leanneandjunior

Hi there my name is leanne and i am a US Citizen my Fiance Junior is a UK citizen. we have been dating since May 4, 2007 and recently (last weekend) we have begun talking about marriage. What are the steps that him and i must go through to get married and him live in the US... We agreed he would move here since his job can be transferred from the UK to the US verses my job is a small corporation in California and i am unable to transfer. We are both new to this and want it to go smoothly... He will be visiting back in the US for Xmas holidays and new years... if we decided to go to say Vegas while he was here would that be legal since he is here on a visa waiver? What do we need to do to make sure it is legal and how long is the process for him to live here legally?

It has been so hard with us living thousands of miles away from one another we just want the nightmare of being apart to end. ANyone who can shed light would be appreciated.

Noorah101

You basically have two choices: The K-1 fiance visa, or the Immigrant spouse visa. They both take around 8+ months to process.

With the K-1 fiance visa, if you've met in person within the past two years, you can start filing the I-129F petition for him now, saving some time. Once he gets the K-1 visa, he can come to the USA to marry you, and you must get married within 90 days of his arrival. Then there is more paperwork to complete in order for him to become a permanent resident and to get work authorization.

With the Immigrant Visa for spouse, you can indeed get married while he's here on the VWP. You can file the I-130 petition for him while he's here, too. Then he'll return to the UK to complete the process. When he enters the USA with the Immigrant Visa, he will become a permanent resident upon entry, and be work authorized from Day 1.

As part of both processes, you will need to be his financial sponsor.

Go to www.uscis.gov, Immigrant Forms, and look up form I-129F (petition for fiance visa), I-130 (petition for spouse visa), and I-864 (affidavit of support).

Here is a link to the steps for the K-1 fiance visa: http://britishexpats.com/wiki/K1

Hope that gives you a start, anyway.

Rene

leanneandjunior

Renee... Am i understanding properly... it could take a 8 months before we legally can marry?


you say we can indeed get married while he's here on the VWP. i have read different things about fraud issues when i used google before i found this site....

I want to do this the quickest way possible to ease or separation anxieties and the fact that i will soon be having some surgeries for medical reasons and want him to be here with no issues... i read somewhere that once married and he goes back to the UK he could not come back for a while??? this is all so confusing....


Being his finical sponsor is there certain requirements??

Manc

If you get married on the VWP go immediately to the nearest immigration attorney for a consultation.
You may be surprised at what you hear.

leanneandjunior

Is that good or bad? Being surprised what they may say .... that sounds a little scary to me??

Manc

well I did it.
and I'm still in the USA 7 years later. so from my own personal experience it was good.

Noorah101

If you go the fiance visa route, yes. You can't marry until he has the K-1 visa in hand and comes to the USA, and that can take 8+ months. If you go the spouse visa route, you can get married anytime, then it takes 8+ months to process the immigrant visa. He will need to return to the UK for that, before his VWP time is up.

It is perfectly legal for him to come to the USA with the intent to get married and return to the UK for visa processing.

It is misuse and abuse of the VWP if he intends to come to the USA, marry you, and remain to adjust status to permanent resident. If you do this, you can run into problems all throughout his immigration process.

We all want to be with our loved ones ASAP, that's normal. Unfortunately it's not always possible, when dealing with immigration. He IS allowed to visit the USA during the visa process, he should just bring plenty of proof of his ties to the UK in case they ask at the POE, to prove he does not intend to immigrate on that trip.

Yes, there is a level of income/asset requirement. Go to www.uscis.gov, Immigration Forms, and look at the I-864P. That will tell you how much you need to earn for a family of your size (including the immigrant).

Rene

Noorah101

It works for some people, although if you come to the USA with that intent, it's illegal and can come back to bite you, at any point throughout the immigration process.

Perhaps Manc didn't have the intent to remain in the USA, and that's why it worked for him.

For the OP, she is considering it one of the options, which is wrong. Bad.

Rene

Noorah101

Manc, it's one thing to give this advice to someone who is already in the USA by some other means. I don't think you should give this advice to someone who is currently outside the USA. It's basically telling them that it's OK to enter the USA with intent to remain, which is not right.

Rene

Bob

It's a case of do you want to be separated before or after marriage.

The marry and stay on the VWP with the intent you've shown would be visa fraud, would you get caught or not is a small gamble, but would you really want to have that worry over your head?

As for financial sponsor, check the links that were posted. If you don't meet the requirements, you'll need a co-sponsor, either a USC or an LPR living in the US that earns enough to cover household + plus the person, it's quite a big commitment on paper. Assets can be used over salary, but would need x5 assets over salary.

Noorah101

If it's the spouse using assets, they only need to be 3x the amount. If a joint sponsor wants to use assets, it would be 5x the amount.

Rene

leanneandjunior

I hope im not showing intent to marry while he is here on the VWP i was giving an example of what if... I was just saying what if we woke up one morning and said lets go get married today... thats why i asked what would and could happen?? So far we are at the discussion of a big or small wedding that is our extent at this time... nothing has went further... his employer and my employer as well as family know we are engaged but no dates have been set... i hope that clears it up a little....

Thanks LeAnne

meauxna

LeAnne, your intent doesn't matter; his does. He can't move here on the VWP.
Now, if something happens at Xmas, go see your neighborhood immigration lawyer and get info then.

If you want to plan everything down to the tee, your options are listed here. If you want to see what happens and keep things loose, do a lot of reading over the next few months, and not so much posting. Your choices will soon become clear and you can make your decisions together. You can learn a lot from just reading.

Manc

Just because you don't like what I have wirrten doesn't make it any less valid.

I told them to go to an attorney for advice.

was that wrong of me?

Where did I tell them it is ok to come to this country with intent to marry?

I said if you want to get married fine then go see an attorney.

how is that bad advice?

Manc

it's bollocks when a moderator agrees with what I said........

and another moderator publically admonishes me for the same thing.