k3, cr-1... totally terrified and confused- Help!

[carrionthunder0 0]

Hello there,

I am an American citizen who will be returning to the UK on a student visa to finish my MA. I am spending this summer (2009) in the US and last week my UK boyfriend came to visit and proposed. We plan to be married in the UK in January 2010 and I will be returning to the US in January 2011 as we do not plan to remain in the UK after my graduation. Obviously I am going to want my husband to come back with me, and he is eager to start a life in the US with me. He loves it here.

Having spent so much of our relationship apart already, we are not liking the information we're getting about how on earth to bring him to the US. Is the K3 our best bet? I plan to get my PhD in the US, but if I need to take time off to work to establish financial support for him, I will do that. He very much wants to work over here as well.

The affadavit of support is a little confusing to me. He has very well to do cousins living in the US stemming from an aunt who immigrated to the US in the 40's (the cousins were born and raised in CA). Can they co-sponsor him with me?

We're:

A) Scared we're going to be apart months-years

B) Wondering what visa we should go for

C) Debating if we should hold off on marrying in Scotland and just get married here in Reno (which we almost did the night he proposed because neither of us wants to wait to be married)

D) Really confused!

Any insight you can send my way would be much appreciated... we honestly don't have a clue on what to do here. Thank you!

[And_Sam 44]

Hello there,

I am an American citizen who will be returning to the UK on a student visa to finish my MA. I am spending this summer (2009) in the US and last week my UK boyfriend came to visit and proposed. We plan to be married in the UK in January 2010 and I will be returning to the US in January 2011 as we do not plan to remain in the UK after my graduation. Obviously I am going to want my husband to come back with me, and he is eager to start a life in the US with me. He loves it here.

Having spent so much of our relationship apart already, we are not liking the information we're getting about how on earth to bring him to the US. Is the K3 our best bet? I plan to get my PhD in the US, but if I need to take time off to work to establish financial support for him, I will do that. He very much wants to work over here as well.

The affadavit of support is a little confusing to me. He has very well to do cousins living in the US stemming from an aunt who immigrated to the US in the 40's (the cousins were born and raised in CA). Can they co-sponsor him with me?

We're:

A) Scared we're going to be apart months-years

B) Wondering what visa we should go for

C) Debating if we should hold off on marrying in Scotland and just get married here in Reno (which we almost did the night he proposed because neither of us wants to wait to be married)

D) Really confused!

Any insight you can send my way would be much appreciated... we honestly don't have a clue on what to do here. Thank you!

Congratulations on your pending marriage!

I am not sure if this will help you or not, since I am pretty much on the beginning of our journey too! One thing you may want to see is if you can do a direct consular filing while you are in the UK. You are planning on being in the UK for a year after you are married?

With the K3 visa, he will come to the US as an immigrant and you will have to change his status I think 90 days before your 2nd year of marriage. With the CR-1 visa he will enter as a permanent residence which may be easier if he plans on working immediately.

I hope this helps!

Good Luck!

[carrionthunder0 0]

Congratulations on your pending marriage!

I am not sure if this will help you or not, since I am pretty much on the beginning of our journey too! One thing you may want to see is if you can do a direct consular filing while you are in the UK. You are planning on being in the UK for a year after you are married?

With the K3 visa, he will come to the US as an immigrant and you will have to change his status I think 90 days before your 2nd year of marriage. With the CR-1 visa he will enter as a permanent residence which may be easier if he plans on working immediately.

I hope this helps!

Good Luck!

Congrats to you too! I thought I read he can work under the K3 as well. We were going to try applying for all this while we were in the UK, but with me primarily as a student, I obviously have limited means and no permanent residence.

The I-130 is the first step, if I am not mistaken?

[Penguin_ie 5,996]

Congrats on the engagement!

Forget the K3, it's defunct because the CR 1 is just as fast now and better (can work right away) and cheaper. You should definitely look into DCF (direct consular filing); the UK seems pretty strict right now on wanting legal residency, so I am not sure your student visa to the UK qualifies you to do DCF, but it would be the fastest and easiest. If you cannot do DCF, start the process for the CR-1 spousal visa as soon as you are married, and you should have it a couple of months before you want to return to the USA. It's valid for 6 months so that gives you wriggle room on the moving date.

The cousinj co-sponsors sound great btw.

[Dakine 26]

Hello there,

I am an American citizen who will be returning to the UK on a student visa to finish my MA. I am spending this summer (2009) in the US and last week my UK boyfriend came to visit and proposed. We plan to be married in the UK in January 2010 and I will be returning to the US in January 2011 as we do not plan to remain in the UK after my graduation. Obviously I am going to want my husband to come back with me, and he is eager to start a life in the US with me. He loves it here.

Having spent so much of our relationship apart already, we are not liking the information we're getting about how on earth to bring him to the US. Is the K3 our best bet? I plan to get my PhD in the US, but if I need to take time off to work to establish financial support for him, I will do that. He very much wants to work over here as well.

The affadavit of support is a little confusing to me. He has very well to do cousins living in the US stemming from an aunt who immigrated to the US in the 40's (the cousins were born and raised in CA). Can they co-sponsor him with me?

We're:

A) Scared we're going to be apart months-years

B) Wondering what visa we should go for

C) Debating if we should hold off on marrying in Scotland and just get married here in Reno (which we almost did the night he proposed because neither of us wants to wait to be married)

D) Really confused!

Any insight you can send my way would be much appreciated... we honestly don't have a clue on what to do here. Thank you!

Congratulations on your pending marriage!

I am not sure if this will help you or not, since I am pretty much on the beginning of our journey too! One thing you may want to see is if you can do a direct consular filing while you are in the UK. You are planning on being in the UK for a year after you are married?

With the K3 visa, he will come to the US as an immigrant and you will have to change his status I think 90 days before your 2nd year of marriage. With the CR-1 visa he will enter as a permanent residence which may be easier if he plans on working immediately.

I hope this helps!

Good Luck!

"With the K3 visa, he will come to the US as an "immigrant" and you will have to change his status I think 90 days before your 2nd year of marriage"

NONIMMIGRANT.

Nothing to do with how long married with adjusting status.

Unless things change and CRs slow down. The best way to go is the CR-1.

Edited August 1, 2009 by Haole

[GabiandVi 34]

I don't think you should have any problem filing DCF. I'm sure that student visa's apply for residency. The problem with DCF is that it could happen so fast, your husband will have to move back to the US before you are finished with your MA. He will only have 6 months to activate the visa once it is granted. However, if it came to that, he could fly over for Thanksgiving, for example, activating his visa, and then come right back to the UK. If for some reason, you can't file DCF, your process should be finished in about a year anyway. So if you get married in Jan. 2010 and file right away, your husband should have his visa by about Jan 2011.

The only other issue you will need to be aware of is the AOS. You will probably need a co-sponsor, so start lining one up now. It's a big ask of someone and they'll need some time figuring out exactly what they need to do.

Congrats on your engagement and good luck.

[GabiandVi 34]

As for your permanent address, I'm sure you get mail in the US, probably at your parents' address. I know when I've lived abroad, I've always had to give a permanent address for banking, resident visa applications, my online degree, etc., and since mail has been unreliable at a lot of places I've lived, I've been happy to have that option. I've always used my parents' address. In fact, I'm in such a habit of that now, that for my banking, I still use my parents' address for all snail mail correspondence. It has become such a constant in my life, I can't seem to let it go.

Edited August 1, 2009 by GabiandVi

[pushbrk 13,043]

I don't think you should have any problem filing DCF. I'm sure that student visa's apply for residency. The problem with DCF is that it could happen so fast, your husband will have to move back to the US before you are finished with your MA. He will only have 6 months to activate the visa once it is granted. However, if it came to that, he could fly over for Thanksgiving, for example, activating his visa, and then come right back to the UK. If for some reason, you can't file DCF, your process should be finished in about a year anyway. So if you get married in Jan. 2010 and file right away, your husband should have his visa by about Jan 2011.

The only other issue you will need to be aware of is the AOS. You will probably need a co-sponsor, so start lining one up now. It's a big ask of someone and they'll need some time figuring out exactly what they need to do.

Congrats on your engagement and good luck.

A direct consular filing in London isn't going to take very long but nothing says the filing must take place as soon as the marriage occurs. They can simply time the filing so there's no chance the visa is issued more than six months before the planned travel.

The issue nobody is mentioning is that to marry in the UK, she'll need a fiancee visa. That's sometimes a bit thorny. Not sure there are people here who can help with that but there probably are. One thing for certain is they need to start that process right away.

[Jamaican JNR 2]

Hello there,

I am an American citizen who will be returning to the UK on a student visa to finish my MA. I am spending this summer (2009) in the US and last week my UK boyfriend came to visit and proposed. We plan to be married in the UK in January 2010 and I will be returning to the US in January 2011 as we do not plan to remain in the UK after my graduation. Obviously I am going to want my husband to come back with me, and he is eager to start a life in the US with me. He loves it here.

Having spent so much of our relationship apart already, we are not liking the information we're getting about how on earth to bring him to the US. Is the K3 our best bet? I plan to get my PhD in the US, but if I need to take time off to work to establish financial support for him, I will do that. He very much wants to work over here as well.

The affadavit of support is a little confusing to me. He has very well to do cousins living in the US stemming from an aunt who immigrated to the US in the 40's (the cousins were born and raised in CA). Can they co-sponsor him with me?

We're:

A) Scared we're going to be apart months-years

B) Wondering what visa we should go for

C) Debating if we should hold off on marrying in Scotland and just get married here in Reno (which we almost did the night he proposed because neither of us wants to wait to be married)

D) Really confused!

Any insight you can send my way would be much appreciated... we honestly don't have a clue on what to do here. Thank you!

If you want to go ahead and get married. It doesnt matter if you are not working to do the AOS; get a joint sponsor (family or friend) residing in USA that is working and paying tax. In my opinion the CR1 would be the ideal visa for you.

[carrionthunder0 0]

I don't think you should have any problem filing DCF. I'm sure that student visa's apply for residency. The problem with DCF is that it could happen so fast, your husband will have to move back to the US before you are finished with your MA. He will only have 6 months to activate the visa once it is granted. However, if it came to that, he could fly over for Thanksgiving, for example, activating his visa, and then come right back to the UK. If for some reason, you can't file DCF, your process should be finished in about a year anyway. So if you get married in Jan. 2010 and file right away, your husband should have his visa by about Jan 2011.

The only other issue you will need to be aware of is the AOS. You will probably need a co-sponsor, so start lining one up now. It's a big ask of someone and they'll need some time figuring out exactly what they need to do.

Congrats on your engagement and good luck.

A direct consular filing in London isn't going to take very long but nothing says the filing must take place as soon as the marriage occurs. They can simply time the filing so there's no chance the visa is issued more than six months before the planned travel.

The issue nobody is mentioning is that to marry in the UK, she'll need a fiancee visa. That's sometimes a bit thorny. Not sure there are people here who can help with that but there probably are. One thing for certain is they need to start that process right away.

I'm going over to the UK on a student visa so I can finish my MA at the University I attend there. I'll be applying for a Certificate of Approval once I get to England so we can get married in Jan. We don't have to worry about fiancee visas in my case, thank goodness. Just have to wait a couple months to get the COA approved. Thanks for the concern and the help with DCF. We're going to go ahead with that mid next year. Thanks for the advice!!