Hi Everyone,
Great forum. I've really enjoyed reading all your advice and interesting experiences.
I'm a UK citizen weighing up options for myself and my USC boyfriend. I've looked into going to USA as a student or on a short term J1 visa and am starting to think that getting married would be a more honest and practical way of being together. Oh, and romantic too!
Amongst all the info that I've read on here and other places, I've noticed that age gaps in relationships can look suspicious when applying for a visa and can make the process more difficult. My boyfriend is 12 years older than me. This really isn't an issue for us, but I was wondering if any of you knew what impact that might have on our application? Have any of you been through this yourselves?
Thanks,
Scarlett

Welcome!!

After id met hubby online, and we flew back and forth for a year, we knew we wanted to get married but I decided to get an F1 student visa and a degree first, so that we could live together 3 or 4 years first and make sure we were right together, plus the degree is always good

Then we got married 4 years later, and are now going down the CR1 route.

No direct knowledge (hubby is only 3 years older than me), but im sure the age difference would not be a factor held against you. As long as you can prove your relationship is legit, and everything is in order then your in the same boat as everyone else.

The age difference you note should not be a problem by itself.

A friend used to a consular officer in Manila. Every so often they would see a marriage where there was a 50 year age difference and the Filipina was "drop dead gorgeous." As per my friend they had no problem at all with the age difference noting "he may not survive the honeymoon, but he will die happy."

Age is not a factor in whether or not a visa is issued. Let me ask you a question... if age was a factor, would you find a new boyfriend? I'm guessing not... so no sense in worrying about it.

This always reminds me of an old comedy routine...

Man: I'm worried that I'm too old for my girlfriend.
Friend: How old is she? How old are you?
Man: She's 10, I'm 40!
Friend: Well... right now you're 4x older than she is. In five years, she'll be 15 and you'll be 45 - then you'll be 3x older than she is. In another fifteen years, she'll be 30 and you'll be 60... then you'll only be 2x older than her. Pretty soon, she'll catch up to you!

Ian

I would say your age difference won't be a problem.

I am the USC wife. My immigrant husband is 13 years younger than I am, and he comes from a culture where that is practically unheard of. The age difference was noted in our file, but it never was an issue during any of his immigration steps.

Rene

IMHO it can be tricky if it is the man who is a lot younger and comes from a poorer country. Lots of womens' magazines here in the UK are full of stories of 50+ ladies who fell for a 20 something Turkish waiter and had trouble getting a UK visa for him. Those that did succeed usually found their now husband left them as soon as he got permanent residency.

US citizen & UK citizen is not likely to be a problem.

really funny

My friend is easily to get a visa of the bride in America with a difference of 20 years of age. He 60, she 40...

If it helps, my USC hubby is 16 years older and never a question was asked about the age difference! wish I could say the same for all our friends and family!

Haha thanks everyone! That's reassuring! I may end up going down the Uni route first so probably won't have to worry about it for a while anyway
Scarlett