Mrtravel

dave4j wrote:
    > What if we only plan to live in the US for a year or two max, before
    > moving elsewhere? She does not really 'need' an immigration visa. We
    > would rather smply be married and togeher in the US and forget the
    > immigration visa.
    >
    > Since British citizens can come to the US without a visa anyway -
    > could she not just come on a tourist visa and then leave the country
    > every six months?

How long would she leave for?
If she stays too long and immediately tries to do it again, there is a
good chance she will not permitted to enter.


    > Also, which center approves the fiancee visa the quickest in case we
    > decide to go that route? I have family spread around the country
    > and could establish residency where needed to get the processing
    > done in time.

Are you saying that you will physically be living there, or simply be
using it as a place for BCIS mail? That is, would your employer say you
work in California, yet you have listed your residence as Burlington,
VT? If you are suggesting something fraudulent, then I would advise
against it.

dave4j

How long would she stay? She would plan to stay as long as legally allowed. (Is this 3 months or 6 months for Brits??) How long would she leave for? Our plan is live for about six months in the US, then about six months in the UK, then resettle elsewhere, likley in France where I am working now. If the six months gets ends up getting stretched due to my job commitments, could we not just go on vacation to Mexico or Canada or someplace for a week or two, and then come back?

As far as residence goes for BCIS filing, I am not sure where my legal residence is. My employer is in AZ, but I have never actually rented or bought property there. My drivers license and tax address is in TX, but most of my mail goes to FL. I am usually physically present in Europe someplace, returning to the US for a couple of months at a time.

Just Jenney

As has previously been stated, repeatedly entering/leaving/re-entering on a tourist visa (or the VWP) is a tricky scenario, one which puts your fiancee at great risk for being turned back at the POE. Your fiancee is looking to reside in the States, but again, the tourist visa/VWP is NOT meant for this purpose. If you marry it probably puts her at even greater risk, because BCIS realizes that most foreigners don't enter the US simply "to visit" their USC spouses but rather to remain with them.

CAN she do this? Sure -- but it is at the risk of screwing things up for you both in the long-term.

A tourist visa is good for 6 months, while the VWP is good for 3 months. If she applies for a 6-month tourist visa and they found out she is engaged to a USC, that might make them a tad suspicious and possibly lead to a denial. Likewise, if you marry and she then applies for this visa, a denial is pretty likely and she'll probably be told she has to apply for a spousal visa. At the same time, if she enters on the VWP, she can only stay for 90 days, which isn't as long as you'd like her to stay. However, if she leaves then re-enters soon after on the VWP, there's the chance that they'll suspect what she's really trying to do (live here) and turn her back. That's not to say that's absolute, but the risks are definitely there.

I'm not sure what sorts of options are best available to you based on your timeline -- initially you said 1-2 years, now you're saying 6 months, a huge difference -- but perhaps some others here do.

From my understanding and previous personal experience as an expat, your permanent US residence is wherever you have a drivers license and/or whatever you list as your permanent residence for tax purposes. It is not your employer's location, nor is it your mailing address (unless that happens to be the same as your drivers license and/or tax permanent residence). That would be TX for you, which means going through the Texas Service Center. I'm not 100% sure about this, but that is my understanding.

~ Jenney

dave4j

We've decided that come what may, wea re going to get married -- civil and religious -- onnthe same day at her church in the UK. So fiancee visa is out, unless it can be used for spouses.

So assuming we marry in the UK, what is the fastest way for us to go legally to the US? Which visa to apply for? If we hire a lawyer, will he make it go faster? If I know someone in the US embassy will it go faster?

I live in France at the moment, but am not a resident there. Just here on a two month assignement. I would like to get a 'clearence to enter' as a fiancee so as to do DCF. Can I do that without returning to the US to get it. Or can I get it in the UK after I enter on a tourist visa?

L D Jones

dave4j wrote:
    >
    > We've decided that come what may, wea re going to get married -- civil
    > and religious -- onnthe same day at her church in the UK. So fiancee
    > visa is out, unless it can be used for spouses.
    >
    > So assuming we marry in the UK, what is the fastest way for us to go
    > legally to the US? Which visa to apply for? If we hire a lawyer,
    > will he make it go faster? If I know someone in the US embassy will
    > it go faster?
    >
    > I live in France at the moment, but am not a resident there. Just here
    > on a two month assignement. I would like to get a 'clearence to enter'
    > as a fiancee so as to do DCF. Can I do that without returning to the US
    > to get it. Or can I get it in the UK after I enter on a tourist visa?

I just read a post in another group about an American who entered the UK
as a tourist, married a British citizen and then attempted to adjust to
'married status' in the UK. He was denied (the rules have changed in the
UK recently). Because of this I would obtain Entry Clearance prior to
entering the UK to marry. I don't know whether you can get this in
France

Colin Ormsby

From what I have heard a lawyer will only make it faster if you are prone to
errors - they basically make sure (in theory) that everything is right the
first time you submit it - they don't have any innate ability to speed up
the process.

Colin

"L D Jones" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > dave4j wrote:
    > >
    > > We've decided that come what may, wea re going to get married -- civil
    > > and religious -- onnthe same day at her church in the UK. So fiancee
    > > visa is out, unless it can be used for spouses.
    > >
    > > So assuming we marry in the UK, what is the fastest way for us to go
    > > legally to the US? Which visa to apply for? If we hire a lawyer,
    > > will he make it go faster? If I know someone in the US embassy will
    > > it go faster?
    > >
    > > I live in France at the moment, but am not a resident there. Just here
    > > on a two month assignement. I would like to get a 'clearence to enter'
    > > as a fiancee so as to do DCF. Can I do that without returning to the US
    > > to get it. Or can I get it in the UK after I enter on a tourist visa?
    > I just read a post in another group about an American who entered the UK
    > as a tourist, married a British citizen and then attempted to adjust to
    > 'married status' in the UK. He was denied (the rules have changed in the
    > UK recently). Because of this I would obtain Entry Clearance prior to
    > entering the UK to marry. I don't know whether you can get this in
    > France

MrsLondon

Get entry clearance for the UK in order to go the DCF route through the US Consulate in London (you need to be legally resident in the UK). From the British Consulate at Chicago, NYC or LA it can be gotten on a same day basis. You can either go the fiance visa route, or the spouse visa if already married.

dave4j

Here are my latest thoughts. I am the original poster in this thread, planning to marry the most wonderful woman on earth on November 8.

I am a USC and my fiancee is UKC. We work for two different religious based NGO's. After we get married, she will change organizations. After the wedding, we would like to worrk from my org's headquarters in the US for 6 mos to a year before being reassigned overseas for long term. I am currently on a short term assignment in France, but am living in France on a tourist visa (for 2 months).

Here are the options we have considered/are considering:

[1]-Fiancee visa - this is out, as she wants the wedding in the UK. Official and proper. No 'civil' paper signing in Las Vegas or anything before the church wedding.

[2]-R-1 - Religious workers visa. Since she has worked for a British organization (that has a US based 501-c3 correspondent agency)for more than two years, she would theoretically be eligible. A couple of problems here though. One, she will be leaving that organization to join a different one, and has already made that intent known to them. Still, they would be willing to write the reference letter needed. This could get her a non-immigrant visa good for up to 5 years.

[3]-Spouse visa. Since I am not a 'legal' resident anyplace at the moment, we thought the only option would be to file with TSC (my 'addresses' in the US are in Texas and Florida) - which would mean being stuck in the UK for a year with no job no right to work and a real nightmare.

[4] Spouse visa option B. I recently heard that I could fly to New York and get a 'entry clearance' to the UK as a fiance. Cost is over $400 for this 'entry clearance'. Then as a UK resident, we could do DCF filing which would take less time.

[5] Just have her go in and out on the visa waiver program. Question is how long we could do this for? POE would be Phoenix in most cases, just gping for extra honeymoons to Mexico or the Caribbean every 3 months:-) We have been considering this very strongly, since we plan to live most of our lives overseas anyway.

We are leaning towards option 4. A couple of questions though.

First, how long does DCF filing take at the US embassy in London? Assuming we mail the application from Newcastle to London on 9 November (the day after we are married), how long would we have to wait? We would need to lease an apartment or something in London, and would like to do so as cheaply and for as little time as possible.

If we go this route, she will have a green card, but will then leave to live outside the US within a year or so. We will likley only return to the US every 2 or 3 years -- would she lose her green card that we worked so hard to get? Would she be penalized when applying for another one later? Would she have to reapply avery time we wanted to visit the US (every 2 or 3 years)?

Thanks so much for all of your suggestions and answers. I have spoken to 4 lawyers, and not one of them has understood our situation well enough in order to give an intelligent response. They all jump to snap conclusions without listening at all.

Mrtravel

If you plan on living outside of the US for 2 or 3 years at a time, she
will probably be considered to have abandoned her US resident status.
Then you have to go through the process all over again.

She can enter on VISA Waiver or a B-2, if she can convince the people at
the POE that she doesn't intend to live here. Showing you have an
established job and residence in the UK would be helpful in doing this.
It would be even beter if her husband has resident status in the UK.

MrsLondon

Definitely DCF if you can. You avoid AOS, AP and EAD then. She'll be a green card holder who can work, travel freely etc the moment she steps onto US soil. Would your company hold your job for you for 3 months whilst you take a 'working holiday' in the UK? The visa for the UK is easy to get esp for Americans. You need just the same sort of paperwork as for the US visa but less of it and they are not so fussy about size of photos etc. Depending where you live you can get the UK Fiancé visa from the British Embassy in NYC, LA or Chicago. Takes about 5 to 10 days via mail, same day in person. See www.britainusa.com
If you get the fiancé visa you can upgrade it to a spousal visa the same day in person at the IND in Croydon (be prepared to wait in line from 6am though!) You can work with that visa, and it will act as proof to the US Embassy that you are a legal perm resident in the UK and therefore eligible to DCF.