Bob

Yes, so that's being married, waiting 8-10 months to get the IR visa, move to the US, with greencard for 3 years, minus 90 days to be eligible for citizenship and then anything up to around 6 months for citizenship, if it doesn't change by then.

That's a lot more than just a couple of years.

Not getting citizenship would just be a huge waste of time/money if you're only planning on staying for 2 year. You can lose status after a day, it being a permanent residence after all, but yes, much easier to keep status within a year of leaving. But why bother with the hassle?

Rach_g

Thanks so much for all the replies.
I am self employed as a Stage Manager for the theatre (difficult enough finding work in the UK, let alone the States). I have considered studying, but the cost implications are too high. I would love him to move to the Uk, but we are just as difficult to get a visa for, also, he has full time employment and after doing our sums last time we were together, he earns more and financially it makes more sense to move there.

Rene, thank you for the link in your first post. I shall have a look at that now.

Rachel

civilservant

The problem is, it is significantly harder to get a visa for the US, and you have essentially eliminated all your options.

Noorah101

This type of self employment probably isn't going to get you a visa to the USA.

So there goes the student visa idea, and probably the investment visa too, because that involves even more money than student visa.

So there goes the idea of him going to the UK to spend some time together.

Looks like you'll be visiting the USA on the VWP until you guys are ready for marriage.

Rene

scrubbedexpat099

The UK now requires more significant income, so that is why moving to the UK will not work.

The obvious solution is still out there.

jeffreyhy

Maybe. Maybe not. It's not that simple.

Regards, JEff

jeffreyhy

Why the reluctance if the decision is already made?

Regards, JEff

slummymummy

Ok Jeff I'm a little intrigued as to why "maybe, maybe not", but I'll save that research for a rainy day...

I wonder how many people end up getting married just to be able to be together in the US and then it ends up not working out... But I guess the USCIS can't really start issuing co-habiting visas for a year or something... too many people would abuse it? Or maybe not? That would be interesting.

Not saying this will happen in the OP's case of course! But still not nice almost being "forced" to get married when most people get to live together for years beforehand.

Apfelkuchen

It is only a rule of thumb. Leaving for more than a year doesn't guarantee that you will lose your PR status. Similarly, staying away for less than a year doesn't guarantee that you won't:

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/usc...00082ca60aRCRD

'[...] in determining whether your status has been abandoned, any length of absence from the United States may be considered, even if less than 1 year'.

slummymummy

Thank you, good to know even though it probably won't apply to me as I will apply for citizenship at the end of this year.

jeffreyhy

Exactly. As I wrote before, abandonment of status is not as simple as how long one is out of the country.

Regards, JEff

Noorah101

My fiance and I had to decide on marriage sooner than we both probably would have, if we'd been living on the same continent. We visited together in Turkey, where he was living and working, but being Iranian, he could not get a visitor's visa to the USA to see if he even liked the place. We couldn't afford for me to visit Turkey too often, so we had to take a leap of faith and do the K-1 fiance visa for him, so he could come to the USA, marry me, and stay here. We had not spent all that much time together in real life, although we spent lots of time on the phone. In real life, I'd say we spent the total of about 6 weeks together (over the course of 3 years) before getting his K-1 visa. Fortunately, it's working out for us, he's been in the USA now 8 years, he's a USC, and we're happily married. But we've talked about it, and we both have said if we had lived near each other, we would have dated longer before getting married...or at least we would have been able to spend a lot more physical time together.

Rene

slummymummy

Great that it worked out for you! That's crazy that he hadn't even been over here before having to decide to move. Was it also harder getting the visa because he's iranian? Was it in Turkey that you met?

It was not like this for me as I met my husband in England, but I do have sympathy for those who are "forced" to either marry or be apart!

Do some people get the K-1 visa, live together for a couple of months and then decide they don't want to get married? I'm guessing that must happen occasionally...

Noorah101

Not harder, no. But it took a few months longer because of security checks.

Yes, we met in 1997 when I was vacationing in Istanbul. He was working there. We met briefly (once at the shop where he was working, once we went out to dinner with a big group of people and didn't even sit near each other, and once we talked a bit when we saw each other on the street) but didn't keep in touch after my vacation. I couldn't forget about him, though, so 4 years later, in 2001, I went to Istanbul again for a vacation (first time was with a friend, this time with my sister). To my amazement he was still living there (took a bit of detective work to find him, though! LOL). He remembered me, and he spent some time showing my sister and me around Istanbul and we had one real "date night" alone. We got along well and decided in 2001 to keep in touch and see where it might go. After 2 years talking on the phone, we decided we wanted to be together, so I went back to Istanbul in 2003 to stay with him for 3 weeks and look for any glaring red flags. I didn't see any, so we started his K-1 paperwork. I went back again in 2004 for 2 weeks for his visa interview, and we came back to the USA together.

Yes, I'm sure that must happen.

Rene

slummymummy

That's a nice story!

Anyway good luck to the OP! Let us know what you decide to do.