Miserere

I would like to hear from anyone who has been in a similar situation as myself or can help out with my bag o' problems. I've used the search function but haven't quite found what I was looking for.

So let me summarise my situation:

• I'm in the US on a J1 visa that ends on Feb 28, 2009 (yes, that is 6 weeks away ).
• I have that bloody 2-year home residency requirement.
• I wish to marry a US citizen (not just anyone, but rather my GF of 8 years ).

My questions are:

1. How do I go about getting married while not getting kicked out of the country 1 month after my J1 has expired and not having to stay in the UK for 2 years?
2. How soon after would I be able to get a Green Card?
3. How soon would I be allowed to work in the US?

I will start applying for the 2-year waiver through this page soon. What reason am I giving for requesting the waiver? Surely "because I'm getting married" is not good enough.

I realise I'm short on time and bureaucracy does not like moving quickly, but for many obvious reasons I do not want to leave the US and my fiancée for 2 years. I was 95% certain that I would be getting a permanent position at the research institution where I work, and they would have taken care of processing my transfer from a J1 to a H1, after which I would have got married without issues. However, I just learnt that I will not be getting this job, and so it is that I find myself in this unfortunate predicament

Any help will be most appreciated. All I can offer are Karma points, but I'll distribute as many as I can!

Thank you so much to anyone who replies.

Noorah101

You can get married at any time. Tomorrow, if it's possible in your state. As for not getting kicked out after the J1 expires, that's why you are applying for the waiver. I don't know how long it takes for the waiver to be approved, though, and I've heard they are difficult to get approved.

ASSUMING the J-1 waiver gets approved, you can then apply for your adjustment of status (AOS). How long that takes depends on the backlog at your local office, I'd say between 3 to 10 months or so.

ASSUMING the J-1 waiver gets approved, you will receive your work authorization about 90 days after filing AOS.

The reason you are giving is the truth, whatever it is. Perhaps a consultation with an immigration attorney can help you word it in such a way that it sounds more appealing than simply "I want to get married and stay here".

Best Wishes,
Rene

meauxna

Have you read this page and all of its links? Many people hire an attorney to help them with this waiver. It would be good to have someone who has done many of these vs you, who have done none.

That said, a lot of people, especially UKC, get the no-objection waiver. You can search this group for stories.

ian-mstm

If you get the waiver, you can apply to adjust your status and you should get a GC in about a year. If you do not get the waiver, you will not be able to adjust your status until you complete the 2-year HRR. Also, until you complete the 2-year HRR, you will not be eligible for any visa to the US.


If you get the waiver and apply to adjust your status, you should be able to work about 3 months after applying.

Ian

Miserere

Aaaargh!!! That damn 2-year home residency requirement!!! The worst part is that it shouldn't have been applied to my visa in the first place, but it seems there was no way of taking it back once it was there.

Thanks for all the replies, guys! And if anybody else has more advice up their sleeve, dish it out!

In the meantime, I've e-mailed a local immigration law firm for a consultation. I hope they don't charge an arm and a leg...

ian-mstm

Why?


You had the option of not accepting/using the visa... but that's water under the bridge now. People often don't fully understand the long-term ramifications of their actions until much later.

Have you considered having your fiancee move to your home country... for, say... two years?

Ian

Folinskyinla

Hi:

Consult a lawyer who specializes in these little beasties -- and I'm not one of them. Bruce Hake in Maryland and Stepen Yale-Loher in Buffalo spring to mind.

These waivers are extremely difficult to get -- you need an expert evaluation if you should just say "it is not worth it to fight City Hall" and 2-year sojourn in the UK ain't all that bad.

meauxna

lol, I have to post this anyway.. I wrote it but the phone rang and i didn't hit 'submit'.
Nice to know my memory hasn't gone completely.

Search this forum + us immigration one for posts from Folinskyinla with 'maven' --- he has a J-1 guy he highly recommends. Bruce something?.. sorry I can't look right now...

Miserere

I am not being paid with US (or UK) government money, so the 2-year rule should not have applied to me. The admin lady who took care of visa applications for my centre furnished me with a letter detailing why I shouldn't get this 2-year rule applied to my visa, but I got it anyway. When I arrived in the US and asked her about it, she said it was a lottery; she had been giving foreign researchers that same letter for years (she dealt with several dozen each year) and there was a 50/50 chance that the immigration officer at the embassy would apply the 2-year rule. She could see no rhyme nor reason and had given up trying to solve it as all her efforts contacting the powers that be had failed. She was very competent and I have no reason to doubt her word. Unfortunately, she moved on to another job and the person who substituted her is completely useless and doesn't care.

Wow, that was long. But you did ask

Sure, I could've turned down a great professional position and told my fiancee that my promise to move to the US to be with her had all been a joke. Clearly, you don't know her

Yes, and I've also considered jumping naked into a pool full of cacti. While both situations are possible, neither is appealing.

Thanks for your comments, Ian.

Rete

Or you could have had her file for the K-1 Fiance Visa and you could have entered, married and applied for adjustment of status and still kept the great position.

Now you have to file for a waiver of the HRR. Others have been successful with this.

Miserere

We looked into that possibility, but we were told the waiting times were ridiculously long. Maybe we were misinformed? Who knows...it's a bloody minefield either way

I'm hoping the waiver isn't a big deal; I know others have obtained them without too many problems.

Bluegrass Lass

Not sure when you entered the US on your J1. Right now, on average, it takes about 8-10 months from your fiancee filling the petition with USCIS, to you getting the visa in London. Not that ridiculously long IMHO. It only took us ~6mo back in 2003/04. But as Ian said, it's water under the bridge now.

Good luck with J1 waiver; I can't provide you any helpful advice unfortunately.

Folinskyinla

Hi:

The binding 212(e) determination is made in the context of the adjustment application. The previous designation is not binding if it was mistaken. I've had adjustments approved in precisely such situations -- it was not easy, but it was done.

Your first sentence is noted since it mentions only one of the three ways that the 2 year FRR kicks in. The three can be summarized as 1) government money 2) skills list and 3) physicians.

Miserere

Hi everyone,

Just thought I would offer an update, in case future generations can learn from my experience.

In the nick of time I found an extra 6 months of funding (phew!) so my new visa expires on August 31. I had to travel out of the US to get the new stamp on my passport, after which I requested the No Objection letter from the UK embassy (only took them 1 week to send it out) while also requesting the waiver from the US DoS.

I has now been a little under 4 weeks since the DoS received my documents and I'm still not in the system. I hear it takes 4-5 weeks for that to happen. After that, they'll take a few weeks to decide whether they give me the waiver or not. Given the UK government has issued a No Objection letter, I see no reason for not getting the waiver.

Meanwhile, I got married this week upon recommendation from my lawyer. My fiancee thought it was all very romantic.

Now we're getting all the paperwork together so our lawyer can put in the Green Card request immediately after I get my waiver. Once that goes in, it takes 60-90 days to get a work permit.

I'll update again when I have more good news.