antonjanderson

Wow, this site is helpful. I am a US Cit and my fiance is a Brit. We
where planning on getting married in the UK and then moving to the US
and living there right away. The more research I do, the more I
realize that may not be possible. If we get married in the UK, how
long would it take before she could:
1. Visit me in the US?
2. Move to the US?
3. Work in the US?

Would it be a lot easier if we were to get married in the US? If we
did, any idea when she could start working? Thanks for the help.

Clarino

Hi Anton,

My own experience, which is coming to an end quite soon, bears out that moving from the UK to the US to be together is far more difficult, takes longer, and involves more frustration and time apart, than the opposite route.

My wife and I lived together in the UK for a while before getting married, and immediately we tied the knot, we filed the I-130 to get the Green Card process moving. That was a year and three weeks ago and I'm still waiting for the Embassy to complete final processing. I've managed to see Jen for 11 days out of the last 11 months, and it is killing us both.

The alternative would have been to get married in the UK, as we did, and then stay here until the Green Card is ready. This would have guaranteed that we would be together, and we could both be working because getting permission to reside and work in the UK is generally quick and straightforward once the marriage has taken place.

My advice is - do whatever you need to stay together. If that means spending more time in the UK, waiting for the US paperwork to get done, then that's what it means. And try not to put *any* kind of time limitation on it (e.g. "we'll have the Green Card by [date], so we can figure on doing this, that and the other"). You cannot rely on predictions of how long *anything* will take, during any stage of the process. I recommend playing it safe, if you can.

Cheers,

Graham

penguinsix

I thought it was easiest for the fiancee to enter the USA on a fiancee visa and then get married in the USA within 90 days. K1 visa to enter, then other stuff starts to follow (more quickly in the US than overseas). You get a EAD then a conditional green card valid. I think it is much much faster than getting married overseas, but my experiences is only hearsay, as I haven't done it myself.

Bob

you'd need a fiance visa to get married in the UK...but anyway.

1 - can be as soon as you want, for a visit, you just need to prove that you don't have immigrant intent on that visit.
2- Depends on which route you take visa wise
3- Again, depends on which visa you take.

natelywills

actually, I completely agree with this. Unless you have megabucks and can afford a decent lawyer to speed the process up it's NEVER a good idea to marry outside of another country and then apply to move the souse. Where possible, take the K1 fiancee visa route.

I went through the K1 process and although it took a long time it wasn't half the time we were told it would take for us to be together on a spousal.

I say get the K1, meet up in her country if you can during the wait because she can't travel to the US during that time (I found out the hard way) since she intends to emigrate. That way you can at least break up the 6 month or so wait and then get married AS SOON as you can when in the US. We did it the day after I arrived and it sped things up a lot since she will have no legal rights or security until the green card application has been started. During that time she can apply for a work authorization card and advance parole to travel if necessary and the EAD work card takes up to (although mine took more than) 90 days to come though so it's a long wait.

Just my tuppence worth, I hope it helps. We had a terrible time of it with one thing or another and this seemed to be the best, easiest and fastest way to be together.

Good luck!!

natelywills

concerning work, it takes 90 days for the advanced authorization to work card (EAD) comes through so the sooner you can get married the better. I had to wait over 90 days for mine but as soon as you're married you can apply and one day after 90 days you can demand one at the local INS office (in the sweetest way of course since they are mean)...

Noorah101

It's true that the EAD comes about 90 days or more after filing the I-765. However, you can no longer go in and demand one at the local USCIS office. They no longer hand out interim EADs. If 90 days have passed, you can make an Infopass appointment to make an inquiry, and they will see what the holdup is.

Rene

Noorah101

Hiring a lawyer will not speed up the process. Hiring a lawyer might help you file the paperwork correctly in the first place, to avoid delays, but it will not speed the process up through USCIS.

This isn't true. She can indeed travel to the US during the K-1 process. She would just need to show adequate proof that she intends to return to the UK , and not immigrate on this trip.

Again, this isn't true. She is legally allowed to remain in the USA, and has rights and security for 90 days. It's only if she does not get married within the 90 days that she will encounter problems with her legal stay here.

Rene

Noorah101

As you've realized, it's impossible to move to the USA right after getting married in the UK. It will take about 6 months to a year for her Immigrant Visa to be issued so she can move to the USA permanently.

She can visit you at any time during the visa process.

Most likely between 6 to 12 months.

If she gets the Immigrant Visa, she can work from Day 1 after her arrival in the USA using that visa.

No. The process is the same, regardless of whether you marry in the UK or the USA.

If you got married in the USA, she can start working on the first day after she arrives in the USA on her Immigrant Visa.

Please note regarding my comments about work, did not include the fact that she needs to get a social security number first. If she arrives on the Immigrant Visa, she will get the card in the mail within a couple of weeks.

Please note I only answered your spouse visa questions. The K-1 fiance visa is a totally different route with a different path. But the timeline is similiar...would still take 6 to 12 months to process that visa also.

Rene

natelywills

sorry, just to clarify, by rights, etc I meant that she would be able to work and travel as normal but only once .

I'm simply sharing my experiences. I applied for a K1 visa and was not allowed in the UK even though I had a ton of proof. I had to stay out of the US until my visa came through, had my passport blocked for tourist travel, etc. My husband and I had to wait a YEAR before we were legally about to see each other in the US. It was really horrible to be honest. If this is a rpocess they have changed then great.

I also was not able to apply for my EAD until my gree card application had been sent in so again, if this has changed then great.

Concerning the Lawyer issue, I agree, it's an unnecessary expense but I was told by an official at immigration when I was refused entry to the US that if I had an expensive lawyer the process could be sped up somewhat. I would assume this is how celebrities get to come to the US and vice versa with little or no aggro.

natelywills

how long has this been the case? I had to get an infopass appointment yes but they were running over with my applicationa dn after my third appointment created a temporary one for me at the office like a driver's license.

Noorah101

I'd say this has been in effect about 6 months or more now. There was a memo issued by USCIS that stated local offices no longer have authority to issue temp EADs.

Rene

natelywills

That's really sad. Mine took close to 6 months to come through because they had an office change and the application got held up in the swap so the only thing I could do was go back to the office and pester them for a temporary one. People are going to be really stuck. GRR!!

Thanks for clarifying that for me anyway.

Noorah101

Nothing about this has changed. It was always legal for the K-1 applicant to come visit the USA during the process as long as they can prove to the POE officer that they will be returning to the UK before 90 days is up, and that they show strong ties to the UK. I'm sorry you had such a bad experience, you probably got the POE officer from hell that we keep hearing about.

No, this hasn't changed either. It's true you can't apply for the EAD until the AOS paperwork is sent in, including the form I-765 for EAD. However, a K-1 entrant has the right to work for the first 90 days after entry, even though they have no EAD or proof of such. If you come through JFK, you might get a temp EAD stamp valid for 90 days, but no other POE offers this. It's hard to prove to an employer that you're work authorized when you have no EAD or stamp to prove it....but a K-1 IS allowed to work if they can find an employer who doesn't mind not having physical proof. But there will usually be a gap between the expiration of the 90-day temp EAD and the receipt of the 1-year EAD, so we usually say a K-1 entrant should plan on being unemployed for around 3 to 4 months at least.

The official at immigration was mistaken. And, I believe celebrities use some other visa or means of entering the USA more easily, not because they have an expensive lawyer working on their behalf.

I'm really sorry you had such a bad K-1 experience. That's really quite rare. How long ago was that?

Rene

natelywills

I came to the US in June '05 at last but the whole process took us over a year. That mixed with the hell that was the day I was sent back, I'm a tad nervous about the whole process!!

I've heard from other people that my treatment at the airport on the tourist visa wasn't typical and it was ultimately down to him.

He really messed things up tho because he placed a note in my passport to stop me being able to apply for any kind of tourist visa in the interim so we were basically screwed until my K1 came through. I did try for the tourist visa at the embassy but it was no go.

Apparently a little 25 year old girl is a masive threat that needs to be sent home.

They were nice when I finally got my visa and apologized for my treatment but needless to say it's made me a little paranoid.

It seems like they're streamlining everything tho and that has to be a good thing.