r/F2A_Consular

Hi everyone, I’m looking for advice from people who have recently gone through F2A/IR consular processing from India.

My situation:

- My girlfriend is expected to receive her US Green Card in September 2026.

- I currently live in India.

- We plan to marry around late 2026.

- After marriage, she can file I-130 for me under F2A.

- If she later becomes a US citizen, my case could potentially convert from F2A to Immediate Relative (IR).

I’m confused about whether I should:

Option 1: Marry and file F2A immediately, then continue with F2A/consular processing.

Option 2: Wait until she becomes a US citizen and proceed as IR.

Current F2A timelines seem to vary significantly, especially for applicants in India.

Questions:

1. What is the realistic current timeline for F2A consular processing from India (I-130 → NVC → interview → US entry)?

2. If we file F2A and she later naturalizes, how smoothly does the F2A → IR conversion happen?

3. Does filing F2A now give me any significant advantage compared with waiting?

Would really appreciate experiences from people who have actually gone through F2A from India recently.

Approval received today 12 Aug 2026.

Lodged expedite request 25 May 2026, eventually “timed out” and was closed automatically by the system on 13 July 2026 without being reviewed/looked at (or so I was told by USCIS over the phone).

Lodged congressional inquiry 26 May 2026.

Re-lodged expedite request over the phone on 13 July 2026.

Received an email 5 August 2026 advising “Your request to expedite your case will not be submitted because you do not currently have the required evidence to support the need for an expedite.”

No further updates from congressman, USCIS constantly providing different/unhelpful info over the phone, then randomly received approval update today.

Wasn’t expecting this as everything else seemed to be falling on deaf ears, so not sure what actually happened as I haven’t seen any other approvals close to my PD at all?

How are the interviews in Rio? They really are on September 2025 for all this time, or cases after this date have already been scheduled?

I´ve seen so many warnings about visiting a lot but that´s exactly the issue, how much is "a lot?"

Could you please tell me about your experience?

I find it a little unfair to be waiting such a long process and on top of that to be worried about a subjective "visiting amount permission" Tourist visa allows you 180 days in the US but then if you actually stay for longer than 2 weeks it´s damaging your case?

usually my husband visits me more often but he can only stay for 5 days bc of his job. i could visit him in the US for longer time but dont want to risk anything about our process or my tourist visa.