Plans: Marry in America, Live in UK for 6 Months then move to America - Is this possible?

[PandaBound86 0]

Hi Everyone,

Thank you all for your support and knowledge so far. I received my Visa and am due to move to America in August to be married in September. Dreams have come true and its an amazing feeling.

However, coincidentally my brother is now going through the same process and is currently awaiting his NOA2 and is in need of your expert knowledge

As the title says, his plans are to get married in America in October, move back to the UK for 6-12 Months with his wife, then move back to the States to live permanently. He has a few questions that i couldn't answer about these plans.

1. Is this possible?

2. What's the best course of action for this to happen?

In my mind it makes sense to stay in America at least until the AOS has been approved, but then i am not sure he and his wife are then able to live in the UK without any repercussions coming back, or if they would then have to start the whole process over again but for a spouse visa this time etc?

Again, any knowledge would be greatly appreciated.

Andy

[arken 4,197]

If your brother moves back to UK right after the marriage, then all the money, time and effort spent on K-1 goes down to the drain. He has to go through the spousal visa process to live in the US permanently.

After they marry, they can apply for AOS along with EAD/AP. Once he gets AP, then he can travel back to UK for a shorter period (not 6-12 months) and enter back to US with no problem. During that trip, they might get get notices from USCIS which they shouldn't miss. If they get an RFE letter or interview letter and they miss those coz they were in UK, AOS will be denied and then again back to spousal visa process.

6-12 months of trip is not recommended even right after getting the green card. Such long trips might get subjected to additional questioning at POE or the officer at POE might even cancel the GC (rarely) if he is not convinced your brother is maintaining his primary residence in the US and also might break the continuous residency requirement for naturalization in the future.

It's better to take shorter trips (less than 6 months).

[yuna628 9,676]

Hi Everyone,

Thank you all for your support and knowledge so far. I received my Visa and am due to move to America in August to be married in September. Dreams have come true and its an amazing feeling.

However, coincidentally my brother is now going through the same process and is currently awaiting his NOA2 and is in need of your expert knowledge

As the title says, his plans are to get married in America in October, move back to the UK for 6-12 Months with his wife, then move back to the States to live permanently. He has a few questions that i couldn't answer about these plans.

1. Is this possible?

2. What's the best course of action for this to happen?

In my mind it makes sense to stay in America at least until the AOS has been approved, but then i am not sure he and his wife are then able to live in the UK without any repercussions coming back, or if they would then have to start the whole process over again but for a spouse visa this time etc?

Again, any knowledge would be greatly appreciated.

Andy

1) His wife cannot ''move'' with him. He must apply for a spousal visa for her to live in the UK with his wife. Unless he has the ability to pass the financial requirements for that UK visa, she will be unable to enter with hm. Even barring that, he still has to apply and wait for it's potential approval before she may enter to live with him. Living in the UK under such visas is a lengthy and many years long process, if the intent is only to reside there a little while the wife will then abandon her own UK status which may complicate matters. Non-EEA citizens (US citizens) have no right to free movement in the UK. So this is something to consider for him and his future spouse.

2) A person with a K1 is under no obligation to stay in the US after they marry. But if they leave before obtaining a green card or advanced parole, they may not re-enter to live with their US spouse unless a spousal visa is filed. US citizen wife will then have to pick up from scratch of whatever life she had in the UK with him, and get back to things in the US and find a way to financially sponsor him etc. This process can take up to a year to be granted. Even when granted, your brother has a green card and should not do anything to risk to damaging such status if they wish to remain living within the US. Leaving and residing in his home country even for that extensive temporary period would indeed be a risk.

3) The typical process is to maintain LPR status until citizenship at all costs, and do not risk abandonment. Once becoming a citizen, your brother at least can live in whichever country of his choosing.

There's no easy way to say this, but green cards are for living in one country, not in two.

Edited May 31, 2016 by yuna628

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

There are immigration requirements for the wife to reside in the UK. He should make sure he qualifies with employment above the required minimum. If he quits the job to move to the US, then he would have to get a new job and hold it six months before he could bring her.

If he has a job that qualifies now, he could start with getting the wife to the UK if that's where they want to live first. He can have his wedding in the US without a visa and return to the UK after and seek to get his wife allowed in the UK. It's not a lengthy process to get her admitted, but about five years to get forever residence. Then they could go from there to get a spouse visa to the US when they are ready to live in the US. If she gets legally admitted to live in the UK and lives there six months, then they qualify to file with USCIS in London instead of the Chicago lockbox. That is a shorter process.

It's all a convoluted scheme really.

Edited June 1, 2016 by Nich-Nick

[Boiler 45,486]

Certainly possible, the UK process is pretty quick, and then he could go the DCF route.

[JFH 12,190]

It's not just financial requirements that one has to take into consideration when applying for a spousal visa for the UK.

[PandaBound86 0]

Hi Everyone

Thank you so much for your help

I have passed on all the information you have provided to my brother.

Andy