LoveConquorsAll

Ok so here's the story: I am from England and my girlfriend is from New Jersey, USA. We have been officialy dating since October of 2007 and at the moment i am over visiting her for the summer. I have been here since May 29th 2008 on the visa waiver programme and i am due to leave August 27th. I am extremely close with my girlfriend and her family and we know that one day we want to marry, but we never discussed when. Her Dad was very sick this summer so the plan was for me to come and accross and look after him, he could hardly walk and was waiting for a liver transplant. Sadly, 3 weeks into my trip he passed away. Everything has been hectic since and i have been consoling my girlfriend. However, with this happening, my girlfriend and i have decided to be married. We want to get married while i am here, we are both in a lot of depression and as cheesy as it sounds we really need to be together. Her mother is all for this and said she will say and/or sign any papers that are necessary for me to stay here permanantly, or sponsor me if needed. She has a very well paid job. I do not wish to return home at all, i would only collect the clothes and items i have left, but if it would make things easier for me to never leave, then so be it. I can live without those small clothes and items, and i would be able to take care of things like bank accounts from over here on the phone eventually. If my girlfriend and i were to be married now... how would i be able to stay here with her? And how would i be able to apply for adjustment of status. I've seen a lot of posts saying this is a no go but some inspiring ones that say it can happen. What will happening if we go ahead with this and what do we have to do to remain together physically? We do not want to leave each other at all. She needs me here. Her family needs me here with their bereavement too.

Any help would be greatly appreciated,

Kind Regards,

Simon


P.S -- For additional information. I have visited here 3 times previous but for very short stays, 10 days in November, 14 days in January and 15 days in February. She has visitied England for a 14 day stay back in April too.

fatbrit

Ever been arrested for anything?

LoveConquorsAll

No, i have not. No criminal record.

fatbrit

Looks good to go, then. Search for AOS in this forum -- you will find that there are additional risks to this method but it is a well-trod path. File as soon as your married, and marry as soon as possible. No trips out of the US for any reason whatsoever until you have a green card in your hand.

meauxna

Simon, snipping the Story, this is the bottom line. Now, you need to tell us where are these 'a lot of posts saying this is a no-go'. Have you posted this elsewhere?

If you have done all this reading, what do YOU think are the next steps? You surely must have run across them (we do get tired of typing the same things over & it's better to have you say what your understanding is).

Have you met with an immigration attorney yet? Why not?

That's probably the best step for you unless you are prepared to do a lot of research over the next several weeks. It sounds like you have other pressing items on the agenda.

Songbird

Simon a similar thing happened in my situation. Cut along story short I entered on a VWP, no intent to stay ( let alone marry), ended up overstaying the VWP and getting married. I successfully adjusted my status, with 2 year green card in hand in the space of 3 months once I had the process underway. Yes it carried extra difficulties due to my overstay and I also had some very old criminal convictions BUT it was doable. If you do go this path then there are some problems that can occur, and of course each case is different - HOWEVER providing you had NO INTENT to stay when you entered on the VWP and you can PROVE - then you 'should' have relatively few problems ( though if they do occur they can be quite major) I would suggest that if you are going to do this then you can make it a bit of a less fraught process by actually getting married AND submitting the forms BEFORE your VWP expires. A quick consult with an immigration brief would help you decide what course to take. Feel free to pm me

ian-mstm

I have all sorts of sympathy for your situation, but if you "are both in a lot of depression" then you definitely should *NOT* get married let alone think about immigration. Marriage and immigration are two *completely* life altering situations and, from what you've written, neither of you are fully conscious of what you're doing.

Ian

English Muffin

The OP has posted numerous threads on Visa Journey and I believe that this is where he may have got conflicting information from.

meauxna

Ah yes. Not so well known for distiguishing subtleties there, sorry to say.

gstring

Simon,

I just wanted to send my condolences to you.

I hope you find a journey that works out for you. All I would say is get married because you want to, and not just so you can be together.

LoveConquorsAll

I appreciate the response but we both know what we are doing, and we are doing this so that we can be together. I did not receive any negative points from visa journey, infact my negative info was just from browsing the web, from the USCIS and people warning against it with the consequences, but there was no intent to marry or even stay when i crossed the border. I have most of the answers i need from VJ, but instead of writing out a whole new post i wanted to see more reactions from another community, for re-assurance and self-esteem, if anything. I hope this does not annoy anybody. I am to file the I-130, I-485 and I-765, shortly after i marry. I am going to book the medical I-693 as soon as possible, and from what i understand it's going to cost me around $300 and i will be given a closed envelope?

Regards,

Simon

fatbrit

No peeping!

meauxna

There is a travel document that might be handy in case you have an emergency out of the US, I-131 is the application.
There are a number of attachments that go along with the forms you mention. Be careful, be thorough and best wishes.

LoveConquorsAll

What if i do?! And will i be told if the results were bad etc... a closed envelope is only for successful medicals?

fatbrit

Remember one not-so-bright individual relating on here how he told the doc at his medical that he had smoked dope for years but had given it up a couple of years ago. Presume they're now happily married and living in the UK now since he never came back to share the outcome with us.

Don't think we've ever had anyone who was ballsy enough to peep in the envelope. But once you're in Gitmo, there's little contact with the outside world anyway.