j1doc

Hi everyone,
I am a German citizen in the US on a J1 visa with HRR, and will marry my USC fiancee shortly before I will go home to fulfil my HRR. I will stay in Germany for the 2 years, but my fiancee (then wife) will work in England for the 2 years, and visit me every weekend. Three questions:
1) How do I document the fulfilment of the HRR?
2) Would they believe us that we spent the time away from each other, or is the fact that my fiancee is in another foreign country close by a red flag to tell them that I may not have been in Germany for the whole time?
3) If my fiancee files the I130 petition for me BEFORE we leave the US, would they want to see the tax returns then, before she works in England, or after the HRR is fulfilled (in other words, when is the earliest that we can file the I-864, before or after the fulfilment of the HRR).

I appreciate your input and advice. Thanks.

jeffreyhy

j,

What is the requirement of the J1 visa - really?
- is the requirement that you live apart from your wife for 2 years?
- is the requirement that you live in your home country for 2 years?
- is the requirement that you leave the USA for 2 years?

Tax returns are wanted as part of the documentation for proving that your USC sponsor can provide for you and keep you from being a public burden when you immigrate to the US. You prove this once or possibly twice - 1st when you apply for a marriage-based visa, and again when you apply for Adjustment of Status if you entered as a non-immigrant (on a K visa).

Regards, EJff

j1doc

So I gather you think it won't matter where my wife lives and works during the time that I spend in my home country. But I am still not clear about when I can actually file for AOS. After the HRR has been fulfilled, or while I am still in the US? I thought I could just interview basically on the 731st day of my presence in Germany at the consulate in Frankfurt and enter as a permanent resident shortly thereafter? Not quite?

Thanks a lot again, best regards.

jeffreyhy

j,

I don't know anything about a J1 visa, which is why I framed my response to you as a series of questions. I presume that as a J1 visa holder you should know what the requirements are and I was trying to guide your thought process to use that knowledge to answer your own questions.

Again, I don't know about J1 visas, but I don't see anything in the marriage-based visa requirements that ties to the J1 as directly as you seem to be thinking. I do get the impression that you have to be out of the USA for 2 years when your J1 stay ends. That's more time than it generally takes for the process to get a marriage-based visa.

A 1/2 hour consultation with an experienced immigration attorney should not cost you any more than the cost of 1 of the many petitions and applications you will be filing to immigrate. They will be able to properly answer all your questions, including those questions you haven't yet thought to ask. A good investment.

Then you will be in a position to lay out a plan for when your future wife should file her I-130 petition so that you can get an immigrant visa to come back to the US as soon as possible after completing your 2-year 'exile'.

Regards, JEff

L D Jones

j1doc wrote:
    >
    > Hi everyone,
    >
    > I am a German citizen in the US on a J1 visa with HRR, and will marry my
    > USC fiancee shortly before I will go home to fulfil my HRR. I will stay
    > in Germany for the 2 years, but my fiancee (then wife) will work in
    > England for the 2 years, and visit me every weekend. Three questions:

[...]

    > 3) If my fiancee files the I130 petition for me BEFORE we leave the US,
    > would they want to see the tax returns then, before she works in
    > England, or after the HRR is fulfilled (in other words, when is the
    > earliest that we can file the I-864, before or after the fulfilment
    > of the HRR).

UK to Germany every weekend? Sounds expensive

If your wife will work in the UK for 2 years I assume she will have a UK
work permit. In that case you could marry in the UK and possibly
(probably) file the I-130 directly at the consulate in London. If you
must marry in the US for some reason then perhaps you could have a
non-official ceremony in the US and marry later in the UK (at which time
you receive the marriage certificate). I have heard of a direct filing
case in the UK where the US citizen was legally resident there and
married a Belgian so I suppose my idea could work

Not sure what to do about the HRR, sorry. I have no experience with that
but I did file an I-130 at the London consulate while in the UK on a
work permit in 2001. In my case the I-864 was no problem since I worked
for a US company while in the UK and kept the same job back in the US