fast or be able to work?

[mukahaka 0]

Hello,

I am a Swedish citizen living with a US-citizen in sweden and she is registered swedish resident. We are looking into moving to US as soon as possible and have been looking at a lot of different options.

Since my girlfriend has been studying here in Sweden she cannot be a sponsor and we have to use one of her family members in the US as a joint sponsor.

I have a job offer in the US and our biggest concern is that i would have to work as soon as possible once arriving in the US since she is going to study in the US (or use savings and be bored to death for 3 months).

So basically here is the options we have looked at:

K-1 visa, get married in US, apply for AOS and work permit. (90 days without being able to work in the US?). costs money

K-3 visa, get married in Sweden, apply for work permit. (90 days without being able to work in the US?). takes time, costs money

CR-1 visa, get married in Sweden, (get to work immediately?) takes time

optional but risky:

get married in sweden and go to US on ESTA and apply for AOS upon arrival?

Right now we are not sure which is the smartest way to go, especially since we only get one shot at it. If we get married here we can no longer apply for the K-1 visa and if the K-1 visa gets denied we cant really just get married and apply for CR-1 straight after... ive also read that K-3 is not really a viable option any more.

Thanks!

[aleful 1,905]

hi

not really, you only have 2 options,

k3 is obsolete and going to the US on ESTA and adjusting status is immigration fraud because you are already going with the intent to adjust status

it would have been different if you had gone visiting on ESTA and on a spur of a moment you got married and adjusted status, but that wasn't your intent, neither did you lie to the immigration officer stating you were only here on a visit

so k1 or CR1, only options

[NewBrunswicker 19]

If this is an option in Sweden, you could maybe do the direct consulate filling (DCF). That would shorten the CR-1 timeline but it requires you two to get married. However, I would make sure of the requirement for DCF before doing anything.

Good luck,

[Penguin_ie 5,994]

As mentioned, you only have two options K1 and CR-1. DCF is not an option in Sweden either, but CR-1 spousal visas filed from abroad are often expedited )(you cannot count on that tough, it is not an official policy).

Personally, I would go for the spousal visa; it is cheaper overall, and you can work right away (and travel, should you need to/ should something happen to a family member back home).

[kzielu 1,149]

optional but risky:

get married in sweden and go to US on ESTA and apply for AOS upon arrival?

Fraudulent in addition to risky, and also takes time. If working immediately after arrival is your goal, than CR-1 (which costs money too) should be your choice. What you should be concerned about though is lack of US domicile by your future spouse.

[Georgia16 2,858]

Well you could do the K-1 get marriage right away when you get here. File AOS including the EAD and the AP.

When you have a job offer the EAD can be expedited

Look at the Scandinavian forum to see timelines for all of us going through the Swedish embassy (Very easy embassy)

[NikLR 13,227]

I say CR1. Sure it takes longer but you have zero "required" sitting around bored. Any employer can hire you asap.

[JFH 12,190]

I think you need to re-think your expectations a little. You wrote that you want to move to the USA "as soon as possible". Immigration is never going to be quick. You need to think of this in terms of months and years, not weeks. There's no other way to say it - it takes a long time. Even for a case like yours that is relatively straightforward.

Reckon on a year before you are settled in the USA and working. I don't know why you have even been looking for jobs there yet. It's just not going to happen that quickly. Is the company happy to wait a year for you? Fair enough if they are but usually when a company has a position available they want it filled sooner rather than later.

If you start the K-1 now, you could be approved in the spring. So it'll be the summer before your EAD is approved.

If you get married now and start the CR-1, it'll be approved next summer and you can start right away in your new job when you arrive. Either way, you are looking at a year.

Don't attempt anything illegal. It's just not worth it. The wait is long and awful but at least you are together. Some of us are doing this wait thousands of miles apart. And we have all survived.

Edited September 7, 2016 by JFH

[mukahaka 0]

I think you need to re-think your expectations a little. You wrote that you want to move to the USA "as soon as possible". Immigration is never going to be quick. You need to think of this in terms of months and years, not weeks. There's no other way to say it - it takes a long time. Even for a case like yours that is relatively straightforward.

Reckon on a year before you are settled in the USA and working. I don't know why you have even been looking for jobs there yet. It's just not going to happen that quickly. Is the company happy to wait a year for you? Fair enough if they are but usually when a company has a position available they want it filled sooner rather than later.

If you start the K-1 now, you could be approved in the spring. So it'll be the summer before your EAD is approved.

If you get married now and start the CR-1, it'll be approved next summer and you can start right away in your new job when you arrive. Either way, you are looking at a year.

Don't attempt anything illegal. It's just not worth it. The wait is long and awful but at least you are together. Some of us are doing this wait thousands of miles apart. And we have all survived.

When i said "as soon as possible" i meant around 6 months, and you are totally right it is probably going to take a year :/. I got the job offer while on a ESTA in USA and it was a really good one so basically that is why we are looking to move there. I think the offer will stand until next year so hopefully everything goes smooth up until then. I think we are going for the CR-1 since it seems to be both the safest option and the best financially. Its a shame that Sweden doesnt have the DCF anymore, that seemed to be a matter of weeks...

[JFH 12,190]

That's good that you've come here to do your research. And that you are starting to think long-term. If the job offer holds for a year that's even better - you'll step into a ready-made life when you get there, which is great!

Personally I think the CR-1 is the way to go. I really don't see how a K-1 would be a better choice for someone with a career. In my field (and yours may be the same), the longer you stay out, the harder it is to get back in. And if you do manage to get back in, it's never at the same level you left. Why would anyone do that just to shave a few months off the process?

I have a friend who did a K-1 from the UK. Like me, she has a Master's degree and had been working prior to her move. She's been in the USA for 18 months now. And what job is she doing? Answering the phone at a car dealership. Not what she went to university for all those years for! She has applied for jobs in her field but it's always the same response "you've been out for too long". She really regrets doing things this way now. She could have married and carried on working here until the CR-1 was complete and then started work immediately there. There's no guarantee she would have got a job as good as the one she left, but her chances would have been considerably higher.

[N-o-l-a 7,167]

When i said "as soon as possible" i meant around 6 months, and you are totally right it is probably going to take a year :/. I got the job offer while on a ESTA in USA and it was a really good one so basically that is why we are looking to move there. I think the offer will stand until next year so hopefully everything goes smooth up until then. I think we are going for the CR-1 since it seems to be both the safest option and the best financially. Its a shame that Sweden doesnt have the DCF anymore, that seemed to be a matter of weeks...

The Danish half was happy that we ended up going the CR-1 especially because I don't work and we were both returning from living in Denmark. It allowed him to work immediately and establish a normal rhythm of life.