Sghilaire2990000

Hi,

I have a dilemma that maybe you can help me

Once the boarders have reopened I will be getting married to my USC I am a UKC.
we are having our wedding ceremony is October 2022 in America.

what we wanted to understand was the options for myself and 2 children immigration to the US, and any restrictions or right time to file.

is it true that once he files we can’t travel there to visit?

our wedding ceremony is in the US. So I would have been 2/3 times to make sure everything is ok.


if this is true could you advise if it would be better for us to move to America before the weddding then file the petition for an AOS. My only concern is what visa would I enter the US on as I would be a tourist.

or would it be ok to enter whilst he filed for a MBV, providing I had a B-2 tourist visa. (How hard or easy are those to get ans how long are they valid for). That way we don’t need to move before. As long as we have a B-2 we can still travel in and out.

could you confirm what the best thing to do would be as my children still need to be able to go back to UK to visit their Dad.

And I don’t want to be in America illegally or do anything that’ll risk our chances of getting the green card.

​​​​​​​thanks

christmasoompa

Hi, and welcome to BE.

No, it’s not true that you can’t visit whilst your visa app is being processed. See the sticky thread above.

You can’t enter the US on the VWP (or a tourist visa - but you’re not likely to get one of those anyway) if you intend to stay, that would be illegal and could result in being banned from the US. So definitely scrap that idea off the list!

So just return to the UK after marriage to wait out the process, and you can visit in the meantime. Or look at the K-1 visa if you don’t want to leave after getting wed. There’s a comparison of the marriage based visa routes in the Wiki which may be useful.

HTH and congrats in advance!

Sghilaire2990000

thank you so much!

and thank you for your advise, that clears that up, we weren’t sure on what to do and I didn’t want to do anything to jeopardise the visa in the long run.

ultimately we can get married on the ESTA. I come back to the UK apply for a tourist visa (B-2) so that will allow me to travel back and forth whilst the CR-1 process is on going,

Is that correct?

can we file for the CR1 ourselves or would we need a service like boundless/ rapidvisa?

I don’t have any convictions I only have 2 children under 10 who will be coming with me it’s a pretty clear case, there’s nothing that jumps out. He earns above the threshold too.

Trying to hit the ground running!

Do you know how long a B2 can take to approve as well as how long they’re valid for?

I can see from other threads that the CR-1 can take up to 12 months. After covid i suspect the back long may make this longer....

christmasoompa

No, forget the B visa - have a search of the forum to see why but essentially you’re very unlikely to get one, and then if refused you’ll also not be able to use the VWP for a while, so it would scupper your plans to visit. So just stick to the VWP.

No need to use an immigration lawyer (don’t even think about a ‘visa service’, if you do decide you need help a properly qualified lawyer is the only way to go!).

One thing you’ve not mentioned is permission to remove the kids from the UK, as you mention them visiting their father I’m assuming it won’t be a problem, but just another thing to sort in case he won’t give written permission.

Good luck.

Sghilaire2990000

thank you, I shall stay with the VWP (ESTA) in that case.

I won’t bother with those visa service websites anymore (thanks for saving us money there!)


were currently working on the written permission, I’d say it’s in the negotiation stage in terms of how often the children will return etc. I don’t suspect this to be an issue, we have a good/ decent relationship so I suspect he will agree as he said he’s coming round to it.

for now I think that’s all the questions I have.

I’d say a very successful first post thanks so much!

SushiRoll

Just a suggestion - would it be worth getting married sooner with a very small scale ceremony in US?

You could then start the spouse visa application much sooner (and get it approved quicker!)

Otherwise you’ll be unable to start visa applications until end of 2022, thus unable to move until mid/late 2023

You could then still plan a bigger event for Oct 2022 by which time you’ll already be over there and settled into US life.

scrubbedexpat099

There are a lot of the issues with the K1, where you have a visa to immigrate marry and stay, certain unusual situations it has advantages.

So you get married, spouse files for you and minor children CR1 for you and CR2 for them and then wait. Now how long looking so far out is a bot of a guess, end of 2023?

Agree that visiting on the VWP in the meantime is the best option and of course your spouse can visit you.

Sghilaire2990000

that’s exactly what we plan to do (great minds aye). Once the boarders re open- hopefully in April. We’re going to get married then, that way see can start the visa process sooner. We are having our wedding ceremony in October 2022.

this will allow us to start the process this year with the view (and I hopes) of moving sooner rather than later.

Sghilaire2990000

thanks for that we’re going to start the process I can still visit on the VWP (wedding matter I have to attend to, as well as visiting schools). The intention is to move around the wedding time.