I am an USC living in the Persian Gulf. My husband who is not an USC and I have been married for over 13 years. Our children are USC. We are now considering moving to the US. I am not employed but my husband is. He has a valid H1/B1 visa.

He is not interested in acquiring USC. He wants to live there and at some point in future either work or start a small business out of the home.

How do we go about obtaining visas or whatever is required to have a legal status to reside and work there?

Thank you for your help.

Your husbands can get an IR-1 visa based on being married to a US citizen. On entry to the US he will get a green card which gives him unrestricted rights to live and work in the US (a very small number of government jobs are restricted to US citizens only). There is no obligation to obtain US citizenship, but after eight years IIRC he will end up with the same sort of tax issues as if he was a US citizen anyway.

I don't know if the times are the same for applying through the local consulate where you live, but if you were living in the UK it would take about 6-8 months to get the visa. Your husband will have six months to enter the US from the date of his medical.

You say your husband has an H-1 visa - is he already working in the US?

As the USC spouse, you will be your husband's sponsor - and that requires you to complete an I-864 Affidavit of Support on his behalf. Take a look at the form. All the forms are available at www.uscis.gov.


Do you, perhaps, mean an H-1B visa? It would be odd to have both an H-1 visa and a B-1 visa but it's certainly not unknown.


He should reconsider. I believe parents should always have the same citizenship as their children... because it's the only way, in an emergency, that they can be guaranteed entry to a country!


US immigration is a 2-step process. You start the process by filing an I-130 petition to US immigration. Once the petition is approved (4-5 months usually) then your husband applies for an immigrant visa (IR-1, as Pulaski notes). Once the visa is approved (another 4-5 months usually) then your husband is able to move to the US to live/work without restriction. So, the whole process usually takes 8-10 months.

Ian

Pulaski and Ian, thanks for the info. We'll have a look at the I-864; I am a teacher by profession but have not worked since 2003. So, since I am not employed I have to see how I can do the affidavit of support.

You're welcome. As the sponsoring spouse, you must complete the I-864, it's unavoidable.

If you have neither assets nor income to support the affidavit you will need a joint sponsor, which can be any US citizen or permanent resident - they must be resident in the US.