A Difficult Choice for Immigrant Fiancés
Couples in love want to be together. This is a fact as obvious as the fact that water runs downhill. When a U.S. citizen is engaged to a foreign national, there are two options for uniting with their potential spouse. The first is to obtain a K-1 visa (fiancé visa) and the second is to get married and then obtain a green card through marriage for the foreign spouse. Naturally, couples will want to choose the option that allows for them to be together as soon as possible. However, certain conditions and requirements do not necessarily make one faster than the other. When the U.S. citizen half of the couple lives in the U.S. (which is most often the case), it may be a better option to apply for a K-1 visa, which means petitioning for the visa with a form I-129f. The other option is to travel to the home country of their spouse and get married there. This, however, can be expensive-not to mention a logistical nightmare when planning a wedding in one's hometown can be difficult, expensive, and stressful by itself. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) is currently taking about five months to process I-129f forms. Though this is almost a moot point as USCIS is taking approximately the same amount of time to process I-130 forms which is the petition form for a green card through marriage.

Wait Times and Requirements Vary from Country to Country
Furthermore, wait times and requirements vary from country to country and consulate to consulate. The average five month waiting period only applies to the time it takes USCIS to process the petition. After processing is finished, USCIS sends the paperwork to a consulate in the country of origin of the foreign spouse. There is then a wait time for that consulate to process the paperwork. Some consulates take longer to process a K-1 visa application than they take to process an application for a green card for a foreign spouse-and vice versa. Depending on the consulate that applies to one's particular situation, it may be advisable to research wait times in their city's consulate. This can be done by emailing the consulate and asking them their average wait times for each type of application. Also, some relevant information can be found on the U.S. embassy website.

Best Options
If the U.S. citizen half of the couple lives outside of the U.S., it is probably faster to get married in their current resident country and then apply for the green card for foreign spouse, form I-130. Every consulate, again, has different requirements. For example, a consulate may require that the U.S. spouse live in the country they are filing from for at least six months. Clearly, there is no easy answer to the question of which method is faster. A certain amount of research is required to find which option best fits the couple's unique situation and to proceed based on their findings. Though some comfort may be found in the old saying: Love will find a way.