Question regarding timing after receiving green card

[abbeymg 0]

Hello,

 

I am a US citizen married to a German citizen. We live in Germany right now. I want to move back to the US for a job next summer (2018), but my husband is finishing his graduate studies here and won't be able to move with me until spring 2019.

 

Could we still apply for his permanent residence while living in Germany through Frankfurt? I know this process is A LOT less stressful than filing once I am back in the US for whatever reason and takes only 3 to 4 months to process and grand visas/green cards.

 

So basically, my question is: if we apply for his visa in March 2018, and it is granted by June or July 2018, but he can't permanently move to the US until March of 2019, would this disqualify him from getting his green card through filing directly in Frankfurt? Is there a six month (or similar) time limit to when he can ''activate'' his visa by arriving in the US?

 

 

Our timeline: I move back in May 2018 ---> He receives permanent residency in summer 2018 ---> He moves to US permanently late winter/early spring 2019.

 

We can definitely establish a domicile for him (a place of residence, open a bank account, transfer his driver's license, etc) but he would have to go back and forth between Germany until the end of March 2019. We would like to limit our long distance time as much as we possibly can, obviously, so I would much rather apply for his visa while we are still together in Germany if possible. This also means that if he already has his visa he can start applying to jobs while still finishing up grad school, which would be a huge weight off of our shoulders because it means less time spent unemployed. 

 

Thank you!

 

[JFH 12,191]

Yes, this would work. He needs to enter the USA within the validity of the visa (6 months from the date of the medical examination) but he is then free to come and go as he pleases as he will be a permanent resident. He should be mindful to not spend more than 6 months at a time out of the country. 

 

You don't need to establish domicile for him. Domicile is a requirement for the USC, not the beneficiary. 

[abbeymg 0]

1 hour ago, JFH said:

Yes, this would work. He needs to enter the USA within the validity of the visa (6 months from the date of the medical examination) but he is then free to come and go as he pleases as he will be a permanent resident. He should be mindful to not spend more than 6 months at a time out of the country. 

 

You don't need to establish domicile for him. Domicile is a requirement for the USC, not the beneficiary. 

Thank you! An addendum to this question that I realized may affect the answer... I am dumb and somehow forgot to put this in:

 

We were married on August 9th, 2016, so if we apply for his permit this winter, but he receives his visa and arrives AFTER our second wedding anniversary, is he a conditional resident still? Or does it count from the date of his arrival, meaning we will have already been married for two years at this point. Would this affect his ability to come and go as he pleases for less than six months?

[little immigrant 801]

When he enters the US after your second wedding anniversary, he will get the 10 year green card. It goes by the date of the POE.

[JFH 12,191]

The date he enters the USA for the first time with his visa is what counts. So if you have been married more than 2 years when he first arrives, he will receive a 10-year green card and you won't have to go through the removal of conditions procedure. If the marriage is less than 2 years old, he will receive a conditional 2-year green card and will have to go through removal of conditions. 

 

Having a conditional green card card does not affect anything like work and international travel.

[abbeymg 0]

Thank you so much to everyone who replied! It looks like I will then file directly with the consulate, hoping he will receive his visa by late spring/early summer and enter with me then. 

One last question for all of you super helpful people: Should I file rather sooner than later, or should I file in January or February so that he gets will hopefully have his permit approved by the summertime, so he could come over in August with me? Obviously, it would be ideal for us if he could arrive after our second wedding anniversary simply because less paperwork down the road, so I don't want to apply too early and leave him scrambling to enter the US before the six months is up, but we have a wedding on August 25th, 2018, so he HAS to be in the US by that date, so I want to be on the safe side. When would you recommend filing? 

 

Thanks again, sorry for overloading all of you with questions.

[Ryan H 3,834]

Moved from Progress Reports to Process & Procedures.