Anyone who is admitted to the United States in CR-1 status must subsequently file an application for a lift of conditions at some point. A lift of conditions is necessary as CR-1 visa holders are only granted 2 years of lawful permanent residence upon admission to the United States at a Customs and Border Protection checkpoint. Once conditions are lifted the immigrant is an unconditional lawful permanent resident. This means that their residence is indefinite so long as they remain in the territorial confines and/or immigration jurisdiction of the United States of America as defined in the United States Immigration and Nationality Act. In 2009, great strides were made to facilitate lifting of conditions for widows and widowers of United States Citizens.
Although there is a proposed rule that would raise fees for K visa interviewees. At present, there doesn't seem to be any pending legislation that would significantly increase the government fees in connection with immigrant family visa applications. That being said, there is always the possibility that fees will be raised in the future, but any effort to make guesses about fee increases would be an exercise in mere speculation.
Comprehensive Immigration Reform may have a direct impact upon the CR-1 visa process. At the present time, the United States Congress is discussing a bill that may dramatically overhaul the current US immigration system. How this will affect the CR-1 visa process remains to be seen, but there is no doubt that the future of United State Immigration law will be dynamic and probably different from the legislation currently on the books.
(The above information is for general research and educational purposes only. No attorney/client relationship is formed by reading this article. For individualized legal advice please contact a licensed attorney.)
