kbales

Hello,

I am looking for advice on the best way to get to the US (legally of course). I lived in the US for 4 years on a student visa, where I met my now fiancé. I am English and am currently living and working in England. My fiancé is here with me at the moment on the tourist visa (she is American). We are getting married in the US on June 4th of this year. I am planning on continuing to work in England for the next couple of years but we would like to live in the US permanently in the future. I understand that it is acceptable to get married in the US on an ESTA which is what I will be doing, but I would like to know if it's then possible to be on a spouse visa in the US in a few years after returning to England for a couple of years with my soon to be wife.

Thank you in advance for any advice!

Rete

Of course it is possible and wonder why you think it is not?

It is a very straightforward procedure and since you and your then wife are planning on living in the UK, your wife will have indefinite leave to remain and can file at the US Consulate for your immediate relative visa when you are ready to emigrate to the US.

Since this is very far in the future for you and her, your immediate issue is obtaining a spousal visa for your wife to come to the UK to live and work. It is a bit more stringent that her getting you into the US when it comes to financials, etc. so may I suggest that you view and post in the Moving Back to the UK forum. They have a subforum for citizenship and immigration and you will learn all you need to know to get the UK spousal visa for your wife there.

Congratulations on your impeding marriage.

kbales

Thanks so much for the quick reply!

We have looked through the spouse visa requirements to get her to the UK and know them in and out. We both feel we know how to get her to the UK much better than getting me to the US. She is apart of a forum for US expats living in the UK, and someone there mentioned that marrying in the US on the ESTA and then living in the US could be visa fraud. Since we don't know the rules as well, we just want to clarify.

So to be sure, marrying in the US on the ESTA, then returning to live in the UK for a number of years, and then applying to live in the US on a spouse visa will be fine, and not any form of visa fraud?

Thanks again!

KK85

It's only fraud if you enter the USA under the visa waiver program (i.e. your ESTA) with intent to adjust status and stay there permanently. The ESTA is for visiting purposes only, for periods of up to 90 days. So you can fly out to the States with your ESTA and get married, no problem, so long as you leave the country within 90 days. If you wanted to marry and live in America, you would need to enter the country on one of the two spouse visas - either the K-1 (fiancé visa) (a bit late to use this one if you're marrying in a couple of months) or the CR-1 (spouse visa). There is a very handy wiki link here, which might be worth looking at in order to broaden your knowledge and fully understand your options: Comparison of marriage-based visas : British Expat Wiki

This is also not fraudulent, provided you have the relevant visas in place for both relocations.

(On a personal note, do consider the expense you would need to go through in order to spend time living as a couple in both the UK and the USA. You will be going through time-consuming, sometimes a bit stressful, and certainly expensive immigration processes twice. Is that something you are only considering doing because your knowledge of how to move to the States is a little sketchy? I really hope that the above wiki will be helpful and potentially open your eyes to some alternative options that are quite easily available to you.)

Good luck, and congratulations on your upcoming wedding!

kbales

Thanks for the information! That was a lot of help. And we definitely have thought about how much work and money all of the visas require, but after living apart in different countries for a number of years, we are just ready to live in the same place!

Keoman

I married in the USA 2 years ago on a ESTA, have been back in the UK since bar various trips back over there. I'm now in process of applying for IR-1 visa to move to the USA, so think you're talking about what I'm doing, which as already stated is fine and legal!

Rete

Marrying on the VWP (not the ESTA which is only your permission to use the VWP) is fine. What is not fine is entering the US with the express purpose of marrying and REMAINING TO ADJUST STATUS.

Feel free to enter under the VWP and get married on June 4th and apply for your UK spousal visa. Perfectly legal.

kbales

Thank you all so much! These forums are always so helpful. We went from having a very stressful afternoon to feeling much more confident

Rete

Our pleasure. Come back to see us in a few years when it is time to swap countries.