Pulaski

Plan on date of marriage plus 15 months +/-, and be pleasantly surprised if it is less, which is possible if processing times start to return to normal. But if I've learned anything over the past 2 1/2 years, is that you should never bet on anything returning to normal.

Jimmy Mcnulty

Thanks for all your help with this.

Discussing this with the OH I/we still have a few more questions. Sorry, we want to get this right, its not like buying a car it is a bit more important than that.

1. The current wait is 15 months post marriage? is this for a grren card or residency? I assume I cannot work until that sorted

2. I assume I am ok to carry on working in London and go across 4-5 times a year until this is sorted?

3. How much approx is the process?

4. is it worth hiring a immigration layer, or simply a process of marriage, form, wait, move.

5. what about things like interviews in the mean time and I am in London

tht

The clock can’t start until you file the paperwork. And you can’t do that until you are married and I would guess have the marriage certificate in hand to send. That may take a while depending where you marry. Ours arrived a few weeks after we were married in NYC, I have officiated a couple of weddings over here. I’m both cases the complete wedding lisence was signed / witnessed at the wedding and then sent back to city hall / clerk and they then mail out the wedding certificate once it’s recorded in the register.

That time line above also assumes yours is a simple case. People sometimes post on here about prior visa violations or arrests that then require a different / longer process.

The green card is what you will receive in the mail after you become a LPR, which is you become a legal permanent resident, so for the purposes of your question they mean the same thing.

You need work authorization to work here, that could be shown by the green card once you receive it, in theory you could also get another visa independent of marriage though an employer that would allow you to work.

Pulaski

1 yes, green card and permant residency are the same difference. As noted previously, with a spouse visa, which leads automatically to a green card a few weeks after you arrive, you can work the moment you have cleared immigration. You can't arrive to live ahead of having work authorization because the two things are an inseparable part of the same green card/ permanent residence application process.
2. Yes. I worked until 6 days before I left the UK, and started working 6 days after I arrived in the US, we couldn't afford for me not to be working for, at least, several months, which is one very good reason to choose the "marriage first, then spouse visa" route.
3. Dunno. It's been a while for me. Should be on the USCIS web site.
4. No, unless you have a criminal record, a drug habit, or other serious complications. So long as you can read English, follow simple instructions, and complete biographic forms, you'll be fine, and here on BE we can help with most questions, .... or advise you when you really should consider getting a lawyer to help.
5. You'll get told when to schedule your medical and interview once your paperwork has been processed.

S Folinsky

Some general comments

How long will it take is the universal question. It is a reasonable question. But the rubric of your mileage may vary (YMMV) applies. Things happen - for example, time information from the end of 2019 went out the window with the pandemic. So, any time estimate is just that, an estimate.

Should you obtain an attorney? That is entirely your call. Many people are DIY and they are just fine. That said, many immigration lawyers have war stories of fixing DIY cases that have gone pear shaped. Often for the damnest reason that even the regular DIY’ers in this forum would slap their own forehead. There may be value to handholding by an attorney who knows what they are doing. Is there value in peace of mind?

Pulaski

And for balance, I would point out that from time to time were hear, here on BE, of visa applications loused-up by lawyers, so engaging a lawyer to "assist" with your application, is no absolute guarantee of a smooth process and peaceful sleep.

Also, it has been pointed out a number of times by applicants holding newly issued visas, that the lawyer "only" took information provided by the applicant and transferred it onto the visa application form, then asked the applicant to check it over and sign it. Which begs the question as to what the "service provided" actually was for a run-of-the-mill visa application, given the four-figure fee.

kimilseung

Not very hard. But as you know it depends by state. So you need to find out what your state requires. First find out which services they will accept for certification transliteration or authentication or whatever they call it. You can save several hundred dollars by having this take longer than faster, so the faster you find out, the quicker you can start the process and/or more money you can save. You will need transcripts from your university days.
I am in WA I have endorsements for Art, Social Studies, History, and SPED.
My UK certification was Art, I still had to take a written test about art and art history in addition to the UK paper work being accepted (locals have to test too)
I was then able to get Social Studies and History added, just by testing. I added the SPED by doing additional studies in the USA. What you do and how you go about it may depend on what you want to teach. History and Social Studies for example will include US history and Civics, and there may be a chance that you will want to brush up on some of the US basics before proceeding for example.

S Folinsky

British Expats is the not only place which has noted bad immigration advice. See the Supreme Court case of Padilla v Kentucky.

Your second paragraph goes to perceived value. And the perception of the client is what counts. A legal colleague, now of blessed memory, would note that he served as an insurance policy when asked why he charged fees. My spouse often grouses about the insurance premiums we pay for house, auto and umbrella. My friend J Fong would often quip that if he did his job right, the client would wonder why he paid his fee.

discoviking

This is true, I view hiring an experienced attorney as an insurance policy, too. My company transferred me from New Jersey to Montreal in 2015. They have a Canadian firm they use, which took care of Canadian work permits for myself and my wife at no cost to us. When it was time to apply for Canadian permanent residence a couple of years later, we decided to retain the same firm to handle the application process for us, since they were already familiar with our case. Neither of us have any complications in our immigration history. Could we have filed ourselves, sure. But we viewed the expense of retaining them as an insurance policy. In the end, permanent residency was approved, without any problems, so yes - they only had to submit the forms on our behalf and give updates along the way. To us it was still worth it for peace of mind, just in case.

I don't plan on crashing my motorcycle when I go for a ride either, but I still always wear my helmet and gear as well as keeping the insurance on it current. Same concept. :-)

Rete

Please Note: This poster is not talking about US Immigration or US Immigration Attorneys but the process to live/work and finally obtain residency status in CANADA. Different country with vastly different immigration laws.