WHAT VISA DO WE NEED?

[Shellbee98 0]

Hello all!

I am an American dependent living in Germany. During my time here, I met and fell in love with a German. He is 19 and really wants to join the U.S military. We read on the site that you MUST have some sort of VISA to begin the process. Our question is which one would be the easiest/fastest to get, seeing that we are working to move together in the summer.

We would really appreciate any advice anyone can give!

Thank you!

[lost_at_sea 995]

Are you married? Are you planning to marry?

US visas begin with a petition. A petition is filed by a close family relative (e.g. family visas), employer (e.g. work visas) or educational institute (e.g. study visas).

There are no visas for boyfriends / girlfriends. There are visas for people intending to marry and immigrate (K1) or who are married (IR/CR1).

Here's a comparison of the two options (ignore the K3, if you marry and file in Germany, you can do DCF): http://www.visajourney.com/content/compare

Only those residing legally in the USA can join the US military (which you seem to know), so he'll have to find a legal means to do so first. There's no default work visa just for moving to the US to join the army - he must already be in the USA for some other, legitimate, reason.

Edited December 6, 2016 by lost_at_sea

[EM_Vandaveer 2,417]

A visa is not enough. He needs a GC to join the army.

[Ben&Zian 4,398]

Yes, now a days to join the military you need do be a permanent resident of the US.

Formerly, several years ago, he may have been able to... but even then I only knew of them allowing illegal immigrants to join as a way to "correct" their illegal status and gain citizenship after 2-3 years of service.

[mindthegap 2,608]

The quickest would be the usual route of get married, then CR-1 via DCF. Could be done and dusted in a couple of months as DCF is very quick.

On the plus side, as he would enter as a LPR, if he were to sign up to the military right away (which he can do as a LPR), he would then be eligible to file for expedited citizenship more almost immediately, as all of the usual time and physical presence requirements post gaining LPR status are waived on the basis of being enlisted.

edit:

LPR = lawful permanent resident

DCF= direct consular filing

CR-1 = a spouse immigrant visa for people married less then two years.

Edited December 6, 2016 by mindthegap