blaveedez

Hi everyone,
Firstly a little background, i joined this fine site quite a while ago, and received a very warm welcome! but have not posted in a while (lurked a lot).
My wife and i decided upon her renewing her american citizenship to move to milwaukee, WI. She is an american born abroad, so, blah blah, skip to the middle!

She has been living there since january of last year, and i am currently living at my mothers tiny house (in the bedroom i grew up in!
I have visited twice within that time, each visit lasting a month, now, my point is, my immigration process is taking so long! and i don't want to come across like so many posters who expect it to be immediate, but its been around eighteen months now and although it seems close to the end with a couple of delays, form resubmission (my wifes tax and earnings) its made us consider a couple of options, bearing? baring? in mind i've been doing some research and it seems that the government shutdown will potentially delay it even further!

oh yeah, both options involve me quitting my job of twelve years, ulp!

option 1; I go for the full ninety days, starting at christmas, which means i can spend christmas and wait out some more of the time there with my wife.

option 2; which is a tad bigger and more in need of your guidance, is it possible to move there permanently and change or resubmit my visa as an adjustment of status instead?

Obviously i'm not rushing into a decision by any means, it's just really hard for us at the moment as we've been together for nearly twenty years and this is the longest we've been separated since we were 18!

sorry for the essay and terrible grammar, but opinions would be much appreciated

many thanks
Dave.

rpjs

Eighteen months seems rather long - do you know where you are in the process? What responses from USCIS have you had?

USCIS is funded from the fees it charges so isn't directly affected by the shutdown. However, some steps in the process require action by other federal authorities such as FBI background checks, and they may be affected if they've not been done yet.

blaveedez

Hi rpjs,
the last thing we submitted was the affidavit of support, twice because my wife got a new teaching contract in the time they took so her tax didn't match. that was in may, they haven't been forthcoming with info at all throughout the process really mainly through instructing us to wait for an email that never arrives, so we call them and they tell us we should have already done the thing we were waiting on the email for! really frustrating. and with my wife getting a new life sorted out on her own and all the complications that go with that, we've not been exactly hot on their heels, it has dragged it out a lot. but i would say we're in the final stages now, but it seems we've been in the final stages for nearly a year, since i submitted my big pack of documents

scrubbedexpat099

Do you have a Lawyer involved?

civilservant

You are probably only 2-3 months away from the visa now, despite the fact that you have no further options open to you why would you want to stop it?

The AoS from VWP is doomed to failure, since you are already married it's pretty clear you would have immigrant intent, and if the AoS was refused for any reason you would become immediately removable and possibly receive a ban.

Stick with it - you're nearly there.

blaveedez

we lucked out there although only recently, a friend of my wife is an immigration lawyer! but she only met him very recently as i said

jeffreyhy

I am curious to know how your wife renewed her American citizenship.

Regards, JEff

blaveedez

Thanks Civil, i think this thought process is mainly borne out of frustration, although going over for three months to spend some quality time with the misses is still an attractive idea!

blaveedez

Funny story, she was always under the impression she had no claim to citizenship, but following a visit to family she decided to look into it, it turns out that her mum had got her an american passport when she was a nipper, they moved a lot because her dad worked for a big communication company.
So she rang the embassy in london and was informed that all she had to do was renew her u.s passport, job done.

blaveedez

her dad is scottish, by the way, and the story wasn't that funny..........

Noorah101

How does one "renew" US citizenship? It's not something that needs to be renewed. Edit: Never mind, I see now that she simply renewed her passport, not her citizenship.

bearing.

Not a good idea to quit your job until you have your visa in hand. So if both options involved quitting your secure job, I say don't do either one (without even reading what they are).

There is nothing wrong with visiting the USA for as long as you're allowed while you're waiting for the visa. But my advice is not to quit your job just so you can stay longer in the USA.

No. It's illegal to misrepresent yourself at the US POE as a tourist if your real intent is to remain and adjust status to permanent resident. Don't do it.

Hang in there.

Rene

blaveedez

sorry, renewing was just a choice of word, just in context of the fact that she didn't know she was still a u.s citizen, the last thing i want to do is break the law, so i'll forget that one, thanks