I-130 and PCS - please help!

[ecg19 7]

Hi everyone,

My partner and I have been lurking the forums for a couple of months now.

I am a New Zealand citizen, however I live in Australia. I've been entering the USA on the visa waiver programme, which seems to differ from a lot of the other situations on here.

My partner and I have received news that he will be receiving orders overseas.

We are concerned that this could slow down the I-130 process, which we have not yet begun but will be doing so this month. Can anyone please advise us as to how to hurry this process up? Ideally I would want to move to the USA prior to my partner heading overseas (March). He will be in a training school in a different state so will be giving up his lease, and of course we are extremely nervous as to whether we can get this all done in time for me to be able to get on the same plane as him. If I can't get on the same plane, then I will have to hang out in the USA to receive my green card once I have been approved for entry, and then pay to fly out to him in Europe.

We want to do the right thing, we have been desperately getting all of the information together so that we don't waste time. My partner called USCIS to ask them what the best way to go about it was but apparently they were quite useless! He also tried called his base's immigration division who said that USCIS would get 'confused' if we apply for the I-130 and then he moves to a different state for his training, and then onto Germany. They advised that we wait to file the I-130 until he is in Germany, but obviously we are not keen on waiting all that time - I want to be with him now! I know this isn't realistic but I'm just hoping someone might have some advice for us. We are going to make an appointment when I visit him this month with the lawyers on base, so we are trying to make sure we are doing the right thing. First hand experience often counts for more, and to be honest I'm reading so much information and sometimes it is conflicting.

Appreciate ANY advice! We are aware of the expedite process but people seem to be saying that is only for citizenship, not PR, and neither USCIS or the military advised my partner of this!