HumphreyC

Hi all

I and my wife are really stressed about the immigration process and I was hoping that a few of the experts here could help us out. It’s dawned on me that the immigration red tape for the States is a lot less straightforward than it is for the U.K and right now it’s all a bit overwhelming. Any help would be much appreciated.

The situation

I and my wife met at university in Scotland back in 2004. She’s from Massachusetts and I come from Suffolk. Anyway to cut a long story short, we hit it off and she decided to come back from the States to do a Masters and live in London with me. We got married in a registry office in October 2006 and managed to get jobs working for the same company. After we got married we went to the immigration building down in Croyden and got leave to remain, then permanent leave to remain later on. So we’ve now been married over 3 years and we want to move over to where my wife is from in the States. Problem is that we didn’t do a lot of the planning for this before we checked out the situation with Visas, which was pretty stupid, but what’s done is done.

The plan

Our original plan was that my wife would move over in May and I would follow 6 months later in October. This would require my wife filing a DCF I-130 in London before she went in May. Trouble with this is that I see the processing time is 4-6 months and if she goes over to the States in May she will have to file with a U.S service center there, which would lengthen the process to 8-12 months. Obviously there is a conflict between that and our plan that I could go over in October. So, the more I read the more confused I get. The main questions I have is what is the fastest immigration route for me and my wife to take? Where and when should I be filing the I-130, the U.S or U.K? Is there any route I can take where my wife could leave in May and I can still follow in October?

HELP

ian-mstm

Once she files in London, she can leave the UK. She doesn't need to file in the US afterwards... and it's perfectly okay for her to do that. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that plan.


She has ILR... she can file the I-130 in London. That *IS* the fastest immigration route.

Here's a thought before you do anything... your wife may want to consider becoming a UK citizen prior to leaving the UK (if time allows). It really would be advantageous in the long run, and does not affect her US citizenship at all.

Ian

HumphreyC

Hi Ian

First of all, my sincere thanks for your response which is much appreciated. I thought I was an old hand at immigration stuff, but this seems pretty confusing. If you don't mind, I have a couple of follow up questions which you can maybe help me with.

That was our original plan. I did panic this morning when I noticed the article here:

http://britishexpats.com/wiki/DCF_I-130_Filed_In_London

It states that:

'Once the petition has been accepted, the US citizen may leave the UK and the UK spouse can stay to apply for the visa. However, once the US citizen has moved out of the UK, they will be required to file their petition at the US Service Center, which extends the application timeline to 8-12 months'

This seems to suggest that once the petition process has started, we are looking at 12 months for me to get approved. In which case coming over to the states in October is ruled out. If we filed the petition next month we would then be looking at February 2011. I can do that but I wouldn't want to do 9 months of separation unless I really had to. I'm also a bit confused about the interview process. How does that work if my wife is in a different country?

I don't think we have time. It isn't in our long term plans to come back to the U.K so unless it would help with the U.S immigration process I don't think it would be worthwhile.

meauxna

Hi Humphrey, how can I word that phrase more clearly in the wiki? Maybe with a paragraph break? How about changing 'once' to 'if'?

'Once the petition has been accepted by London USCIS, the US citizen may leave the UK and the UK spouse can stay to apply for the visa.
However, if the US citizen has moved out of the UK, they will be required to file their petition at the US Service Center, which extends the application timeline to 8-12 months'

HumphreyC

Hi Meauxa

Aha! Ok, that makes it a LOT Clearer; what an emotional roller-coaster of a day. I think it would be clearer if it was 'if' instead of 'once'.

I guess I just need to know how long the petition takes if it is submitted in the U.K.

BritishGuy36

How about:

However, if the US citizen has moved out of the UK prior to filing the I-130, they will be required to file their petition at the US Service Center.....

BritishGuy36

We used to say about 5 months start to finish; this was typical and almost exactly bob on in the majority of cases being processed about 18-24 months ago when my journey occured.

However, we were seeing I-130 approvals in one week just before Christmas. This meant that the whole process was being completed in under 3 months.

If you want to go in October, start the process now, and you'll definitely make it for October - providing there's nothing in the closet that's going to be a stumbling block to your application.

However, if your I-130 does get approved ridiculously fast, you might want to hold off on sending in the Immigrant Visa application (IR-1)...since when your visa is approved you only have 6 months to use it....so really you don't want your interview before April.

Noorah101

Yep, this makes it really clear.

Rene

Noorah101

Humphrey,

Also make sure your wife has been filing her US tax returns each year. If she has not, she will need to file at least the most current 3 years, you will need to take proof of filing to you visa interview.

Since she is moving to the USA ahead of you, that conveniently solves the "intent to domicile" issue.

As for how the interview works, your USC wife is not required to be there. So no problem if she's already back in the USA.

Rene

meauxna

Great; I'll fix that then.. sorry you got confused!

As said, it's been running 4-6 months for ages, with the majority of cases completing (this is petition + visa) in 5 months. You can look at the current petition processing timeline, as posted on the London/Embassy site.

It's perfectly fine for your wife to file the petition now, with what you know about your travel plans.
You do not *have to* respond immediately to the visa application request.. you will be driving the bus for the 2nd half of the process. Someone just recently posted his interview experience where they had dragged it out for a year, because that turned out more convenient for them.

Even more betterer; I"ll make the change.

'grats on the job!

meauxna

Updated wiki entry now reads:

In London, these cases have historically taken five months from start to finish. While this can change at any time, 4-6 months is a good guideline; leave sufficient time for your application before planning your move.

If you are on short notice, the most important part of qualifying to file with this shortened application process is to have the US citizen spouse file the petition before leaving the UK. Once the petition has been accepted by London USCIS, the US citizen may leave the UK and the UK spouse can stay to apply for the visa.

However, if the US citizen has moved out of the UK prior to filing the I-130, they will be required to file their petition at the US Service Center, which extends the application timeline to 8-12 months.

Ginblossom

You should reconsider. They are fast tracked these days. If for someone unknown reason you or she has to or wants to come back to the UK, she will find it much harder without it.

Your US spouse could be a UK citizen in theory by May.

Duncan Roberts

I've come to realize that if you have the opportunity to gain citizenship of a country without damaging one(s) you already have then you are a fool not to do it because the opportunity doesn't come around for most people and can be a great advantage. This is especially true with an EU citizenship. You may not be planning to move back to the UK but you never know where your careers will take you and having that UK citizenship may be very useful if you or her happened to be offered a fantastic position in an EU country.

Michelmas

As a UKC she will also be able to use the NHS if you for any reason find yourself without health insurance.

Duncan Roberts

Not unless she lives there.