Marriage / Civil Unionship and Immigration

[Richard S. 0]

Hey, Hi, Hello VisaJourney crowd! (TL:DR at the end)

 

My boyfriend and I are soon entering a civil unionship - almost the same rights as marriage but  a different name (none but 1 of the differences may become a problem). We do this while he is pursuing his bachelors degree here in Austria. He will finish his bachelors around new years. I myself am enrolled at a University doing my Masters, I plan on graduation next summer. This relationship is now going good & strong for 5+ years and we just don't want to go back to beeing apart. That was a big part of why we enter the civil unionship (so we can stay together from new years till we leave for the states). 

 

There I already mentioned it, he plans on doing his Masters at the University of Wisconsin starting next years Fall. Basically as soon as I am done with my masters, we want to move to WI. Getting a work permit ASAP (visa or GC) is crucial since we can only save so much. (His mom will co-finance/ cosponsor). 

 

Now I get to the problem - once our civil unionship is official I am basically married in the eyes of Austria (so is he) and therefore won't be able to get a certificate of no impediment from Austria. On the other hand it seems to be not recognized by the US and therefore I cannot apply for a CR1. I also cannot apply for a K1 since I can't prove I'm not married / even if i get the K1 what would happen in the States when I actually want to marry him by us law? Getting a divorce from my husband in order to marry him seems weird, would be costly and most likely slow everything down. 

 

I hope this makes sense and I'm happy to answer questions, thank you already for your responses.

 

TL:DR

getting same sex marriage in Austria which may not be recognized by the us. Cannot aquire certificate of no impediment for a marriage in the us / cannot apply for a CR1 because I'm not his husband.

[Kastrs 723]

Same sex marriage is recognized in the US both on a federal and state level

[Richard S. 0]

9 minutes ago, Kastrs said:

Same sex marriage is recognized in the US both on a federal and state level

I am aware same sex marriage is, but Austria has no "same sex marriage" but rather a civil unionship - which is getting married for same sex couples here. Just a different name (Eingetragene Partnerschaft vs. Ehe), but in the us it is seen as a civil unionship and not recognized as marriage( from what I've learned). Still Austria sees it as beeing married - hence I don't get a paper that states I'm not married.

 

thank you for your response

Edited February 16, 2017 by Richard S.
Thank you was forgotten

[Cryssiekins 976]

Can you guys go somewhere and get legally married? 

 

I'm guessing as long as there is a marriage certificate the cr-1 would be on the table. 

[MacUK 983]

Had a quick google and a look at the US Embassy Vienna site. The wording is a little vague and confusing, it says the civil unions aren't accepted and it also seems to say that if a union is considered to be a marriage in the country where it is celebrated then it's ok.

Very confusing.

 

You might be forced to play it safe, not marry in Austria and instead apply for a fiance visa.

[NikLR 13,227]

 Get legally married in some place that allows this if you wish to move to the USA.  You are in the spot of not married enough for one but too married for the other. You dont have to divorce first, in the eyes of the USA you arent married. You could try the common-law route but it's not common and i believe rather difficult.  Ive seen one person on here pursue that direction but never checked back with the outcome. 

Edited February 16, 2017 by NikLR

[NikLR 13,227]

Cr1 takes a year, fiance visa is faster but almost twice the cost too. 

[Richard S. 0]

Thank you guys for the comments, yep it is vague and confusing and yes i find myself exactly in between two spots :/ We need to do the civil unionship now in order to stay together here in austria (also to save up some money but explaing all the reasons that go into this desicion would be too big) At this point we just have to go down with this civil unionship, but it is almost time to apply for either a k1 or a cr1 since we plan to move already in the summer of 2018 - this situation is quite stressfull. I really appreciate each and every person trying to help and contributing!

 

Does anyone know which officials I could contact for information ? USCIS? Some other agency in WI? 

Edited February 16, 2017 by Richard S.
Typo

[MacUK 983]

You could always nip over to the States on VWP, get married in Vegas, head back to Austria and file for CR-1.

Presumably being married in the US would allow him to stay in Austria with you.

[Richard S. 0]

3 minutes ago, MacUK said:

You could always nip over to the States on VWP, get married in Vegas, head back to Austria and file for CR-1.

Presumably being married in the US would allow him to stay in Austria with you.

Well it would, if there wouldn't be a whole lot of other reasons to have this civil unionship right now. Once we have it I cannot marry him again in the states - since i don't get the necessary documents. Also it would be quite expensive to do that and we really try to save everything we can. 

[JFH 12,190]

I think you should go to a nearby country where same-sex marriage is legal and then there will be no grey area for immigration. I would suggest the U.K. but I am assuming your boyfriend doesn't have an EU passport so would need a visa to marry in the UK. But Ireland could be an option? It would be in English also. It might be possible to do it within a very short space of time. I've not looked into marriage laws in Ireland but it's something to consider. 

 

If being able to work right away upon arrival is important, then you will need to do the CR-1 route, for which you must be legally married. 

[Boiler 45,541]

Why not keep it simple and ask the Consulate?

[Richard S. 0]

3 minutes ago, Boiler said:

Why not keep it simple and ask the Consulate?

I do plan on doing this, I just didn't want them to tell me it works, or even get a k1 and then be told once I'm in america I need a certain paper which I cannot get, or be told a cr1 works but then after months of waiting we get declined or something like that.

[Richard S. 0]

13 minutes ago, JFH said:

I think you should go to a nearby country where same-sex marriage is legal and then there will be no grey area for immigration.........

I may look into this, he has a US passport. There is a good chance that it won't work simply because it needs to happen very soon, before I enter my civil service (not to make Austria sound bad but that is almost modern slavery in my opinion) where I will work for a whopping 300€ a month - full time - while i keep studying. Also I won't be able to travel really, i get only 2 weeks off, those 2 weeks I need for 2 project's at the university. 

 

I do have savings and it would be enough for I'd say 6-12 months of living in the states, depending on us having our own place or staying with his mom, the cars we need to buy & health insurance. That's why finding a job (I'm in the field of cyber security and expect not to long of a search) but especially getting a work permit are pretty high on the list of important things, hell I'd even work at walmart or pretty much anywhere as long as we stay a float  

 

I definitely will reach out to the consulate and keep you guys posted. 

[Boo&Mica 157]

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