Alex Batey

Hello everyone; My name is Alex, I'm 22, engaged to an american woman who is 28 and she has a daughter of 5 years old from a previous relationship. I have had no previous employment in my life, I hold no major qualifications apart from GCSE's and a Level 2 City & Guilds. I am interested in working over there or being a student, I however have almost no personal savings and no income. I have Asperger Syndrome and ADHD. As you can all see it appears it will be very difficult for me to come to the USA under any other means apart from marriage, well that's not going to be happening any time soon as me and the "wife" have no personal savings or income, and she is living with an ex partner of hers while she looks for a job and a place to live (in reality it could be a year or more before we're able to even consider marriage what with her having to look after the daughter and do everything else she needs to do). I'm looking for a quick way over to the North American continent, for instance my father is hoping to get a job with a Canadian company so I'm hoping I'd be able to go with him, granted it's not the USA but at least it saves her a 4000 mile journey just to see me ,and me her. Any assistance with this matter will be great and you'd have my eternal gratitude.
So just to clarify; I have no money, no job, and no means as far as I can see of getting over there other than marriage (and even then I'm not sure whether I'd be able to remain there afterwards), I've been looking into all this for the past two years my self but input from people who have been through the system or know more about it than me would be most helpful clearing up the finer details.
On a side note, we do have a plan to get me over there. It involves me and her saving $5000 and giving it to a friends father as sponsor money for me then having me coming over on a work visa to work with him basically as a gardener doing yard work. I've explained to her my reservations on doing this plan as I don't think it will work based on the requirements for that kind of Visa "You have skills that are in short supply, e.g. scientific or medical training. A degree is normally a must. Or you have superior specialist skills with at least 12 years experience ( 3 years experience for each year of a 4 year degree missing of study)." If anyone can give me an idea of whether they think this idea may or may not work and the reasons for and against then I'll thank you in advance.
Thank you all again for taking the time to read my plights and for helping me with them, I apologise for the long post (this is my first post on a forum ever).

Alex Batey

Silverdragon102

Basically without marriage cat and hell comes to mind

read this link http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Pulaski_Simplified

Your friend's father will not be able to sponsor you like you have described

Also think you will have a hard time coming with your father to Canada as far as I am aware dependant child cut off is 22 and you may find your health issues go against you but better to read CIC website in regards Canada

Alex Batey

I read that link friend, that's the main reason why I signed up and am requiring additional help with this matter. From what the information says then I haven't got any hope apart from marriage, do you or anyone else have any information on what I'll be able to do after marriage; for instance whether I'll be able to reside there for a period of time or permanently.

Silverdragon102

read the marriage forum as I have no real clue on the marriage process when marrying a US citizen

AmerLisa

If and when you get married to this woman (please think long and hard about this relationship, especially since she's still living with her "ex partner" ) she would have to sort out a visa for you (if she doesn't earn enough a family member may sponsor you) and then you would be allowed to come over with green card in hand, you would be able to work.

This is pretty simply put and it's not that simple here. You would have to go to work, unless your "wife" had a suitable job to afford you all and hopefully had health insurance to cover any of your medical needs.

I wish you the best, but you've chosen quite a huge mountain to conquer.... Good luck!

Alex Batey

Thank you both for your replies, It's worth noting though that she's only recently moved into her ex partner's house, she was living with her family before that but had to find some where else when they moved out of state. The idea of a family member sponsoring me may be viable as I've spent 9 months (collectively) out of the 2 years we've been "together" living over there with them so they know me very well and would perhaps be willing to sponsor me. No health insurance as such, although she is on her daughters but it's not so great, but I have no needs when it comes to medication etc since I'm handling my conditions rather well without. I'll have to discuss the possibility of the family sponsoring me with her. Thank you AmerLisa for wishing me luck, it seems I'll need it in my current situation.

Noorah101

Hi Alex,

I cannot see any way for you to immigrate to the USA other than marriage. For more information on the marriage-based visa routes, please see and post in this forum: http://britishexpats.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=35

Also, you should start learning the lingo as it applies to immigration...you were not "living" over there for 9 months...you were "visiting". You are not allowed to live in the USA as a visitor, but you're allowed to visit. It's an important distinction. Also, you refer to your fiancee as your "wife" at one point...don't do that. If you guys ever plan to go down the K-1 fiance visa route, you should never refer to her as your wife...it can throw a wrench in things.

Rene

GarethB789

Them being willing to sponsor you for a marriage visa is fine but for a work visa this would not be enough. It'll be up to the officers to determine whether your skills and qualifications are specialist enough that no American would be employee could do the job instead. I'm sorry but I really can't see this being the case in the field of work you have mentioned.

Marriage or Engagement are literally your only options I'm afraid. If you can get a family member of your would be wife with the right salary then you shouldnt have any problems. The fact that you have no money or qualifications will not affect your application in any way. They are more interest in the assets of the person who sponsors you, as this person would be financially liable for you if you ran out of money. Basically they do not want you to become a public charge.

Your health issues would be taken into account, but from what you have mentioned these do not seem severe enough to be a reason for a refusal.

Good luck!

Alex Batey

Thank you Gareth & Rene, I'll try harder to use the correct terms in future as it can confuse the situation some, and thank you for the information. I didn't think that my health issues would have much of a baring on my application since they are fairly common and pretty much a non issue as it stands, I will have to look into it my self some more to find out though, as I thought though (much to my displeasure) that the long road to marriage is the only way. It seems to be the general consensus of this thread that it's the only thing I can do which makes total sense since it's what I had found out my self initially. I'll have to discuss this with my fiancee in more detail and see how she takes the news that we may be looking at trying to get sponsorship from her parents, I'm not sure it will go well but it's what we expected for the most part. I'm rather sad though that I don't have another option (not that I don't want to marry the woman I love) since marriage will take a while to get sorted from what I've read and heard, I belive it could take up to 6 months to get the paper work sorted and cleared, so I may be looking at a long wait before I'm able to go over. I'll update when I find out more, thank you all again for your input it's very much appreciated.

Noorah101

Have her and her parents go to www.uscis.gov, Forms, and read both the I-134 and I-864 Affidavit of Support forms and instructions. The affidavit of support is different, depending on whether you do a K-1 fiance or a spouse immigrant visa. The K-1 fiance visa uses the I-134 to initially obtain the visa, but then the I-864 once you're in the USA and adjusting status. The spouse immigrant visa only uses the I-864.

If you've met at least once in person within the past 2 years, your fiancee can file an I-129F now, to get the ball rolling on the K-1 visa. It takes about 8 months or so for you to get that visa.

If you want to do the spouse immigrant visa, you'll need to get married first, and then have her file an I-130. This visa takes about 8 to 10 months to process.

Either route you choose, there will be fees paid along the way, plus police report and medical exam fees. You should budget around $2,500 for the whole visa process.

Rene

christmasoompa

Sorry, but that's not gonna happen - Silverdragon was correct above, you'd only be classed as a dependent child up to the age of 22, so couldn't go on his visa.

Best of luck with your move though.

Bob

Health issues will be a decent concern in the US too, less so for the visa, but in general, without a decent job with decent health insurance.

ian-mstm

Respectfully, you have no qualifications or experience that a US employer would want... unless you'd like a job flipping burgers at McDonald's - and even then, you'd be struggling.

It's time to start thinking a bit more realistically!

Ian

Ethelred_the_Unready

How about bringing her over to the UK? Try to get a decent job there. Trust me, the US is the last place on earth you want to be struggling in.

Dorothy

Unfortunately it's not that easy. Have you looked at the requirements to sponsor a spouse to UK?