Pat28

Thank you so much. The above replies were constructive now and very helpful.

ian-mstm

Before I met my (now) wife, I - like you and almost everyone else here - knew nothing about US immigration. I also wasn't particularly interested in living in the US. My wife is the US citizen... and she successfully sponsored me. We were both in our late 40s when this happened. I was retired from teaching; she was an oncology nurse and teacher. We, like you, were confused about what to do... but we read what little information was available at the time and, with the help of one or two folks (who still post here regularly, by the way), we successfully navigated the US immigration process.

Is the process difficult? Yes... and no. It depends on how flexible you're willing to be. The US is one of the most difficult countries in the world when it comes to immigration - if for no other reason, than hundreds of thousands of people want to live and work here. However, there are only so many ways of doing this, and each method has its own rules and processes. If you want to live/work in the US, you jump through the hoops that the US has laid out before you. It's their sandbox and they can make whatever rules they like.

Immigration has nothing whatsoever to do with the "man supports woman" mentality. It is, in fact, "US citizen supports non-US citizen". It's as simple as that.

For family-based immigration (such as you're considering), the US does *not* care how well educated you (the non-USC) are, how much money you have, or how good your employment prospects are. They don't care because they don't have to care. Financial support falls to the US citizen, and if the USC doesn't have the means to support the non-USC, then the non-USC needs a joint sponsor.

I hope this clears things up a bit. We don't generally sugar coat anything here... and I hope you can appreciate that what you're getting is the truth and not mere speculation. We've all gone through the process and we genuinely want to help - but until you are educated and versed in matters dealing with US immigration, it would behoove you to be somewhat more receptive to the information you're getting.

I'll also add here that while a USC can fall in love with and marry whomever they choose, and live wherever they want... when that other person is not a USC, then the equation becomes more difficult. The spouse of a USC does not have the right to live/work in the US simply by virtue of their marriage to a USC. Every country, including Canada and the UK, has the same sort of rules.

Anyway, I hope you'll stick around - we'd like to help you... even if we did get off to a bit of a shaky start!

Ian