Cynnaminrye

Hi All,

My hubby is British and I'm American. We've been living in the UK and are now looking to move to the USA. Both our sons have British citizenship and are 8 years old and 5 years old. They aren't registered in the states. Does anyone know what we need to do? Cheers!

rpjs

Assuming you've spent enough time in the US (if you were born and grew up there, for instance) then your children are already US citizens and won't need visas, just American passports which you should arrange through the US embassy.

If not, then your children will need to get immigrant visas the same as their father, but they will automatically become US citizens on arrival, whereas your husband will receive a Green Card and has to wait three years to apply for citizenship.

Noorah101

The first thing to do is find out if your kids are also US Citizens. Have you yourself spent at least 5 years living in the USA, 2 of which were after the age of 14?

Rene

Pulaski

Per the advice in posts #2 and #3 above, it is legally required that US citizens travel to and from the US using a US passport. If your children are US citizens (as appears likely to be the case) you will need US passports for them before entering the US, even as visitors.

BTW your husband will need a spouse visa too, an IR-1 if you have been married more than two years, or a CR-1 if you have been married less than two years. If, as appears to be the case, you are living in the UK, you can file the visa application directly with the US consulate in London, and it will take about 6-8 months to get the visa. The visa must be obtained outside the US, i.e. he can't move to the US before getting the visa.

Cynnaminrye

Thank you all for your replies. Yes the hubby and I have been married for 13 years and I lived up to 23 years in the US concurrently. I've dug about with your advice and it looks like I'm going to need to find my high school and uni transcripts ☺

Cynnaminrye

Thanks for this, very helpful! When you say 6 to 8 mon the do you mean from when we submit the IR1?

Pulaski

Yes, from mailing the first step of the application process to receipt of the IR-1 (processing of a CR-1 is identical).

Cynnaminrye

So along the same line. Has anyone had any luck with going down to sort their partners visa stuff (after the ir1) has cleared and doing the kid stuff at the same time? I've had a look and you can request appointments for the children at least...this is what we'd prefer as we're on the opposite ends of the country to London and travelling down there is going to expensive and time consuming . And yes I realise the whole process is expensive and bit of a chew on, lol!

Pulaski

Your children need passports - which is all done on line (download the forms) and by mail.

Your husband will need to make two trips to London - one for the medical, then one for the interview a few weeks later. You are not required to attend on either occasion.

Cynnaminrye

Unfortunately I also need to make applications to register their births. This all has to be done via London embassy including a visit 😣

Noorah101

Why do you need to register their births? Are you sure that's a requirement to get a US passport?

As for filing the I-130 to London for your husband, processing time is more like 4 to 6 months.

The 8 to 10 month timeline is when the I-130 is filed in the USA.

Rene

Cynnaminrye

Yes sadly it is a requirement. It's pretty clear on the us embassy websites. I'm hopeful they might let me use the Edinburgh Embassy but it says it's for people who live in Scotland but it's much closer to us.

Pulaski

If that is the case, I think you are the first person I have ever seen mention it on BE. .... I am sceptical that it is necessary, and the US embassy has a history of posting advice that isn't actually correct. Please can you post a link to where you read that?

dljack

Your situation is very similar to mine! Also US citizen married (9 yrs)to UK hubby, living in the UK. We also have 2 kids 5 & 8! I had to bring my high school transcripts to register my kids birth and apply for ss cards and passports, but did it in Belfast. My hubby received his IR-1 visa in June and we are finally making the move at the end of September. This forum has been a godsend, so best advice...follow what the experts say! All in, we completed the entire process in 5 months, but needed time to close down 1 life in the UK.

ian-mstm

Just to clarify, there is a US Consulate in Edinburgh, not an Embassy. They are two distinct types of organizations.

Ian