Is this marriage feasible?

[nebodihome 0]

Situation:

- I am a graduate student in the U.S., will graduate in May

- Currently have enough income to be above poverty line from part-time work

- In July, I am going on an assignment in Rwanda that will last 3-4 years. I will be on a U.S. salary

- My fiancee lives in Colombia

- She has a 3-year old child (never married with father)

What I would like:

- To marry with her so that she is a U.S. citizen

- For her and her to child to reside with me in Rwanda for 3-4 years

- For her and her child to legally be able to return and live in the U.S. with me after 3-4 years

Question:

1. Can I file for the K1 while I am in Rwanda (with my parents' or aunt's address being used), and then fly to the U.S. when she is ready to come there to marry?

2. How long must I then wait for her to actually be eligible to move to Rwanda while still retaining the ability to legally return to the U.S.? (advance parole?)

3. While she is waiting for advance parole approval, can she stay with my family while I go back to Rwanda, and once she is approved, she can fly over there (without my needing to come back to the U.S. again?)

4. Is there any alternative to this? (Marrying in Rwanda, then moving to the U.S. later with a K-3 spouse visa or something?... And if we did that, of what country would she be a citizen of after marriage?)

Thank you!

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

You probably need to wait until you are ready to live permanently in the US.

You can marry anywhere and the two of you can come back then to permanently live in the US.

An alien cannot become a citizen of the US (via marriage to a US citizen) until they have been in the US three years after issuance of a greencard.

[nebodihome 0]

Then my question should be: What do I need to do to make this happen? I am ready to start the process in December.

After we marry in the U.S., can she legally go with me to temporarily live in a foreign country?

[az110965 252]

You will be ineligible to file for K-1 while residing in another country, even though you will be drawing a US salary.

Your best method would be to marry overseas (either in Rwanda or Colombia), then when you return to US file for CR-1.

DCF used to be possible method, but for all intents and practical purposes, USCIS has done away with that program.

If you filed right now for a K-1, received it quickly, brought her here, married and filed for AOS (all before next July), you'd still have problems because she would not be able to be away from the USA for 3-4 years without abandoning her permanent residency status.

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

Her ability to go to another country depends on that countries laws and maybe somewhat on your employer. Even when you marry her, she will still travel as a citizen of her home country until she can become a USC ( at least 3 years after becoming an LPR ) some countries will make things easier for an LPR but not all.

[skiptex 225]

find a job in USA.. it will make it all easier for ya..

[nebodihome 0]

Thank you for all of your responses. My question then becomes this:

She is currently working part-time and is a part-time student. If she applied for a tourist Visa for the U.S., she probably would not get approved.

If I marry her in Colombia, or decide to marry her in Colombia, what are the chances that Rwanda will allow her to enter the borders with me? Rwanda is considerably poorer than Colombia, so am I wrong to assume that their entry requirements are less than that of the U.S.? Do you think her being my wife would help in that process?

Thank you!

[yonglin 1]

The US may not wish to issue her a visitor visa if they believe she intends to stay in the US permanently. Rwanda may or may not be concerned with that possibility. If you know that you are going to Rwanda, you should really not be thinking about the US immigration process at this point (you should start thinking about that ~1yr before you intend to relocate to the US).

From a very cursory reading (I'm certainly not an expert on this topic!), it seems that she could be eligible for "M2" status in Rwanda if the two of you are married and you hold a temporary resident permit. Some information for you: http://www.migration.gov.rw/Visa.html

Best of luck!

Edited October 16, 2011 by yonglin

[sachinky 465]

You should not be concerned with US immigration at this point if you have no plans to live in the US for the next 3-4 years. You should start the process when you're approximately one year away from relocating to the US.

You'll have to check the Rwandan requirements for a spouse to accompany an employee on a work visa.

[nebodihome 0]

Thank you for the additional responses. More and more I realize that I am throwing, incorrectly, citizenship status and immigration into the same pile... Can someone offer me some guidance along the following points? :

- I am doing to be doing one of those things where a U.S.-based company with offices in Rwanda will be sponsoring me, providing my housing, etc. I am fairly sure, as I briefly understood from a conversation with a co-worker, that if I have dependents, I would need to let the company know so that they can sponsor (or whatever the correct terms is, in this case) and accommodate for them, also. I think it's like you see in the movies: Foreigners living temporarily in an expat community in a foreign country with their families all there, etc.

- IF this is the case, and especially IF there is a possibility that I will be outside of the U.S. for even up to 6-7 years (and possible moving across East Africa and to Dubai), would it not be wise for me to marry her in Colombia and then just let my company "sponsor" her and her child to follow me wherever I go? I mean, I cannot imagine them sending me abroad on a U.S. salary and telling me my spouse and stepchild cannot accompany me... Right?

- The only nag in this I can think of is if they say, "Well, she is not a U.S. citizen, so she cannot come." But I don't think that is correct logic. After all, wouldn't the sponsoring process more be based on where she is going rather than where she is originating? If the office of my company based in Rwanda can sponsor me, shouldn't they be able to sponsor a citizen of any country?

Thank you!

[Ning 619]

Thank you for the additional responses. More and more I realize that I am throwing, incorrectly, citizenship status and immigration into the same pile... Can someone offer me some guidance along the following points? :

- I am doing to be doing one of those things where a U.S.-based company with offices in Rwanda will be sponsoring me, providing my housing, etc. I am fairly sure, as I briefly understood from a conversation with a co-worker, that if I have dependents, I would need to let the company know so that they can sponsor (or whatever the correct terms is, in this case) and accommodate for them, also. I think it's like you see in the movies: Foreigners living temporarily in an expat community in a foreign country with their families all there, etc.

- IF this is the case, and especially IF there is a possibility that I will be outside of the U.S. for even up to 6-7 years (and possible moving across East Africa and to Dubai), would it not be wise for me to marry her in Colombia and then just let my company "sponsor" her and her child to follow me wherever I go? I mean, I cannot imagine them sending me abroad on a U.S. salary and telling me my spouse and stepchild cannot accompany me... Right?

- The only nag in this I can think of is if they say, "Well, she is not a U.S. citizen, so she cannot come." But I don't think that is correct logic. After all, wouldn't the sponsoring process more be based on where she is going rather than where she is originating? If the office of my company based in Rwanda can sponsor me, shouldn't they be able to sponsor a citizen of any country?

Thank you!

I dont see any info here about the situation with the child. You need to check into what it takes to take the child out of Colombia. To bring the child to the USA for example the mother will need a signed statement from the father allowing the child to leave.

I would think your company would have more info on sending it employees & families to other countries. My husband was sent to Saudi Arabia & Colombia. The company had people that did nothing but visas for entering those countries to work & live.

[nebodihome 0]

I dont see any info here about the situation with the child. You need to check into what it takes to take the child out of Colombia. To bring the child to the USA for example the mother will need a signed statement from the father allowing the child to leave.

I would think your company would have more info on sending it employees & families to other countries. My husband was sent to Saudi Arabia & Colombia. The company had people that did nothing but visas for entering those countries to work & live.

Yes, I'm aware of the situation with the child. The law is that the father must sign if he has custody, but I do not think he legally does, at this point. If he does not, I think he would sign it.

Other than that, now after looking at various visas in African countries, it is clear that they all have special visas for dependents of temporary workers, and it says nothing about the dependents having to have a passport from the same country as the worker.

[Inky 1,111]

You need to check with your company we cant tell you if the company will have anything to do with a non US citizen spouse, nor can we tell you if they can even get her papers to live in Rwanda or if they even want to spend the time trying to deal with that.

Its completely dependent on what your company is going to do and willing to pay for etc and no one here can tell you that.

You cant get her a green card or citizenship right now. The issue of burden is on your company and what they are going to do to help her live with you if they will do anything. When you find that out then you need to make a choice.

[beejay 125]

Thank you for the additional responses. More and more I realize that I am throwing, incorrectly, citizenship status and immigration into the same pile... Can someone offer me some guidance along the following points? :

- I am doing to be doing one of those things where a U.S.-based company with offices in Rwanda will be sponsoring me, providing my housing, etc. I am fairly sure, as I briefly understood from a conversation with a co-worker, that if I have dependents, I would need to let the company know so that they can sponsor (or whatever the correct terms is, in this case) and accommodate for them, also. I think it's like you see in the movies: Foreigners living temporarily in an expat community in a foreign country with their families all there, etc.

- IF this is the case, and especially IF there is a possibility that I will be outside of the U.S. for even up to 6-7 years (and possible moving across East Africa and to Dubai), would it not be wise for me to marry her in Colombia and then just let my company "sponsor" her and her child to follow me wherever I go? I mean, I cannot imagine them sending me abroad on a U.S. salary and telling me my spouse and stepchild cannot accompany me... Right?

- The only nag in this I can think of is if they say, "Well, she is not a U.S. citizen, so she cannot come." But I don't think that is correct logic. After all, wouldn't the sponsoring process more be based on where she is going rather than where she is originating? If the office of my company based in Rwanda can sponsor me, shouldn't they be able to sponsor a citizen of any country?

Thank you!

You've gotten a lot of good advice but I would just like to reiterate a few points.

I think your best course of action is to talk to your company about your situation and sponsoring your future wife. I think a marriage in the U.S. isn't worth the hassle since you won't be living here anyway,(although contrary to another poster I was able to file a k-1 while living abroad but we moved back/immigrated to the US together once it was approved). Getting married in Columbia or a 3rd country where you both can enter and legally get married is also an option. As long as you are sure you want to get married I would figure that part out first as I doubt your company will be willing/able to sponsor her until you are married.

If your company isn't willing to sponsor her for whatever reason, then I would look into the immigration laws of Rwanda. Once you are living there with a visa perhaps you can sponsor her yourself. I lived in Dubai for awhile and many people I knew who received visas through their employer, were then able to sponsor their spouses themselves based on their marriage. It can be different for every country but it's worth looking into the requirements in Rwanda. I believe someone else posted a link to this information.

The marriage is feasible. The specifics of where you get married and what country you live in are what you need to sort out. You situation does not sound impossible but it does sound like you need to talk to your company to understand their policy better and figure out more information about the rules and regulations of Rwanda. Does Columbia have an embassy in Rwanda? That would give you some information on what your SO needs to enter/live in the country. I would also look for some ex-pat forums for Rwanda to see if you can get some more advice there.

Good luck!

[kennym 275]

Is there any alternative to this? (Marrying in Rwanda, then moving to the U.S. later with a K-3 spouse visa or something?... And if we did that, of what country would she be a citizen of after marriage?)

Thank you!

A couple of thoughts..

I also had this same situation.. I worked in Trinidad and Tobago for about 3 years.. My wife and I waited to file the Paperwork until I returned to the US...

We considered that we could marry outside the US, she could come live with me and we could do a Direct Counselor filing prior to wrapping up in T&T.. However, we decided to wait.. Thankfully, my company flew me home monthly, so I changed my residense with my job to Colombia... All along, my income was considered as US income and I filed US Taxes showing that income...

The option for you may be to consider the possiblity of getting your wife legal status in Rwanda, then wait until a year or so, before your assignment wraps up in RWANDA then file directly at the Embassy there..

Alternately, she could either stay in Colombia or Come to the US and simply live in the US with your family.. She cannot live outside the US while she has a GC since she could loose here residency status...

Otherwise, you will need to consider waiting until you're ready to move to the US to file the Petition..

Kenny