Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are positing the question what is the Immigrant Spouse Visa process for an American citizen going to look like in 2023. We are talking about the CR-1 or the IR-1 Visa specifically with respect to this video. These are Immigrant Spouse Visas. For those who are unaware, they confer Immigrant status to those who enter the United States, in a sense the Lawful Permanent Residence is vested at the moment of entry. It's a pretty solid Visa, in fact of all the family based visas, it confers the most benefits upon entry compared to the other visa categories for example the K-3 or the K-1. Now downsides being you have got to be married, that may not be possible depending on the circumstances so some folks will opt for the K-1 Fiancé Visa.

The other thing is yeah it is a longer processing time presently than most other types of family-based visas that we deal with, so things like the K visas, the K -1 Fiancé Visa. Unfortunately, the Immigrant Spouse Visa is just a little bit slower right now mostly because you have got to deal with the National Visa Center whenever you are processing those cases. My opinion is the National Visa Center isn't the easiest bureaucracy in the world to deal with. Quite honestly I often wonder what their purpose is other than to slow things down and sort of be generally obtuse. 

But long story short, do I think there's going to be any major changes with respect to CR-1 and IR-1 Visa processing going into 2023? Not really. I think there will probably be some changes, both positive and probably negative in certain ways. Most notably I do hope more than think but I do think as well, that they will get on top of the old backlog issues associated with the COVID shut down, so exactly what things will look like with respect to Immigrant Spouse Visas for 2023 remains to be seen but I will say that I am rather cautiously optimistic.