we got married on a tourist visa :/

[JFH 12,191]

4 hours ago, proudtobabritgirl said:

I guess we should of looked into it more beforehand! Haha! I didn't even know you could do that! That's a nice option, as you don't have to be apart anymore! Ah, I'm jealous about that! 

For us though, I guess it just made sense for me to come back and earn GBPound because it will go further when I do move over! 

I don't want money to be an issue incase I cant find work quickly!  

Whichever visa journey you take I guess that there is pros and cons! 

Good luck on your journey and yes please let me know timeline, as it interests me! And if it is a really quick option, then I shall kick myself for leaving and coming home, rather than staying!  Hahahaha! 

It's only an "option" for people who entered with no intention of staying. So, they get married and then decide to stay and not go home. It's illegal to plan to do things this way. 

 

It has a lot of disadvantages. You cannot work or travel internationally for many months. Depending on which state you reside in you cannot even drive. You are in limbo for many months with no status here. Under the current administration, I wouldn't even want to have an overdue library book here, let alone be without real status (you have authorized stay but no actual status until the process is complete). 

 

Personaliy, I'm pleased that I was a permanent resident from the moment I arrived. I carried on working in the U.K. until 10 days before I moved here (and those 10 days were paid leave) and then started work here less than 2 weeks after I arrived. I applied for and was offered the job before I left the U.K. In my line of work, a break of any longer than a month can be detrimental to your career. I didn't go to university for 7 years doing 2 degrees to screw up my career because I couldn't wait a few months for my visa to be processed. Madness! Also I need to be able to work for my own sanity. I've always had a very mentally demanding job and I'd go stir crazy without the daily challenge. I also need to be able to earn my own money. Starting work right away also helped me to settle in, meet people, etc. For those of us who've lived very independent lives, living here in limbo with no work authorization could be soul destroying.  

[JFH 12,191]

9 hours ago, Snorlux said:

In any case it's not wrong or against the law to get married on a tourist visa a lot of people come to the USA, get married and then leave so I wouldn't worry.

Indeed. See my previous post. That's exactly what we did. Married, left, applied, moved. 

[Snorlux 58]

48 minutes ago, JFH said:

It's only an "option" for people who entered with no intention of staying. So, they get married and then decide to stay and not go home. It's illegal to plan to do things this way. 

 

It has a lot of disadvantages. You cannot work or travel internationally for many months. Depending on which state you reside in you cannot even drive. You are in limbo for many months with no status here. Under the current administration, I wouldn't even want to have an overdue library book here, let alone be without real status (you have authorized stay but no actual status until the process is complete). 

 

Personaliy, I'm pleased that I was a permanent resident from the moment I arrived. I carried on working in the U.K. until 10 days before I moved here (and those 10 days were paid leave) and then started work here less than 2 weeks after I arrived. I applied for and was offered the job before I left the U.K. In my line of work, a break of any longer than a month can be detrimental to your career. I didn't go to university for 7 years doing 2 degrees to screw up my career because I couldn't wait a few months for my visa to be processed. Madness! Also I need to be able to work for my own sanity. I've always had a very mentally demanding job and I'd go stir crazy without the daily challenge. I also need to be able to earn my own money. Starting work right away also helped me to settle in, meet people, etc. For those of us who've lived very independent lives, living here in limbo with no work authorization could be soul destroying.  

How do you “screw up your career” because you wait for a visa? That is a little harsh. I had to wait for my work authorization for 3 months but never had issues with work and I now work for one of the largest banks in the world making a 6 figure salary, so don’t be too quick to judge. 

 

Also, work authorization and advance parole documents have a maximum processing time of 6 months so you won’t go more than 6 months before being able to work and get a social security number. Personally I went mental waiting for these documents because as you said, I was not used to sitting around doing nothing. We were both fresh out of college and the plan was to visit relatives in Cyprus and the US and then return to the UK where we used to live and study before. The only reason we decided to stay was that my wife, us citizen, was offered an awesome job opportunity by her ex school principal. After studying together in the UK we never lived apart from each other so she wouldn’t stay in the US alone so we decided the best thing to do would be for me to suck it up and give the process a try.. I went crazy for 3 months that I couldn’t work but at least we didn’t have to live apart and she didn’t have to give up on that opportunity .. also the fact that we used to live in NYC that is very welcoming to migrants played a big role.

 

There’s always a good side and a bad side to every thing and everyone does what’s best for their situation. 

[geowrian 22,338]

4 hours ago, Snorlux said:

Also, work authorization and advance parole documents have a maximum processing time of 6 months

No such thing...usually it will take about 4 months right now, but it could take less or way more. There is no such thing as a maximum processing time with AOS, AP, or an EAD.

[Snorlux 58]

40 minutes ago, geowrian said:

No such thing...usually it will take about 4 months right now, but it could take less or way more. There is no such thing as a maximum processing time with AOS, AP, or an EAD.

You are wrong. And its actually 90 days not 6 months as I said.

You can do some research on uscis.gov

[geowrian 22,338]

11 minutes ago, Snorlux said:

You are wrong. And its actually 90 days not 6 months as I said.

You can do some research on uscis.gov

That regulation is not in current enforcement. Real world vs written statutes...they should do it within 3 months, but they won't and there's no means for action for them not doing so (Edit: except putting in an SR to inquire about it). The average processing timeline is around 120 days right now.

Edited December 3, 2017 by geowrian

[geowrian 22,338]

Missed my period to edit, sorry.

 

Official source for the rule change:

https://www.uscis.gov/news/news-releases/uscis-publishes-final-rule-certain-employment-based-immigrant-and-nonimmigrant-visa-programs

"Eliminate the regulatory provision that requires USCIS to adjudicate the Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, within 90 days of filing and that authorizes interim EADs in cases where such adjudications are not conducted within the 90-day timeframe."

This was subsequently implemented via automatic renewals/extensions only: https://www.uscis.gov/working-united-states/automatic-employment-authorization-document-ead-extension

 

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2016/11/18/2016-27540/retention-of-eb-1-eb-2-and-eb-3-immigrant-workers-and-program-improvements-affecting-high-skilled

"Although DHS is eliminating the 90-day processing timeframe for Forms I-765 from the regulatory text, USCIS continues to be committed to the processing goals it has established for Form I-765. "

[pushbrk 13,111]

1 hour ago, Snorlux said:

You are wrong. And its actually 90 days not 6 months as I said.

You can do some research on uscis.gov

 

My experience the past 12 years is that Advance Parole and EAD are granted within 60 to 75 days of doing biometrics which is usually scheduled within 30 days of filing.  Just a different way of saying virtually the same thing.

[proudtobabritgirl 126]

Ok, I'm completely lost! 😶

But I do have one more question.....

Once your application has been accepted and completed etc and you can go to the USA, do you have to go over straight away or is their a tine limit on how long it is that you have to go over? Etc. Hope that makes sense. Not sure how to word it! 

[truelove29 218]

3 hours ago, proudtobabritgirl said:

Ok, I'm completely lost! 😶

But I do have one more question.....

Once your application has been accepted and completed etc and you can go to the USA, do you have to go over straight away or is their a tine limit on how long it is that you have to go over? Etc. Hope that makes sense. Not sure how to word it! 

The visa is issued after the interview & will have an expiration date. I believe it's usually good for 6 months from the time you do the medical. So you have about 5 months to move before it expires & becomes invalid. 

[proudtobabritgirl 126]

Ok thank you! So it is all quite quick after the medical! Cool! Thanks again! 

[proudtobabritgirl 126]

Ok, so I have a question...which I'm nervous will sound a bit well, dumb! But here goes....

So we sent of our application and we got our NAO1 which said our case was being submitted to the Texas service centre. Wahoo!

So I put in the receipt number to the USCIS website and looked at the processing times. It said that they are currently processing February 2017 applications.....(here comes the dumb question) does this mean that you can expect around an 11 month wait if they are processing applications from 11 months back? 

I really am confused with this whole process so I am trying to understand it step by step. 

I have read up about it and read the step by step process, but still trying to figure it all out. 

Thank you for any replies!

[pushbrk 13,111]

2 hours ago, proudtobabritgirl said:

Ok, so I have a question...which I'm nervous will sound a bit well, dumb! But here goes....

So we sent of our application and we got our NAO1 which said our case was being submitted to the Texas service centre. Wahoo!

So I put in the receipt number to the USCIS website and looked at the processing times. It said that they are currently processing February 2017 applications.....(here comes the dumb question) does this mean that you can expect around an 11 month wait if they are processing applications from 11 months back? 

I really am confused with this whole process so I am trying to understand it step by step. 

I have read up about it and read the step by step process, but still trying to figure it all out. 

Thank you for any replies!

It's the elusive "up to" 11 months.  Expect 6 to 8 and then be happy if it takes less than that.  What it actually means is the oldest one they have on file (that they are admitting to) is from February 2017.

[proudtobabritgirl 126]

1 minute ago, pushbrk said:

It's the elusive "up to" 11 months.  Expect 6 to 8 and then be happy if it takes less than that.  What it actually means is the oldest one they have on file (that they are admitting to) is from February 2017.

Thanks so much for your speedy response! I thought this might be the case, but just wanted to check! I mean, even if it does take a year, there's nothing we can do! Just have to wait it out I guess! Thanks again! 

[pushbrk 13,111]

15 minutes ago, proudtobabritgirl said:

Thanks so much for your speedy response! I thought this might be the case, but just wanted to check! I mean, even if it does take a year, there's nothing we can do! Just have to wait it out I guess! Thanks again! 

It's not so much that I'm speedy.  I'm just not in the US, so I'm not sleeping.  Only 5:47PM here.