In the past, spouses of U.S. citizens had to submit an application for a visa from outside the U.S. and wait for their green card to be approved before they could travel to the country. This could be quite upsetting if there was long delay in waiting for the approval and, especially if there were children involved, and it put quite a strain on the family. The K3 visa category has changed all this, now spouses are allowed to enter the U.S. whilst waiting for a nonimmigrant visa category and then are able to apply for lawful permanent residence status. The whole procedure generally takes around six months.
The advantages of applying for a K3 visa is that the process is normally faster than the length of time it takes for marriage-based immigration visa petitions. Your spouse is permitted to look for work and apply for a work permit. As long as your children are under the age of 21 and they were named in the visa petition, they are allowed to travel to the U.S. with you on a K4 dependent visa. Once they reached the legal age they are allowed to seek work too. Before a K-4 visa can be applied for a child, the parent must hold a K-3 visa or be in K-3 status.
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