Fiance Visa Processing Time 2020

How long does the fiance visa process take in 2020?

There are several factors that influence how long a given fiance visa case will take.  These include overall case filings, which country your fiance resides in, and whether the case has been prepared properly.

For many years, for most people, the total time it would take to make it through the USCIS stage, the National Visa Center Stage and the embassy stage was between 5-9 months.  

However, during the Trump administration the total time to process a fiance visa case was longer.  Most properly filed fiance visa cases were making it through all 3 stages in the 8 to 10 month range.

In March USCIS stopped doing fiance visa interviews.  As a result we do not really know how long the current cases will take to finalize.  We also do not know how long newly filed cases will take to make it through the entire process.

If no additional staff is hired at the embassies and USCIS takes the stance that they will be doing business as usual then we would expect fiance visa cases to be delayed.  How long?  That is difficult to say.  Our best guess would be 3-4 months.  However, the delay could definitely be longer. There has been no official announcement from USCIS as to how they plan to proceed.

We would suggest that if you wish to pursue a fiance visa case to file it now.  Waiting to file your fiance visa case will not make it process faster. Make sure that everything is done correctly as the last thing you want to receive from USCIS in this current climate is a Request For Evidence.

You never know.  USCIS may change its policies and allow interviews to be handled over zoom or a different more efficient way where backlogged interviews could be cleared out.  They could also hire more officers or come up with a solution which would allow the backlog of cases, and upcoming cases, to be finalized sooner than expected.  We will find out shortly.

If you would like to learn more information about the fiance visa process please read this article: https://www.visa4you.info/practice-areas/fiancee-visa-attorney/top-10-things-you-should-know-about-the-fiance-visa-process/ or watch this video

Lawrence Gruner is an immigration attorney in downtown Sacramento California. His office handles fiance visa cases, green card cases and U.S. Citizenship cases worldwide. He would be happy to talk to you about your case. You may reach him at 888-801-6558 or at attorneygruner@gmail.com