samills610

Hello all

My first post after coming across BE whilst looking for further clarification.

I am a UK citizen and my fiancee a US citizen who has been in the UK for two years on a Tier 2 visa. We met at work shortly after she arrived, have been living together for almost a year, and are due to be married shortly in the new year.

Later in the year we are hoping to move to the US and so will need to apply for a CR1 Visa. We live in London so would file at the embassy here.

A couple of questions and points of clarification I have not been able to answer though, and would appreciate any advice please:

Because she has an extensive family (Italian heritage, so very large!) we would want to marry close to her home town. My family however, cannot afford to travel to visit the states at the moment, at least not in 2018. Because of this, we have decided to have our own wedding in the new year in London,with no friends or family present, a day just for us to celebrate rather than cause arguments over where to hold a wedding. For our 1 year anniversary (likely to be February 2019), my family will fly over and have a proper family party with both families present as well as some of our closest friends.

My concern though - when it comes to the interview, we will not have evidence of a traditional wedding with both families present, due to the circumstances. Will this likely cause issues in the visa application? Will they assume we have only married for the purpose of a visa? This will also not be helped by the very short time period between marrying and applying for the visa.

As well as living together, we share a bank account, have traveled extensively together during our relationship, and have on many occasions met each other's extended families. I have visited her family home in the US on two separate occasions in the past 14 months, and her family has visited the UK twice already. On the latter occasion they visited my family in the North of England and were guests in both of my parents' homes. I hope this would be of some assistance in proving our marriage is genuine, but can anybody comment?


Additionally, am I right in thinking that because she can not financially sponsor me (as she has not been earning in the US for two years now) then I will have to use an affidavit of support. Is there any issue that this person does not reside in the same state as we plan to emigrate to? Her family (and her mother, who would be my financial co-sponsor) live in CT where as we plan to reside in NY.


The reason for going CR1 rather than a K1 visa is to minimize the amount of time not working. We will ensure that she has a new job lined up before we travel but I will only start looking seriously once a visa is (hopefully) about to be obtained. I do not particularly want to spend 3-5 months waiting to be allowed to start working.


EDIT to add a couple of additional questions that I couldn't find on the forum:

What are the travel restrictions during the application process, and then once awaiting a green card when moving over? I presume I will be able to travel freely during the application as I will never physically hand over my passport? Does this mean I can also travel to the USA on my existing ESTA during this time? Once arriving and awaiting a green card (approximately a month on average I believe), am I able to leave and re-enter the USA?

Are there complications if my fiancee was to move back to the states before I do, at sometime between the time of submitting my application and taking part in an interview / obtaining a visa?


Thank you all, and look forward to keeping you updated with my own US visa application process over the next year.

S

Rete

Good morning and welcome to BE. As this is your first post on our wonderful site, I wanted to welcome you as you would be welcomed if you had introduced yourself in the Welcome Inn. You have already found the proper forum to post your questions and that is great. Just a little housekeeping duty here, please have a read of the site rules linked on the beige header above.

Congratulations on your engagement and your wedding in the near future.

Your plans are fine. You can marry anywhere you like as long as the marriage is considered valid by the US authorities. No one has to attend or it could be a large well attended venue, your choice.

Not a concern.

Shared finances are a perfect way to show that you have commingled your life both financially and I'm assuming you can substantiate that socially as well if asked. While neither are required as you will be newlyweds, the US Consulate will understand that evidence of the above will probably be very limited, if not non-existent.


Financial sponsorship is required by your wife and she will still need to complete the I-864. However, she, hopefully, has been filing US income tax returns. If not, she can do that now. Anyone who is a US Citizen and/or a US Legal Permanent Resident who lives in the US can be your joint financial sponsor and completes an I-864 as well. There is no requirement that they live near you or with you or that they are relatives or just friends or even an employer but only that they have the finances to sponsor you. Just make them aware of their responsibilities under the I-864 and how long the I-864 is enforceable if you do not work 40 quarters under social security or divorce your wife.


Thanks for explaining what your reasons why you have picked one visa over the other but knowing why is not relevant to us or the US Government. You might still not be working for 3 to 5 months once you arrive with a CR-1 visa. Depends on the type of work/skill you have, if there are jobs available and if you are hired.


Once you enter the US with an approved CR-1 visa you can leave the very same day if you wish. The information is all available on the forum and in our wiki located above. Your passport will be stamped with an I-551 which is the paper version of the green card and is normally good for one year. It gives you the right to live in the US, work in the US, and travel outside of the US borders and return as a legal resident.

She needs only to be legally residing in the UK at the time of filing the I-130 on your behalf.

S Folinsky

It is common for people to have a legal marriage in order to get the visa to later have the big wedding ceremony after immigrating.

Also, it is not uncommon for people with widely spread out families & friends to have a wedding followed by a second celebration. My own daughter did that (opposite coasts of the US).

Chins

I’ve just gone the CR-1 route.

I entered the USA a couple of times on my ESTA after embassy approval. Activated my visa when my wife came with me. We both left a few days later back to the UK. I’m about an hour out of Newark as I type this will be my 2nd trip without my wife. Flying to UK again on Thursday and back again on Sunday. Can’t miss Wasps vs Tigers 😀

When my passport was stamped the validity was changed to 2 years from 1.