austrian wants to marry american and then move to london

[cinamon_at 0]

hi, i hope i've found the correct thread - i was browsing for the past 3 hours and this one seems to be the right one. i'll list the date lines first and then the questions:

March 5, 2006: Elisabeth and Lester met on the beach in Boca Raton, after 2 weeks (march 23) Elisabeth went back to DR to finish work and then to Frankfurt.

April 11, 2006: Elisabeth came back to Miami with a visa waiver to visit Lester.

July 3, 2006: Elisabeth leaves to Nassau for a week to assist an Austrian client and enters with Visa waiver (july 9)

Oct 7, 2006: Elisabeth leaves again for Nassau for a week to assist the same client and enters again with a Visa waiver (oct 14)

Oct 30, 2006: Elisabeth leaves for Europe to visit her mum who had foot surgery in Vienna and to apply for a tourist visa which got approved.

Nov 17, 2006: Elisabeth retourns with a tourist Visa to the states and gets interrogated by an immigration officer in Orlando. too many times crossing the border...

so, i was going back and forth with a visa waiver and am now here with a tourist visa. lester wants to marry me in december and in may we want to go to london because he has a job offer there. we want to get married in the states because it's far easier and i don't plan on filing for any papers until we retourn to the states since i'm selfemployed with an internet business and don't need a work permit.

now my questions:

could i get into troubles by marrying allthough i'm here with a tourist visa?

could i or should i file for the papers alltough we are leaving for london in may?

can we retourn to the states whenever we want to and then file for the papers or do we have to apply previously for whatever visa for me?

i hope, that all wasn't too confusing and i want to thank everybody in advance for the help

[sophyie 0]

hi, i hope i've found the correct thread - i was browsing for the past 3 hours and this one seems to be the right one. i'll list the date lines first and then the questions:

Not so sure about that one- the DCF process applies when the married couple lives in the country of the beneficiary at the time filing the petition. Since you'd live in the US what you're looking at would be the AOS related forum.

now my questions:

could i get into troubles by marrying allthough i'm here with a tourist visa?

could i or should i file for the papers alltough we are leaving for london in may?

can we retourn to the states whenever we want to and then file for the papers or do we have to apply previously for whatever visa for me?

i hope, that all wasn't too confusing and i want to thank everybody in advance for the help

Getting married in the US should not be a problem since you didn't enter the US on a tourist visa with the intent to marry and stay.

This "filing for papers" that takes place in the US is the AOS process. I don't know how long it usually takes but there are timelines you can look at. I don't know whether you should or not go through AOS after getting married- but I don't really see why because you won't live in the US.

I don't think it would be a problem for you to go and visit the US with your husband while you live in London and start the visa process once you intend to permanently live and work in the US.

The visa to do would then be the K3 or CR/IR-1 (depending on how long you've been married at the time filing). I'm not sure whether you could also do DCF since both of you would live in London at the time filing the petition, it might be if you have residency in London...

Either way: good luck!

Edited November 26, 2006 by sophyie

[cinamon_at 0]

thank u very much! how confusing the whole thing is.... O M G

[meauxna 15]

Nov 17, 2006: Elisabeth retourns with a tourist Visa to the states and gets interrogated by an immigration officer in Orlando. too many times crossing the border...

so, i was going back and forth with a visa waiver and am now here with a tourist visa. lester wants to marry me in december and in may we want to go to london because he has a job offer there. we want to get married in the states because it's far easier and i don't plan on filing for any papers until we retourn to the states since i'm selfemployed with an internet business and don't need a work permit.

now my questions:

could i get into troubles by marrying allthough i'm here with a tourist visa?

could i or should i file for the papers alltough we are leaving for london in may?

can we retourn to the states whenever we want to and then file for the papers or do we have to apply previously for whatever visa for me?

i hope, that all wasn't too confusing and i want to thank everybody in advance for the help

How long were you given on your I-94 at your last entry? You must leave the US by that date or have adjusted/be adjusting to a new status. If you plan to immigrate here eventually, don't accumulate any out of status time. "May" is not specific enough--you may need to go over a week/few days ahead of Lester.

You can marry here on a tourist visa. I'd suggest you consult a lawyer if you plan to now immigrate on this visit because of your VWP history and the incident at the POE when you came back in November.

Why would you file papers now if you do not intend to live in the US?

You may not return to the US as a tourist and then immigrate. About 6 months before you will be returning, Lester can file a petition for you, ideally at the local Embassy. However, if London, and if less than 2 years after he moves there, consider filing in the US. London may not consider him "really resident" if he only lives there for a few months. If applying via the US Service Center, start about 12 months before you want to move to the US.

You would then apply for a visa from England.

[cinamon_at 0]

thank u sooo much for your help. i'm TOTALLY confused. i don't know what to do. let me try to clear up some things first:

my turist visa is good until may 16 and i do not plan on overstaying and on extemding the visa because i raised attention at the border and don't want to stretch it. apart of it, i have to have my austrian passport renewed in august, so i need to go back to austria anyways in july. since my passport is not good for the time an extended visa could be given, i would not get it anyways.

filing papers: we could file papers right after the marriage but then we couldn't go to london in june because i'm not allowed to leave the states unless i want to risk my status, right? to have all p, apers and be able to move freely around the world would take how long? by freely i mean, that it could be that we r abroad a few months in a row or jusst coming back on vacation. could he go alone to europe while i wait for my AOS here in the states? i undertand, he has to be present all the time....

living in europe: lester has no clue for how long he's going to stay there. he might not like the job at all and just want to move back to the states within 2 months. now how would that be then for me? not long enough in europe to get a visa. i'm still registered with main residence in austria, could i apply there for the spouse visa let's say in july/august when i'm there anyways to have my passport renewed? i mean, let's look at it like this: the american husband gives in the needs of hi wife to move back to europe. since he doesn't speak german (yet) they agree to live in london. wife hates it and want to live in her home country. so they move there. husband hates it and rather moves back asap to the states. wife agrees but doesn't have the correct status.... lol. shouldn't that convince any embassy?? LOL

[meauxna 15]

thank u sooo much for your help. i'm TOTALLY confused. i don't know what to do. let me try to clear up some things first:

my turist visa is good until may 16 and i do not plan on overstaying and on extemding the visa because i raised attention at the border and don't want to stretch it. apart of it, i have to have my austrian passport renewed in august, so i need to go back to austria anyways in july. since my passport is not good for the time an extended visa could be given, i would not get it anyways.

filing papers: we could file papers right after the marriage but then we couldn't go to london in june because i'm not allowed to leave the states unless i want to risk my status, right? to have all p, apers and be able to move freely around the world would take how long? by freely i mean, that it could be that we r abroad a few months in a row or jusst coming back on vacation. could he go alone to europe while i wait for my AOS here in the states? i undertand, he has to be present all the time....

living in europe: lester has no clue for how long he's going to stay there. he might not like the job at all and just want to move back to the states within 2 months. now how would that be then for me? not long enough in europe to get a visa. i'm still registered with main residence in austria, could i apply there for the spouse visa let's say in july/august when i'm there anyways to have my passport renewed? i mean, let's look at it like this: the american husband gives in the needs of hi wife to move back to europe. since he doesn't speak german (yet) they agree to live in london. wife hates it and want to live in her home country. so they move there. husband hates it and rather moves back asap to the states. wife agrees but doesn't have the correct status.... lol. shouldn't that convince any embassy?? LOL

It seems to me that you are not a candidate to file for Adjustment of Status right now, from a purely practical point of view. The two of you want/need to leave the US for "a while" and should not tie yourselves to a single, closed solution. You have other choices.

Bearing that in mind, leave before the date on your I-94... it's that simple. No matter when Lester is going, you keep your own leave date on schedule. That saves you any concerns with overstay, abusing your visa admission etc.

So, you go to London. Maybe stay 6 months (Lester should be aware of the differences in employment in the UK vs US and employment contracts etc). Maybe you decide to take a few months vacation and tour Austria. Whatever. Then you decide you want to go back to the US.

Since you will want to return as a spouse, and immigrate, you can not just go over on your tourist visa or visa waiver. You'll be much happier once you get here if you come with an Immigrant Visa (CR-1) anyway, so I encourage you to look at that option.

Lester can file an I-130 for you immediately. You can indicate Vienna for your home Consulate and later change it to London if you stay there, but somewhere you have a permanent address is a good idea (like your parents?) so you can receive mail securely. Lester will also need to realiably receive mail in the US (a good idea anyway).

You *can* do nothing at the moment, and try to find a Consulate where you can file via DCF later, but you are putting needless stress on yourselves if you do that, IMO. A statteside case will chug its way along and you will be able to slow down the process at any time if you want. Rushing things is a bit harder, so don't plan on moving to the US sooner than one year from filing I-130.

It all seems workable to me, and not overly complicated. I recommend that you read the 'visa options' link from the Guides, the DCF Guide and the CR/IR Guide. There are two steps you need to be familiar with:

-filing an immediate relative petition I-130, either at a US Service Center or a US Embassy/overseas office

-applying for an Immigrant Visa

If you eliminate researching AOS, K visas, work permits and the other minutia that you *won't* be dealing with, all will become clear more quickly.

[cinamon_at 0]

WOW, thank you. you are a fountain of wisdom....

i have one little question left:

could lester go alone to london in june to check this new job out while i stay in the states? or do we have to be together in the states waiting for my AOS? i'm thinking of all the checks they might do like knocking on our home and he isn't here and so... or even having the interview scheduled right in july or august while he might be still in london....

and another thing: i have a business trip scheduled to DR on january 26, everything is booked and planned and i can't cancel it for nothing in the world. when i planned that trip, i didn't know i'd get married, lol.... or should i just go and come back without telling anybody that i'm married to an USC? my turist visa permits trips, i read that somewhere....

maybe i should start studying immigration law :-(((

i don't know how to thank you all for your help :-)

[meauxna 15]

WOW, thank you. you are a fountain of wisdom....

i have one little question left:

could lester go alone to london in june to check this new job out while i stay in the states? or do we have to be together in the states waiting for my AOS? i'm thinking of all the checks they might do like knocking on our home and he isn't here and so... or even having the interview scheduled right in july or august while he might be still in london....

and another thing: i have a business trip scheduled to DR on january 26, everything is booked and planned and i can't cancel it for nothing in the world. when i planned that trip, i didn't know i'd get married, lol.... or should i just go and come back without telling anybody that i'm married to an USC? my turist visa permits trips, i read that somewhere....

maybe i should start studying immigration law :-(((

i don't know how to thank you all for your help :-)

If you do not want to leave the US by May 16, you must do something to extend your status as a tourist (better have a damn good reason) OR begin the process of Adjusting Status to PR (AOS). If you file for AOS, you should remain in the US unless you secure a travel document first (they take a couple of months to get).

If you apply for AOS, you and Lester must appear for an interview together. If you are out of the US, you can choose to attend it or not. If you do not, you may not return without the proper visa (not your tourist visa).

However, you've added a new and significant wrinkle into your case. I can not suggest that you leave the US in January expecting to be readmitted as a tourist. As far as I can see (and you have suggested), your admission this time was pure luck. It is not going to be easier in February.

I absolutely won't entertain the suggestion of trying to hedge your bets at the POE by telling/not telling certain things. You are on the path to trouble if you try to play with that and while you might find people willing to discuss it with you, remember that it is YOUR life and future you are playing with. You must look at the bigger picture of the future here, and if that means that the two of you are separated for a couple/few months, I find that reasonable.

You have an embarassment of choices right now AND you are with your spouse, but be careful about getting everything you want when you want it. I'd suggest that you find a lawyer to help you, but there is no gurantee that a random attorney will know about any or all of these ideas. I'm afraid that you and Lester had better start doing some serious reading of the links I suggested for starters, and then firm up your plans with commitments and deadlines that you absolutely must keep, and see what can work around that.

One piece of information that would help you decide has to come from Vienna. Lester can try to find out what they require to allow him to file the I-130 at the US Embassy there (he should read the DCF Guide first). If they are willing to let him file there, find out how long the Immigrant Visa process normally takes them and you will have more info to make your decision with.

[cinamon_at 0]

thank you very very much for all the info. we are consulting an immigration lawyer next week :-)