Moving to the US with my american fiance, get visa here or over there?

sharp_shooter

Hi, I am engaged to an american citizen and we are both currently living in Ireland. We are planning moving to the US in the new year and wondering what the best way to go about getting the visa is. We want to get married in america and live there for the foreseeable future.

We spoke to an immigration lawyer in the states and they said we could get the fiance visa here first the go over (which will take 8 - 12 months) or wee could go over on the visa waiver program and wait about 30 days and say I want to stay and do the whole process from the states without having to return and I could work while im waiting for a decision.

I do not want to do anything illegal or risk my chances of getting refused. we are completely genuine and meet all the criteria but we want to move there as soon as possible and she misses her family and there is not much opportunity or work here in ireland for us anymore. can anyone please offer some advice based on experience or similar. any reasons why they might refuse me or anything that could be a potential issue with getting the visa.

We have considered getting married in ireland and renewing our vows in the states with her family present if it will speed up the process. any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

athlonelad

sharp_shooter wrote: »

Hi, I am engaged to an american citizen and we are both currently living in Ireland. We are planning moving to the US in the new year and wondering what the best way to go about getting the visa is. We want to get married in america and live there for the foreseeable future.

We spoke to an immigration lawyer in the states and they said we could get the fiance visa here first the go over (which will take 8 - 12 months) or wee could go over on the visa waiver program and wait about 30 days and say I want to stay and do the whole process from the states without having to return and I could work while im waiting for a decision.

I do not want to do anything illegal or risk my chances of getting refused. we are completely genuine and meet all the criteria but we want to move there as soon as possible and she misses her family and there is not much opportunity or work here in ireland for us anymore. can anyone please offer some advice based on experience or similar. any reasons why they might refuse me or anything that could be a potential issue with getting the visa.

We have considered getting married in ireland and renewing our vows in the states with her family present if it will speed up the process. any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Have a friend who recently got his fiancee visa. It took an awful long time and it was a lot of hassle. He reckons he should of just got married over there. If you get married its up to them to prove your not a genuine couple but if you go with the fiancee visa you have to prove you are.
Proving it is a lot of grief. They look for pictures, emails phone records and loads and loads of stuff.
It took my friend over a year to get his visa. And the immigration officers gave him a hard time when he visited the states while waiting for his visa to come through. If it was me I'd get married and then apply for residency. Seems to be the better option and there is nothing illegal about it.

silja

Going over on the visa waiver with the intention of staying is visa fraud, don't do it.
Time wise, your best bet is the third option- get married asap, file for a CR-1 spousal visa. It will get auto-expedited as you are both living abroad and should only take 3-4 months at the most, plus it is cheaper and you will have a greencard as soon as you enter, so can work and travel right away.

Cushie Butterfield

Bear in mind that you have to give 90 days notice of intent to marry in Ireland.

PHOEBEKEELY

Hi. Been there, done that. I moved to the States to be married in 1999. My fiance was from Illinois. At that time, the rule was that all the initial paperwork had to be done on this side of the Atlantic. After the wedding, you then take it to the next level. You can apply for a work permit while you ar waiting for your green card application to be processed, which took a total of 3 years. There is nothing simple, straight forward or easy about the whole process, and one thing that no one tells you, is that it is quite expensive. They charge you for everything. If you want to leave the country while you are waiting for for your green card, even that isn't simple. You have to present at an Immigration Office, tell them that you need to go home, and then you apply for "Advanced parole". You submit your request and a fee and put your case to them (a sick relative) and hopefully they will grant it. If they don't, you don't get your fee back. All in all, we spent between 2 - 3 thousand dollars. You don't need the services of a lawyer if you are able to do the paperwork yourself. Which state are you moving to?? I was lucky that there was an Immigration Office in Chicago. There is not one (or at that time anyway) in every state. If for example you lived in Wisconsin and you had to present at an Immigration Office, the closest one to you would be Chicago. Check where the closest one to you will be. When you do have to present at one, be there at 05:00 if you have to. If it's winter, dress warm, and if it's summer, plenty of fluids and dress appropriately. The queues were always out the door and around several blocks. They only saw 500 people a day, and you could have 3 times that many in a queue. You need to be in the first 500. Not in any way trying to turn you off it. I did not have anyone tell me this, before I started the process. I probably would have done it anyway, but it was a shock, and often hard work. Hope this helps. We came home after 6 years. America is a great place to visit. Living there is another story. Not knocking it, it's just there are a lot of hidden things, you don't see until you live there. You will need to get a job where you can get health insurance. There is no social services to speak of. When you are down on your luck there, you are almost out. At least here the state looks after you to a point. We give out a lot here, but in reality, I would rather be sick, down, and out in Ireland, than I would any day in the US. The immigration laws change on almost a daily basis, so what I had to go through may have changed several times since then.Good luck!

sharp_shooter

Thanks for the responses. Still not too sure. What to do. I have looked into the option of getting married here and the cr-1 visa but based on my research it takes more than 2-4 months as previously posted. It can take up to 9 months I'm told. Anyone have anymore info on this or something I may be missing. I am starting the process of marriage here regardless but am definitely not going to go to the US on the visa waiver and stay as I feel it is too risky and don't want to chance not being allowed to live with my wife in here own country.

silja

Both the 2-4 and the 9-11 months timeframe are correct; the first is if the US citizen lives abroad, as the case gets auto expedited through USCIS, even though you need to file your petition through the Chicago lockbox (in my day you could file directly through the embassy). The second, 9+ months timeframe is if the US citizen lives in the USA and the foreign spouse in Ireland (or elsewhere abroad).

sharp_shooter

Ah I see so the fact that my wife will be living here in Ireland with me means that it will get priority as se wishes to return home with me? Well that's the first bit of good news I have got ha thanks

rockonollie

it used to be 2-4 months when you could file through the dublin embassy......but now you have to file with USCIS in the states, even if you're living in ireland, which add to the processing time.

sharp_shooter

rockonollie wrote: »

it used to be 2-4 months when you could file through the dublin embassy......but now you have to file with USCIS in the states, even if you're living in ireland, which add to the processing time.

Oh really?? So how long could I be likely to be waiting?

rockonollie

Honestly sharpshooter.....I couldn't tell you. I just count my blessing everytime I encounter someone going through the process.

Stick at it.....it's worth it in the end.

sharp_shooter

rockonollie wrote: »

Honestly sharpshooter.....I couldn't tell you. I just count my blessing everytime I encounter someone going through the process.

Stick at it.....it's worth it in the end.

Thanks rockonollie.

Based on what I have heard and seen it appears that this is the quickest way either way so lets just hope it's through by the summer. I hope the new immigration laws they're planning delays it at all

sharp_shooter

I was just looking into it and the delay, as you said, is because it has to go through Chicago but what if I was to go to London to process it? I am considering moving to Wales while the visa is being processed as work here is scarce so I could easily go to London when required. Do u think that might make it easier? Any ideas/experience on that?

silja

To process it directly through the London embassy (ie not sending it via Chicago), you'd need to reside in the UK for 6 months before sending the petition. So as you'd need to move there and wait 6 months first, it would not save any time in your case.

sharp_shooter

silja wrote: »

To process it directly through the London embassy (ie not sending it via Chicago), you'd need to reside in the UK for 6 months before sending the petition. So as you'd need to move there and wait 6 months first, it would not save any time in your case.

ah the plot thickens.... I was talking to someone today from america who used to work in the embassy and his role was to process visas for Ireland and other places. his main role was at the interview stage but he said that if we marry here that the visa will take 3 months at the most and I will get a green card for 3 years first then a citizenship thereafter so it is looking good so far thanks for all your input guys..... I will keep you updated on the status of the process and if I can return the favour and help anyone with info or anything based on my own experiences please dont hesitate to ask

rockonollie

Wouldn't rely completely on that info.......if it's someone who used to work in the Embassy, he may not know that you can't process directly through the embassy anymore.....even when they were, nobody would tell you 3 months at the most.

If you get the visa after you get married, you will get a Conditional residency (CR) visa which gives you the same status as a green card holder, but it's only valid for 2 years from the date of entry. After the 2 years you need to apply, in the US, to remove the conditions on your residency (basically showing that the marriage was legitimate all over again) If that's approved you would receive a 10 year greencard.

The CR visa is given to anyone who is applying for a greencard because of marriage, when the marriage is less than 2 years old.

Once you've been living legally in the US for 3 years, you can apply for citizenship (You have to wait 5 years if you're greencard wasn't issued because of marriage to a US citizen)

sharp_shooter

rockonollie wrote: »

Wouldn't rely completely on that info.......if it's someone who used to work in the Embassy, he may not know that you can't process directly through the embassy anymore.....even when they were, nobody would tell you 3 months at the most.

If you get the visa after you get married, you will get a Conditional residency (CR) visa which gives you the same status as a green card holder, but it's only valid for 2 years from the date of entry. After the 2 years you need to apply, in the US, to remove the conditions on your residency (basically showing that the marriage was legitimate all over again) If that's approved you would receive a 10 year greencard.

The CR visa is given to anyone who is applying for a greencard because of marriage, when the marriage is less than 2 years old.

Once you've been living legally in the US for 3 years, you can apply for citizenship (You have to wait 5 years if you're greencard wasn't issued because of marriage to a US citizen)

I will double check as im not sure how long it is since he worked there but he said that the process will be quicker because I dont have to get my wife to apply for a petition for a spouse, Instead I just apply for a greencard directly because Im married to a US citizen. Unless that has changed. I am looking into that tonight

rockonollie

Ok.....not trying to be argumentative.....but either your friend is misinformed or the rules have changed......

When I applied, the petition for any visa based on a relationship with a US citizen had to be filed by the US citizen. In fact, the USCIS website still says the same thing in the Consuler Filing procedures.

From USCIS website;

"2. File the Immigrant Petition
When you know what category you believe best fits your situation, in most cases, you will need to have an immigrant petition filed on your behalf.

Family Based
Family based categories require that a U.S. citizen or permanent resident relative file a Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, for you. For more information, see our Family page."

silja

You missunderstood the guy who used to work at the embassy. The visa process for a spouse is ALWAYS a two stage process, with the US spouse petitioning first- this is not something that changed recently. It is true that it is quicker when the spouse lives abroad, and 3 months is possible, but not "at the most". And as mentioned, there is a conditional greencard first, then 2 years later removal of conditions, then a year after that you can apply for naturalisation.

sharp_shooter

Yes that is the info I had to date. It is my fiancé that spoke to him and it may be the case she relayed the info incorrectly cuz she sounded very excited about it and maybe was a bit over enthusiastic. Once again guy I really appriciate the help and info you have shared with me. Ill keep you updated

rockonollie

Best of luck......let us know if you need any advice once you get the process started......there's alot of details

PHOEBEKEELY

Sorry. Haven't used this site for a long time. How did you get on with your visa application???

sharp_shooter

PHOEBEKEELY wrote: »

Sorry. Haven't used this site for a long time. How did you get on with your visa application???

Ok folks, sorry for the delay. Well I am very happy to tell you that I am currently living in california with my greencard. How... well this is how I did it....

Instead of applying at home wich takes forever, we moved over straight away. I entered on the visa waiver program and then applied for adjustment of status while over here. The whole process cost about $1, 500 plus medical and shots which were about $350 and took exactly 90 days from start to finish. I had my fingerprints done about 2 weeks after the application was recieved and I got my interview date exactly 90 days after the date of the application. My work authorisation came about 2 weeks before the interview and I had my greencard about a week after the interview. I couldn't work for the 90 days but my wife could and we just took it easy. We had a lot of support from her family too. But I tell u, there is worse places to be oit of work for 90 days than san diego! It was worth every second and now our new life is just begining...

sharp_shooter

I'd like to extend a HUUUUUUGE thank you to the community of boards for all your help and advice through the process and if I cam return the favour I'd be delighted to help anyone with advice or anything I can... thanks again

lil_lisa

Congrats sharp_shooter, I'm glad everything worked out. It's also always great to hear the after story. Welcome to SD neighbour

WilyCoyote

Well done sharp_shooter. My advice would have been no good. It took 18 months and cost about $2k although we were married for a few years and working/living in Ireland. Wife is American citizen.When she came to live in Ireland she was working within 3 weeks. Nat Ins number etc sorted and it cost nothing. Different folks different strokes

crapmanjoe

Congrats

But as a word of warning I believe what you did would constitute immigrant fraud had you been caught (not supposed to enter on the VWP with intention of getting onto a different visa / getting a green card)

But people do it all the time and get away with it!

sharp_shooter

crapmanjoe wrote: »

Congrats

But as a word of warning I believe what you did would constitute immigrant fraud had you been caught (not supposed to enter on the VWP with intention of getting onto a different visa / getting a green card)

But people do it all the time and get away with it!

That is completely correct. I was very worried about doing it but I hired a paralegal to do the paperwirk and she advised me to do this. She said they really don't care how you got here as long as you are doing everything legally once yiu are here. I wasn't asked at tge interview if I came with the intentii n of staying but if asked I would possibly have said I did not plan on staying. Although by paralegal advised me to tell them that. I forgot to mention that I got married in ireland before I came over. We were married just over 6 months at the time of the interview.

Thank you all for the congrats messages and again, if I can help anyone with advice about anything at all I'd be more than happy to. Just pm me anytime

sharp_shooter

I have recieved a few private messages about the visa process, I am responding to everyone in the best detail in can but some times I dont see the message for a few days and some people have had settings where they cannot recieve a private message so if I havent responded just change your settings and message me again and I will beglad to help