swilt170571

Bugger it means I may get it sooner than i hoped. I best not tell her that

christmasoompa

Just edited my post with more info, just in case you haven’t seen it.

If you did submit everything in the next week or two then you could have your visa in hand in about February. But I believe you have a year to do everything on the NVC side before it’s deemed abandoned (do check that though!).

It doesn’t sound as though you want to move anytime soon so have you applied too early? When do you actually want to move, do you have something tying you to the UK for a while? As once you have your green card you do have to settle in the US - at least for 4 years or so until you get citizenship (once you have that you’ll be free to go between the two countries without jeopardising your status). If you can’t move yet then is it worth cancelling the app and applying again at a later date?

swilt170571

Thanks I did see earlier response.

To answer your question yes I believe I have applied to soon, I kind of rushed into it last year. I work for a global company based in UK, and my equivalent job (actually lower skilled) came up in USA for my company, given I train some of the team in USA I spoke to the manager and he wanted me and asking how quick I could move. I Tried to go down the company sponsorship route but higher up the chain they would not do it for what ever reasons, so I banged in this request in haste. I did promise my wife 14 years ago if she lived in UK until my kids had grown up I would then move to USA with her. Well they have grown up now, I need to keep that promise as i cant afford another divorce .

She is retired though so does go back and forth all time in fact she is there now October to January for family visits I will go in November for a few weeks to remind myself who she is...

I think if I had a job promised especially with the company I am with now I would be a lot more keen for obvious reasons like salary, medical insurance etc...

Ideally I would like to my current role to become more global and that is what I am trying to push at, so I can nip between UK and USA even if I had USA as my "home", I can then work in UK a few months over the year to say hello to my family.

Lots of complications for me but given nobody gave us a chance 14 years ago we have come over many hurdles so I am sure something will work itself out...

Life story over :-)

christmasoompa

You may find that once you have a green card then your company will be quite happy to employ you in the US, which would give you the job and medical cover you would like. They may not have wanted to go through the hassle and cost of sponsoring your visa, but if you are moving and work authorised, it may be different.

This would be very risky. 'Nipping between the UK and USA' would really only be possible once you are a dual citizen. To maintain your LPR status, the US doesn't need to be your 'home', it needs to be your home. As an esteemed former member (much missed) used to say, even one day outside of the US can risk your LPR status in the right circumstances. Spending months outside the US working would not be a wise move IMO. Plus it would mean you'd not be likely to qualify for citizenship either. Coming back to the UK for a holiday, maybe for Christmas to see your kids etc, each year would be fine, I wouldn't risk any longer than that.

tht

That was not my experience at all, there is even a commuter green card for Canadians. It may be viewed different for those coming by marriage, but when the became an LPR I ended up commuting to the UK for over 2 years. I brought a home in the US (and did not maintain a home outside the US), my girlfriend lived there and I had US heath insurance, but I would fly to London on Sunday night and work there and come home on Friday PM. I would try to work out of the US office as well for 1 week a month to get time with our shareholders. Between that pattern and switching to US holidays like Hawaii and Florida etc I spent around 50% of my time at home / in other US states. By the time I had permission to apply for US citizenship (Germans need permission from Germany to not loose their citizenship there) I had stopped that travel pattern, they did not ask any questions about it at interview.


Once you have a green card you can apply for global entry and travel is easy…

The biggest downside to commuting for work outside the US was the tax, while you get some offset from the UK DTA it does not cover NI/SS, or state and city tax if applicable so you can end up pay 50% tax….

But I agree long trips away from home are a bad idea as a LPR, while frequent I limited my trips to the week and tried to get home every weekend.

swilt170571

Thanks all I guess I will just see how things go, if I dont work I will retire to the golf course and ask the wife to go back to work and support us although i think i can see her answer !..