Boston Teacher

[Ekw 1]

My fiancé and I have been dabbling with which visa to move forward with. He’s already a licensed teacher in MA and struggling to find a school to sponsor him. He is open to other work to get his here (or to help while he applies for a work permit).

 

he’s also open to finding a job elsewhere in the world. We’re alsp considering going for the spouse visa, however he needs a job in order to get back into his own country or visit the US.

 

any and all leads/advice welcome!

[Boiler 45,434]

K1 seems the obvious choice, takes about 9 months, I take it you are a USC?

[Ekw 1]

Yeah...but the problem is he would need to get here on a vistors visa in order for us to get married. He’s having no luck finding jobs anywhere and we’ve been searching since March. We’re back and forth on which visa, but getting frustrated with the lack of job leads. He was denied one visa to come here already because he doesn’t have work to return to. Unfortunately, having family in the country in which you were born in/currently live isn’t a good enough reason to let people back in. 

 

Yes I’m a citizen. 

[Redheadguy03 505]

15 minutes ago, Ekw said:

Yeah...but the problem is he would need to get here on a vistors visa in order for us to get married. He’s having no luck finding jobs anywhere and we’ve been searching since March. We’re back and forth on which visa, but getting frustrated with the lack of job leads. He was denied one visa to come here already because he doesn’t have work to return to. Unfortunately, having family in the country in which you were born in/currently live isn’t a good enough reason to let people back in. 

 

Yes I’m a citizen. 

No its a k1 visa to get married. It's a fiance visa and is for getting married. 

 

Coming to the United States on a tourist visa with intentions to get married is actually visa fraud. 

 

Apply, then get married within 90 days of coming to the United States. Then apply for AOS (adjustment of status) and EAD (work approval) and advanced parole. I'd suggest doing a bit of research because the k1 is pretty well known. 

Edited January 4, 2018 by Redheadguy03

[Boiler 45,434]

K1 seems ideal.

[geowrian 22,337]

18 minutes ago, Ekw said:

Yeah...but the problem is he would need to get here on a vistors visa in order for us to get married. He’s having no luck finding jobs anywhere and we’ve been searching since March. We’re back and forth on which visa, but getting frustrated with the lack of job leads. He was denied one visa to come here already because he doesn’t have work to return to. Unfortunately, having family in the country in which you were born in/currently live isn’t a good enough reason to let people back in.

No, he would arrive on the K-1 visa and marry within 90 days on that. That's literally the purpose of a K-1 visa. The past tourist visa refusal due to immigrant intent won't matter for a K-1 visa.

 

Having a job to come back to is a good tie, but I would question blaming any single aspect resulting in a refusal. Getting a job won't suddenly guarantee a tourist visa (and likely won't help for at least a good portion of time...a job that you can instantly leave for week(s) at a time isn't a good tie).

Local family is not that strong of a tie because people have done exactly that by leaving them behind (and working in the US to send them money, or visiting them after obtaining AP or permanent residency).

Edited January 4, 2018 by geowrian

[Redheadguy03 505]

Good luck! Look into k1 visa. 

Edited January 4, 2018 by Redheadguy03

[Ekw 1]

8 minutes ago, Redheadguy03 said:

No its a k1 visa to get married. It's a fiance visa and is for getting married. 

 

Coming to the United States on a tourist visa with intentions to get married is actually visa fraud. 

 

Apply, then get married within 90 days of coming to the United States. Then apply for AOS (adjustment of status) and EAD (work approval) and advanced parole. I'd suggest doing a bit of research because the k1 is pretty well known. 

Right right. I’ve read on here people have come on tourist visas and gotten married. *mixed messages*. I also spoke to someone directly that did that in 2013 with her Husband from the UK. 

 

Unfortunately, they denied my fiancé a visa within meeting with him for 5 minutes. They told him directly it was due to not having a solid reason to return; more specifically no financial/job ties.

 

I’ve researched the K1 and spoken with an attorney about the fiancé visa. We just became interested in the spousal visa route after speaking with that woman. Nothing is set in stone right now...trying all angles. That’s why I asked about any job ties for a potential work visa. 

 

Thanks for the input! 

[Boiler 45,434]

Get married in his country.

[Ekw 1]

2 minutes ago, Boiler said:

Get married in his country.

Yeah! that’s what we’re thinking. We didn’t think that was recognized at first, but we both just spent the night comparing visas. So exhausting. 

[Redheadguy03 505]

11 minutes ago, Ekw said:

Right right. I’ve read on here people have come on tourist visas and gotten married. *mixed messages*. I also spoke to someone directly that did that in 2013 with her Husband from the UK. 

 

Unfortunately, they denied my fiancé a visa within meeting with him for 5 minutes. They told him directly it was due to not having a solid reason to return; more specifically no financial/job ties.

 

I’ve researched the K1 and spoken with an attorney about the fiancé visa. We just became interested in the spousal visa route after speaking with that woman. Nothing is set in stone right now...trying all angles. That’s why I asked about any job ties for a potential work visa. 

 

Thanks for the input! 

People do get married on tourist visas and adjust status. However, if you had that intention when entering the country it's fraud. If you decide after you were in the country to get married then it's ok.

 

There is talk that will change, but who knows. As someone who went the k1 route I'd suggest the spousal visa. That way you can work right away and leave the country if needed. 

[Ekw 1]

1 minute ago, Redheadguy03 said:

People do get married on tourist visas and adjust status. However, if you had that intention when entering the country it's fraud. If you decide after you were in the country to get married then it's ok.

 

There is talk that will change, but who knows. As someone who went the k1 route I'd suggest the spousal visa. That way you can work right away and leave the country if needed. 

Yeah we knew that, but I guess people have been careful going about it. Not ideal, but was. Possibility. Now that we know we can marry in his country and it would be recognized, we’re leaning that route. Still interested in finding a job to get him here earlier, if possible. 

 

Thank you again! We’re just getting anxious. It’s been almost a year since we’ve been together other than me going to visit. 

[festin 2]

On 1/3/2018 at 8:38 PM, Ekw said:

My fiancé and I have been dabbling with which visa to move forward with. He’s already a licensed teacher in MA and struggling to find a school to sponsor him. He is open to other work to get his here (or to help while he applies for a work permit).

 

he’s also open to finding a job elsewhere in the world. We’re alsp considering going for the spouse visa, however he needs a job in order to get back into his own country or visit the US.

 

any and all leads/advice welcome!

If you don't mind me asking, how did he get Teaching License in MA while outside the US and without SSN?

[Ekw 1]

54 minutes ago, festin said:

If you don't mind me asking, how did he get Teaching License in MA while outside the US and without SSN?

Great question! If you go to the mass.gov website and look through the teaching requirements there is an option somewhere on there about obtaining a temporary SSN. I apologize I don’t remember more steps. I just remember my fiancé having to email someone with his intentions then they set it up. Worst comes to worst, you call someone from the education board and ask for assistance. 

 

Once he had the temp SSN # he sent in his collegiate degrees and certificates to the MA education board who then reviewed them and provided the American equivalent degree he had earned. From there he was told what license(s) he was eligible for and was able to study for the MTEL’s he was required to pass for the license. 

 

He was able to take the MTEL’s in South Africa. As long as there’s a Pearson testing center in the country your partner lives in, they can take the tests. The results do take a month to come back. 

 

I hope that that made sense and/or was helpful!!! 

[festin 2]

41 minutes ago, Ekw said:

Great question! If you go to the mass.gov website and look through the teaching requirements there is an option somewhere on there about obtaining a temporary SSN. I apologize I don’t remember more steps. I just remember my fiancé having to email someone with his intentions then they set it up. Worst comes to worst, you call someone from the education board and ask for assistance. 

 

Once he had the temp SSN # he sent in his collegiate degrees and certificates to the MA education board who then reviewed them and provided the American equivalent degree he had earned. From there he was told what license(s) he was eligible for and was able to study for the MTEL’s he was required to pass for the license. 

 

He was able to take the MTEL’s in South Africa. As long as there’s a Pearson testing center in the country your partner lives in, they can take the tests. The results do take a month to come back. 

 

I hope that that made sense and/or was helpful!!! 

Really helpful