What visa given my strange circumstance

[jimihendrixguy 0]

Hello forum members,

I'll try to make this as brief as possible. I lived in South America for about 5 years. I returned to the US in early 2012. My girlfriend is back in Brazil.

We were considering a K-1 visa when I moved back, but decided against it because we weren't sure about whether we wanted to marry or if she wanted to live here. Our other options for her spending time in the US are the full-time student visa (costs about $2,000 per month from my research) and a tourist visa.

I just spoke with a lawyer who told me:

1) because my girlfriend isn't wealthy, doesn't own land, has no real reason to stay in Brazil other than her family, even getting a tourist visa to the US would be difficult.

2) because I lived abroad for 5 years (never visited home), and although I am a natural born U.S. citizen, I CANNOT bring her to the US as my wife. To pursue any type of spousal or marriage visa I would have to have a stable life and residence in the US for the past 3 years. I stated that I have a job that pays quite well and have a wealthy parent who would be willing to sponsor my girlfriend, and the person told me that my residence abroad eliminates the possibility of bringing in my girlfriend as my spouse.

My question:

Does any of that sound wrong? Is it possible that the ONLY way she can come to the US at all is as a full-time student at the immense cost of $2,000 per month? If you live abroad for 5 years, you cannot get a fiancee visa?

What if I go to Brazil and marry her there? If you live abroad for 5 years and get married, you cannot bring your spouse home with you?

Thank you in advance for your help!

[Sarah Elle-Même 660]

Hello forum members,

I'll try to make this as brief as possible. I lived in South America for about 5 years. I returned to the US in early 2012. My girlfriend is back in Brazil.

We were considering a K-1 visa when I moved back, but decided against it because we weren't sure about whether we wanted to marry or if she wanted to live here. Our other options for her spending time in the US are the full-time student visa (costs about $2,000 per month from my research) and a tourist visa.

I just spoke with a lawyer who told me:

1) because my girlfriend isn't wealthy, doesn't own land, has no real reason to stay in Brazil other than her family, even getting a tourist visa to the US would be difficult.

2) because I lived abroad for 5 years (never visited home), and although I am a natural born U.S. citizen, I CANNOT bring her to the US as my wife. To pursue any type of spousal or marriage visa I would have to have a stable life and residence in the US for the past 3 years. I stated that I have a job that pays quite well and have a wealthy parent who would be willing to sponsor my girlfriend, and the person told me that my residence abroad eliminates the possibility of bringing in my girlfriend as my spouse.

My question:

Does any of that sound wrong? Is it possible that the ONLY way she can come to the US at all is as a full-time student at the immense cost of $2,000 per month? If you live abroad for 5 years, you cannot get a fiancee visa?

What if I go to Brazil and marry her there? If you live abroad for 5 years and get married, you cannot bring your spouse home with you?

Thank you in advance for your help!

Wow. And this attorney you spoke to was an IMMIGRATION attorney? And they got their JD from a non-imaginary law school? You were told a pack of lies, I'm afraid.

I can't comment much on the tourist visa thing. She can certainly apply. It depends on the US embassy in Brazil, on her home ties, financial resources, etc. And I don't know much about F-1 visas (student visas). $2000 a month is a pretty hefty financial burden, unless you both agree you aren't ready to take the next step in your relationship. The first question I'd ask myself if I were you is are you ready to get married?

As for bringing her here either as your fiancee or your wife - you do NOT need to have lived here for 5 years prior to filing. That's ridiculous. As for "stable" job as long as you earn 125% the poverty level (this is needed for Adjustment of Status from K1 or for CR-1 Spouse visa) then it's fine. You can certainly use a co-sponsor in case you don't earn enough.

I suggest you read the guides for K-1 and CR-1 on this website. There are pluses and minuses to both and it just amounts to what will work for you and your girlfriend personally.

FYI - you don't need a lawyer to file for either of these petitions. If you don't have a complicated case (possible bans/inadmissibility) or you feel comfortable enough to fill out forms then you can do it yourself. Most of the people on this forum have done so successfully. I am not good with paperwork at all so I hired an AILA attorney and she has been great so far.

[Cathi 5,757]

before bringing her home with you as your wife you need to file an I 130 petition for cr1 visa. You can either file it abroad, or you can come to the US and file it while she waits for the visa in her home country, and she can follow later. The process takes about 7-10 months start to finish when you file within the US. You can use a joint sponsor as long as you can prove that you are domiciled in the US. There is no 5 year or 3 year rule.

[jimihendrixguy 0]

I cannot describe the sigh of relief I felt when reading your comments. Thank you. I can't believe someone told me this. That lawyer is getting a terrible review on yelp.

I have in fact read about the different visa processes, but they are complex, and you never know when a lawyer tells you...

I guess it seems the K-1 visa process is much easier and faster, so I don't see a reason for us to get married. We were in fact thinking of having her visit the US for a period of say, 3-4 months to do an English course and see if we like living together. I guess that would require us to have her return to her country and THEN apply for the K-1.

Thanks again you kind people!

before bringing her home with you as your wife you need to file an I 130 petition for cr1 visa. You can either file it abroad, or you can come to the US and file it while she waits for the visa in her home country, and she can follow later. The process takes about 7-10 months start to finish when you file within the US. You can use a joint sponsor as long as you can prove that you are domiciled in the US. There is no 5 year or 3 year rule.

What does "domiciled in the US" mean? What if I am a permanent resident of Brazil, but a current resident of the US and work here?

Would that "domiciled" rule apply to a K-1 visa as well?

[NikLR 13,227]

If you have no intentions of living and making a life in the USA, then petitioning for a spouse or a fiancee would be pointless. That is what domiciled means. You have to prove that you plan on living in the USA, no matter where you live now. Also your income should be domestic income (aka from a US company.) It shouldn't be foreign income.

A fiancee visa may or may not be the faster option (it generally is) but it's also more expensive than a CR1 visa. It's also a "come to the USA, get married and STAY" so if this is not the woman you would propose to now, would you want to marry her later?

(FYI: You petition for your spouse or fiance... then the spouse or fiance applies for the visa after your petition is approved.)

[gstrength 20]

I cannot describe the sigh of relief I felt when reading your comments. Thank you. I can't believe someone told me this. That lawyer is getting a terrible review on yelp.

I have in fact read about the different visa processes, but they are complex, and you never know when a lawyer tells you...

I guess it seems the K-1 visa process is much easier and faster, so I don't see a reason for us to get married. We were in fact thinking of having her visit the US for a period of say, 3-4 months to do an English course and see if we like living together. I guess that would require us to have her return to her country and THEN apply for the K-1.

Thanks again you kind people!

What does "domiciled in the US" mean? What if I am a permanent resident of Brazil, but a current resident of the US and work here?

Would that "domiciled" rule apply to a K-1 visa as well?

the K-1 visa is a visa that would allow your fiancee to come to the states and get Married, not for a trial period in your relationship, after she is allowed in to the country, you will have 90 days to get married, after that you can start the process for AOS.

I guess that would require us to have her return to her country and THEN apply for the K-1.

You stated earlier that it could be difficult for her to obtain a visitor's visa, how would you have her come to the country otherwise? If she is going to study, you will need the proper visa for that.

The "domicile rule" applies to most types of immigrant visas, if you like to know more about this, read the instructions for form I-864, you can fin this form at the USCIS website. It really is simpler to comply than it sounds.

Good Luck

[TBoneTX 45,329]

*** Thread moved from K-3 Progress subforum to General Immigration Discussion -- OP hasn't settled upon any visa path. ***

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

What does "domiciled in the US" mean? What if I am a permanent resident of Brazil, but a current resident of the US and work here?

It means your primary place of residence now, and for the foreseeable future, is in the United States. If you submit an affidavit of support with a US address and a tax return transcript showing employment in the US then they usually won't ask for any additional proof of domicile.

Would that "domiciled" rule apply to a K-1 visa as well?

No, not strictly. The domicile requirement comes into play with the I-864 affidavit of support, and you don't submit that until she's come to the US with the K1 visa, you've married, and you send in her green card application. There's no statutory requirement that you have to be domiciled in the US in order for her to get a K1 visa, but the consulate does have the discretion to deny the visa if they believe she won't have a qualified sponsor for adjustment of status. It's possible they could use domicile as an excuse to reject your I-134 affidavit of support as insufficient, and some consulates won't accept a joint sponsor. To be honest, I've never really heard of this being a big issue with K1's, though.

[jimihendrixguy 0]

It means your primary place of residence now, and for the foreseeable future, is in the United States. If you submit an affidavit of support with a US address and a tax return transcript showing employment in the US then they usually won't ask for any additional proof of domicile.

No, not strictly. The domicile requirement comes into play with the I-864 affidavit of support, and you don't submit that until she's come to the US with the K1 visa, you've married, and you send in her green card application. There's no statutory requirement that you have to be domiciled in the US in order for her to get a K1 visa, but the consulate does have the discretion to deny the visa if they believe she won't have a qualified sponsor for adjustment of status. It's possible they could use domicile as an excuse to reject your I-134 affidavit of support as insufficient, and some consulates won't accept a joint sponsor. To be honest, I've never really heard of this being a big issue with K1's, though.

Thanks everyone for the additional information. Part of what makes this whole thing hard is battling two governments' requirements. I stayed in Brazil for several years and I pursued permanent residency there, partly because she was there. Now I'm back home, and I wonder if the U.S. will question whether I am truly domiciled in the US.

I suppose if I want to go the K-1 route I should abandon my Brazilian residency immediately. Does that sound right? If I keep my Brazilian permanent residency but live and work in the US (as I have since May, 2012), do you think I'd have problems when it comes to proving my domicile is the US?

If I am thinking K-3, I could go to Brazil and marry her, but that sounds like a longer process. And it would be dependent upon my keeping my Brazilian residency in order to get married!

Two basic questions nobody seems to understand about our relationship:

1) do we want to get married?

2) where do we want to live?

I'm in my 20s. I've been dealing with this for about 4 years, struggling in Brazil and now making money and doing well in the US but unable to be with my girlfriend. The way I see it, we need to create at least a stable life BEFORE we get married, and that means living for a time together in a country, working, making it. We didn't do that in Brazil because I was an immigrant. It seems the US is going to continue to limit our ability to do that.

It sounds like the best option is what 1 lawyer told me. Have her come to study here for 6 months and go from there. Since we don't really have the goal of getting married, the lawyer told me that if we did, we could still petition for her to stay as it wasn't our intent.

[The Mean Lady 604]

You can also prove intent to domicile in the us which would include things like showing an up to date license, voter registration, "lease" from parents etc

If you have a job and apt in the us now then showing actual current domicile should not be an issue.

[NikLR 13,227]

The lawyer gave you good advice. If you are not ready to be married and she is unable to get a tourist visa, then that is the best plan for you (the student visa.) Yes it sucks, but at least you are not jumping into marriage when you're not ready. I applaud you for that.

[jimihendrixguy 0]

The lawyer gave you good advice. If you are not ready to be married and she is unable to get a tourist visa, then that is the best plan for you (the student visa.) Yes it sucks, but at least you are not jumping into marriage when you're not ready. I applaud you for that.

Thank you! And thanks for further comments from everyone. I guess as long as I am living and working here, we'll pursue a tourist or student visa for her and take it from there. If I've been living and working in the US for 1.5 years straight and I am from here, I don't see how my domicile could be legitimately quesitoned, that's a matter of paperwork. I have a good job, so that helps, I'll try to keep it! Not having one in Brazil made things very difficult.

Thank you everyone!