Could DCF be our best option?

[cenourinha 0]

Well, I'm new here, probably I should hop over to the introductions board and introduce myself but I'm gonna give this a shot first...

I currently live in Portugal with my Portuguese fiancé. I moved here with the intent to stay and live but we realised that we can have a much better life if he comes to the US with me, and we've since cemented that decision - I set us up an apartment there, talked to my employer about returning and will be making sure there's a place for my fiancé at the company in case he can't find other work when he arrives, and most importantly... I reenrolled in school there. The fact that I reenrolled means I'll start in September, and I'll obviously have to go back to the States then. I would really like to have him with me there as soon as possible - we've already spent most of our relationship as a long-distance couple and I don't want to give him up again, surely you all understand!!!

Here's the dilemma.

We're getting married next month, which means that in September I'll meet the 6-month residency requirement (I personally think this is ridiculous, since September of 2007 I've spent less than 6 months outside of Portugal but because because it was on student and tourist visas it doesn't count! Argh!) to file in Lisbon for him to come with me. I assume this would be the quickest way to do things, and I could go back to the States while everything goes through and he'd come as soon as everything is finished.

But the fact that we're getting married now means we could also file the normal way right away in March and give everything another 6 months to go through while I wait to go to the States in September, but I also know that it would probably take more than 6 months.

What I'm wondering is, should we file now for him to come over to the US on a spousal visa or should we wait to file for the visa in September when we can do it directly through the Embassy in Lisbon? Will DCF be faster or do we have a better chance getting him sooner if we file now and give it 6 more months to go through?

[PnA 0]

Once you get married, You can have you're husband file residency for you there in Portugal. As long as you have lived there 6 months, You are eligible to file DCF... It doesn't matter that you're there on a tourist/student visa.

So.. if you're getting married next month, You can start the DCF process right away

Good luck !

[txladykat 1]

the 6 month requirement is determined by when your residency began, not from when you got married. to meet the 6 month requirement you must reside for 6 months CONTINOUSLY in the country in which you intend to reside. For example, I came to Denmark in August 2008 and got married. I returned to the US in September 2008 to pack up my belongings and came back in October 2008. Since I left the country in September, the embassy states they will begin counting the 6 months from the last time I arrived in the country. If I were to leave before the 6 months expires, even if only for a day, they would begin counting the 6 months over again. DCF is the fastest way to go. Even if you had to start counting 6 months from today, it will be faster than applying for the visa in the US.

There is another member who posted in this forum also doing DCF from Denmark. Her 6 months began long ago, but she was not married yet. The embassy told her as soon as she got married she would qualify since she had already met the residency requirements. As soon as she got married, she notified the embassy and they let her file for the visa.

[cenourinha 0]

I checked with the embassy and they said we can definitely file in June! (And also that processing there usually takes a few weeks, and that you can only file on a Thursday )

Thanks! Without VJ I would never have thought we could apply that early and we would have been stuck waiting until September without having to.

[frali 2]

Good luck!