Sipea

Hello Everyone



So here goes, this is possibly a repeat of a thousand threads and my apologies if it is, the age old story of long distance love, but I genuinely would like some advice of my best options.

I live in the UK, my girlfriend lives in California, we have been together for 11 months albeit predominantly online, however I have just returned from San Diego so before any doubters comment, yes its real and yes we have met lol!

Due to personal circumstances it will be easier for me to move to the US than her come to me in the UK and we do intend to marry in the future however, and here's the bombshell, we are both currently married to other people in our respective countries, she is currently going through a divorce process, I however, am yet to instigate proceedings although am now separated from my wife for a number of months.

I'm not sure where is best to start or what my options are, obviously a fiance visa is the best option but due to our marital situations this is currently not an option, would I be better off just using my ESTA and continue to visiting 90 days at a time? If that's the case the next issue is work, I would quite happily spend my 90 day allowances living and working in the US and leave my job in the UK but as far as I understand it I'm not allowed to do that so, I need to be working my job in the UK to earn an income ! That in turn completely negates our ultimate goal of building a life together

I genuinely don't know where to start but ultimately want to move to my love, get married and live happily ever after obviously lol!

Any advice anyone cave would be greatly appreciated

Thanking you in advance

DaveLovesDee

First thing to do is for both of you get divorced.

christmasoompa

Yep, as above, getting divorced and then a spousal based visa (CR1 probably better than K1 for various reasons - see the sticky thread in the marriage based visa forums for info) would be the easiest.

But what do you do? Any chance of an employment based visa? You can see an overview of all visa options here to see if there is any other possibility - https://britishexpats.com/wiki/Pulas...ork_in_the_USA

HTH, good luck.

Pulaski

Your situation is very similar to what mine was when I met my now wife, except that neither of us were previously married, and she was living in Virginia at the time; I was in London. ..... So to cut to the end advice, get your divorces sorted out first as everything else, other than ESTA visits, is moot at the moment.

That said, when you're both free to marry, you have two choices - either a K-1 fiance visa or get married and go straight for a CR-1 spouse visa. There are advantages and disadvantages to both, but the K-1 is going to take a good while to receive anyway (hopefully someone will be along shortly with some current advice on the likely timescale), but once you arrive you can stay, get married and once the paperwork is processed after you marry, you'll be free to work, BUT the best case scenario is that you won't be working for at least 5 months after you arrive in the US on your K-1, and (I am not sure about current pandemic processing) it could be a good while longer, so if finances are a concern, the K-1 might not be the visa for you.

On the other hand, the CR-1 spouse visa takes a little longer to receive, and of course you have to get married first, but once you have it you will be legally able to work as soon as you arrive in the US, literally right there in the airport if you had a job lined up - you don't even need a SSN. And of course you can carry on working in the US while your CR-1 is being processed, and continue making ESTA visits to see your wife (I would caution about taking long visits as that might start to annoy the nice USCIS officers at the airport). If you want to take this route, plan for a quick trip to the US to get married once both your divorces are finalized - it is much easier to do it that way than to get married in the UK, as you won't need a visa - indeed there is no visa type for someone wanting to get married in the US and then leave again) whereas your girlfriend would need a visa to come to get married in the UK. If having a fancy wedding is part of your plans then you might want to actually get married quietly and have the fancy celebration ceremoney later, after you have your CR-1 and are in the US.

This second route is what I chose, so I worked until the end of October, flew to New York 6 days later, and started work on November 12, which was about 10 days ahead of receiving my SSN. The downside to this route is that you will be apart, other than visits, for the time that it takes your CR-1 to be processed, but that is true while you wait for a K-1 too.

Oh, and just to tie up that loose end, you cannot work while in the US on an ESTA, full stop. Not only does it risk massively complicating your visa application, but there is a real risk of you pi$$ing off the IRS, which is a seriously bad idea!

Luke93

Get Divorced.
To help give you an idea of moving to USA to be together, I moved to USA on a K1-Visa (fiance Visa) in April 2021 and have only just got my work permit.
Marriage Visas get processed faster but you can't travel to USA at all whilst it is being processed.
If you are under 30 I would recommend get a 2 year travel/work visa to Canada where she could probably get a visa to work their too. Thats how I met my wife who was living in Seattle at the time.

christmasoompa

That's not true, it's fine to visit whilst it's being processed.

Welcome to BE btw.

Pulaski

Wot she (Christmasoompa) said!

Luke93

Apologies. Thanks for the correction

Sipea

Thank you all so much for your replies, much appreciated,

Congratulations to those that have been successful, good to know that it is possible and we're not just dreaming !

To now add to the mix, after talking to her just now and mentioning my thread, we have now come to the decision that it may be possible for her to come to the UK instead, if it made things easier ?

Any light anyone can shed on what that might look like would also be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again

christmasoompa

You need a different section of the forum for that - https://britishexpats.com/forum/citi...-visas-uk-196/

Head over there with your info & questions, and the good folks there will be able to advise.

Good luck.

Sipea

Thank you