My wife and I married on January 2025. I filed the petition — the spousal visa for immediate relatives — as soon as I could. We received approval. We waited.
The visa process, under any administration, takes time. Typically 12-24 months from petition to visa issuance. Under the current administration, processing times extended further. Communication became less predictable. The National Visa Center moved slower.
We received the visa early spring 2026. Just under fifteen months from our wedding. Just over twelve months from when I went to Kenya to be with her.
What the process costs beyond money: a pregnancy in Nairobi instead of in America. Medical appointments managed between two healthcare systems. Plans made and remade around uncertainty. The psychological cost of a bureaucratic process that holds your life in a queue.
If you are preparing for this process, go in with realistic timelines and a specific plan for the waiting period. Know which country you will wait in and why. Know what you will do if the timeline extends. The system will not care about your pregnancy, your parents' health, or your job offer. Plan accordingly.
Gabriel Mahia writes from the intersection of U.S. federal infrastructure and East African operational reality. This essay is part of a series written after twelve months in Kenya, April 2025 – April 2026.
◆ YEAR IN KENYA SERIES
This essay is part of the Year in Kenya series — twelve months in Nairobi, April 2025 to April 2026.
The analytical home for the series is gabrielmahia.com, where Gabriel writes on power, institutions, and what holds under pressure. The full reading order — essays across five properties — is at the Year in Kenya series page.
◆ Year in Kenya — Field Series 2025–2026
Twelve months in Nairobi waiting on a a spousal visa, watching Kenya's Gen Z protests, Tanzania's 2025 election, and an American political realignment simultaneously — from the position of someone inside neither country and reading both.