Random question - is there a visa that would allow this???

[kaminoge 1]

Hi All,

Wandering around the web I just discovered this forum and I was wondering if anyone knew the answer to my question (sadly I feel it may be a short answer like "no").

I'm an Australian, married to an American. We got married in the US but have never lived there or spent more than a few weeks at a time there.

I have this vague idea that at some point it would be fun to live there for a year, I'm thinking of something like rv-ing around for a year, I wouldn't really want to settle anywhere and I have no interest in living there long term. It would be more taking a year out from the general routine and exploring a beautiful country.

1. Is there any visa that would let me stay that long?

2. Is there any visa that would let me stay that long and work? (I'm thinking of things like a month or two working at a campground in a NP or similar - I have no interest in pursuing my career while in the US).

We don't see ourselves settling permanently in the US - certainly not while I'm still working (I'm a teacher and the lifestyle of an international teacher would be hard to give up permanently) but I do like the idea of spending a year there (the reason for the year is that if I take a chunk of time off of work it really needs to be an academic year, I'm unlikely to score a good job that starts part way through a school year). My brother has a green card (after being married to an American for 15 years and having 2 American children) and seeing how much hassle it was for him put me off wanting to go down that process unless we decide at some point that we seriously want to live there permanently.

Any tips on visas to look into appreciated! I know it's not the normal type of question for this forum but I figured people who hang out here probably know all sorts of things.

Thanks.

[aleful 1,905]

hi

you said it yourself, nope, a visa like that doesn't exist

each visa has a specific purpose. if you were to get a tourist visa, the max that you can stay at a time is 6 months, and you can't work

either an employer files a work visa and you work full time, or you get a tourist visa and travel full time, but not able to work since it's against the law to work on a tourist visa

[millefleur 5,047]

The only thing I'm thinking is that you could apply for the DV lottery.

[aleful 1,905]

hi

he doesn't want to live here, at least for now, and he doesn't need the lottery, he has a USC wife that could file for him

they just want to travel for a year, maybe they will decide to live here one day, then his wife can file for a GC

[kaminoge 1]

Thanks all. Just confirming what I thought but figured I'd ask anyway... never know when there's some clever idea about how to do things. Oh and it doesn't matter but just to clarify - I'm female. My husband is the US citizen.

[aleful 1,905]

hi

sorry about that, then when you both decide to live here, your husband can file for you

shorter vacations yes, but not a year

[Dutchster 1,107]

The only thing I'm thinking is that you could apply for the DV lottery.

Why DV lottery? DV is for people who want to live in the US but have no options like marrying a USC, work visa or student visa etc. OP want's to travel for a year AND work. No visa's exist for that. They have to decide if they want to go for a tourist visa and just travel without working because that would be illegal.

Edited October 30, 2016 by stephadams

[kaminoge 1]

Yeah I don't think the DV lottery would be for me (or that they would be likely to give it to me when they found out I basically was just trying for an extended holiday!).

I guess if we ever do decide to visit the US for longer than a week or two it will just be on whatever I can get from a tourist visa and I won't attempt to work (which was never a big part of the plan anyway - I just got chatting to people working in campgrounds when we were visiting some of the places out West and thought it sounded like a bit of fun for a month or two).

I'd be more likely to complain if Australia wasn't equally as bad... it just seems a shame that there's no way for us to spend our money in the US for a year without committing to living there long term. Really I'd be an ideal visitor. I'd spend money, talk in my weird Australian accent and not cause any trouble :-)

[Boiler 45,761]

He can sponsor you for an immigrant visa, you do not have to stay here for ever, when you go back hand it in. I 407.

[millefleur 5,047]

Oh, just and idea: you could do 6 months in the US, 6 months in Canada if you're thinking of going the RV route. Just use your tourist visa/WVP there. And Canada is really underrated in my opinion! That might solve the whole taking a whole year problem for you, but you still wouldn't be able to work.

[kaminoge 1]

Thanks for the idea of an immigrant visa. I'll check that out. And the half US half Canada thing could definitely be a possibility too. Oh well, this is all just idle thoughts right now. I want to work a few more years before taking a year off but it's fun to play with different scenarios. And it's probably not a bad idea for us to get educated on what the options are in case circumstances ever mean we do want to move to the US (e.g. if his parents got sick or something).

[millefleur 5,047]

It's great that you're educating yourself about the visa laws. A lot of people come over (especially VWP folks) and end up overstaying just out of ignorance, which adds to making it harder for people around the globe to get tourist visas. If we had more people like you, everyone would be better off.

Oh concerning going the whole immigrant visa route: since you're living in Australia with your spouse, you guys would be able to apply Direct Consular Filing (DCF) which is much faster than the traditional marriage visa route. I'd imagine it would only take a few months as opposed to the minimum of one year that the normal spouse visa process usually takes.

[kaminoge 1]

Oh we're not living in Australia- we met and live in Bulgaria. My job got me a visa and then once we married they got him one too.

I'm signed to stay here until mid 2018 and then we'll move on. Thinking maybe south or Central America for a few years after that and then would be the time I'd like to take a year off for a protracted bout of travel.

It's sort of ironic that I can pretty much swing visas for us both in nearly every region of the world..,apart from Australia or the US!

[NikLR 13,230]

Australia doesn't have dcf anyhow. Im not sure why people keep suggesting that

[Ryan H 3,818]

Oh, just and idea: you could do 6 months in the US, 6 months in Canada if you're thinking of going the RV route. Just use your tourist visa/WVP there. And Canada is really underrated in my opinion! That might solve the whole taking a whole year problem for you, but you still wouldn't be able to work.

Wouldn't work for the following reasons:

• VWP only allows stays of 90 days max, not 6 months
• Passport holders of VWP countries are unlikely to get a tourist visa
• going to Canada does not reset the 90 day clock from date of entry to the US