leema5

I would appreciate some advice from anyone who can help. Some background:

We are in the process of DCF via London. I am the UK citizen and my wife is the US citizen. I have just submitted my DS-260 online so the next step is booking an interview.

I did a teaching exchange to the US on a J1 visa which ended in May 2014. I then worked overseas for 18 months. I am now in the UK to fulfill the 2 year home residency requirement which will be done by October 2017. My wife is in the UK on a spouse visa. We have been married less than 2 years but will have been married for 2 years by the time we move to the US.

What I am hoping someone can advise us on is the type of visa I will be granted when I land in the US. If I interview in October and am approved at interview, I know it will be for a CR-1visa. We plan on flying to the US in April of 2018 and by that time we will have been married by 2 years. Will they change the visa from CR to IR when I land?

I've read on forums that people have expected this to happen but when the GC arrived, it was still a CR-1.

Should I go ahead and interview in October or wait until the following April when we will have been already married 2 years?

It might also seem that we have started the process too early when my 2 years won't be filfilled until October but we went into panic mode on November 8th (we are a same-sex couple) and sent off the I-130 pretty much the next day.

Many thanks :-)
LC

Pulaski

Honestly the difference between a CR-1 and an IR-1 isn't worth worrying a whole lot about. I arrived in the US on a CR-1 but it would have been an IR-1 if I had arrived 15 weeks later.

If you arrive in the US after your second wedding anniversary then you should be admitted as an IR-1 even though everything up to that point was heading to a CR-1. I don't what would happen if you tried to challenge the decision to process you as a CR-1, either at the port of entry, or subsequently.

I certainly wouldn't recommend delaying the whole process for six months just (only) to make sure you get a CR-1.

leema5

Thanks for the swift reply. I will go ahead and book my medical and interview for October then.

Thanks 😀

Pulaski

You're welcome.

Noorah101

You can delay the visa interview if you need to finish fulfilling the 2 year HRR. I don't think they can approve the visa at your interview if the HRR isn't finished.

Rene

leema5

Thanks Rene. My 2 years will be done in October so that is why we are planning for then. I don't think I can book my interview until I have a medical booked and I can only book the medical a month in advance so it's back to waiting for now.

Pulaski

So long as the HRR requirement is completed before the visa is issued, which even by the most optimistic measure would be five months after submitting the original application, then the HRR will have zero impact on the timing of entering the US.

leema5

I won't be entering the US before the April. I will time the medical and interview so that we can fly over during the first week in April and still be inside the 6 month date from the medical.

We are both teachers so the plan is to go in April during school break and then come back for the remainder of the school term to tie everything up and ship our things before going back at the beginning of July permanently.

civilservant

I believe if you are admitted under the wrong category there is a procedure for having your visa re stamped if you return to secondary. I read about it once but honestly can't find it now. If CBP make an error it should be correctable.

leema5

I think if I enter on a CR-1, I will just need to go through AOS when the time comes. Thanks for the info though.

ian-mstm

What? You don't need to do AOS. Where on earth did you read that - because it's completely wrong? If you enter on a CR-1 visa there is no AOS. You become a US permanent resident the day you enter and get a green card... so there is no need to adjust your status - which is what AOS means! Adjustment of status!

What you do need to do, however, is remove the conditions on your status in the 90-day window immediately prior to the 2nd anniversary of the "resident since" date on your green card. However... that's almost 2 years after you enter the US - and certainly not something you need to be concerned about right now.

Ian

leema5

Thank you everyone for your replies.

I mistakenly posted AOS instead of removal of conditions. Thank you for the clarification. I was definitely referring to removal of conditions and the advice I was asking for originally was whether it would be better to wait until we had been married two years before interviewing and entering on an IR-1 for absolutely no other reason other than it would exclude the need for any other paperwork further down the road.

With regards to the 6 months between the medical and entering the US, if I interview at the end of October and fly at the beginning of April - I will be within the 6 months. The reason we wouldn't be going over until April is because of it being school holidays as I previously posted - we are both teachers and would prefer to finish the school year. The likelihood is that I won't be in the US over the Christmas break because we will be going during both the summer holidays and also early October.

We would prefer not to stay in the UK until my wife becomes a citizen because our plan was always to relocate to the US after we had finished working overseas. In fact, we were planning on relocating last year because I foolishly thought working overseas would help me fulfil the 2 years. My wife came to the UK on a spouse visa so we wouldn't need to be apart. The process of going through that and the paperwork involved was extremely stressful so my only reason for thinking that an IR-1 would be better, would be to avoid further paperwork after we have moved there.

Again, thanks for all of your input. I appreciate it.

Noorah101

If you have the ability to enter the USA after your 2nd wedding anniversary, sure, do that. Otherwise, it's not that big of a deal to remove conditions 2 years later.

Regarding entering the USA, it's not the date of the interview that's important , it's the date of the medical. Your visa will be valid for 6 months from the date of the medical exam. Therefore, if you want to enter at the end of October, you need to have your medical within the 6 months prior to that (end of April).

Rene

leema5

Thanks. Yes - I think I will no longer concern myself with what category of visa I enter with and just concentrate on getting there.

Just to clarify - My medical and interview will be towards the end of October of 2017 and we will travel to the US at the beginning of April 2018. Or, if finances allow, we might just fly over in December. We would still need to return for a few months to tie all our UK loose ends up whenever we go.

Noorah101

You can't guarantee that the medical and interview will be so close together. Sometimes you can't get an interview date until 3 or 4 weeks after the medical. It all depends what the embassy has available at the time.

Rene