Need General advice

[Morgan&Heather 0]

Hi All, 

 

Please excuse me if I have posted this in the wrong section. Im just after advice as my situation (I think) may be a little different to others.

 

• Im a us / australian dual citizen living in Aus, engaged to a british citizen. I have spent most of my life living in AUS, incuding the past 5 years
• We would like to get married in the USA ( half way for both families + I have immediate family who live there)
• We would like to take time off from our jobs here and travel the US for about a year, both before and after our wedding which will probably be about August 2019.
• Honestly we're not sure if we would like to stay after this period, ie try and immigrate or come back to AUS. 
• The visa options I see is: B2 tourist or K1. 
•  K1 it seems like its a long process, for which we may not be sure to want to stay after the wedding and try and immigrate. Alot of the questions on the K1 seem to be tailored towards the petitioner living in the USA. Im not sure if this will make it difficult to obtain this visa as our property, income and jobs are in aus. We do however have the funds to support travel.
• B2 visa, we want to stay for a year, not sure how hard it is to get the 2nd 6 months once in the usa. We're 100% not looking to jump the queue or commit fraud, we just seem to fall into no mans land as to the right type of visa...

 

Any advice from the the community would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks 

 

 

[mushroomspore 3,044]

Well, my advice is that I think you have this backwards.

 

Right now, you're thinking the first step is to decide what visa you need. I think what you actually need to do first is determine if you want to immigrate to the US or return to Aus. By doing that first, it will make the visa path clear.

 

If you decide to immigrate, you can do K1 or CR1 since both result in your significant other gaining permanent residency. You won't be wasting your time and energy on a B2 and just go straight for the green card.

 

If you decide to return to Aus, then I think B2 is your only option. Be aware you cannot work while on B2. You can apply to extend your B2. But you'll have to Google that yourself because I don't know details.

 

I'm also suggesting to decide on "immigration or no immigration" now to make your life easier and more efficient. If you do B2 and then decide after you do want to immigrate, well you've made the process unnecessarily longer and will have to deal with more bureaucratic redtape than is necessary. Hope that makes sense and is helpful. This is just my opinion.

[Ontarkie 14,234]

~~Moved to What Visa Do I Need, from K1 Progress Reports - The OP is not sure what their future plans are.~~

[Morgan&Heather 0]

Thank you very much for your advice. I guess the only thing which slightly prevents us from doing the K1 is the processing time. Its not until we have spent enough time in the states that we're truly sure we want to stay there. 

It just seems really hard to get say a 1-2 year work visa so that we could "try before we buy" if that makes sense. 

Thankyou, your advice has been taken on board. 

 

[mushroomspore 3,044]

9 minutes ago, Morgan&Heather said:

Thank you very much for your advice. I guess the only thing which slightly prevents us from doing the K1 is the processing time. Its not until we have spent enough time in the states that we're truly sure we want to stay there. 

It just seems really hard to get say a 1-2 year work visa so that we could "try before we buy" if that makes sense. 

Thankyou, your advice has been taken on board. 

 

I get what you're saying. I would not consider a work visa. They're extremely hard to get due to insane competition for them and it also is dependent on your education and industry. They've got very stringent regulations and do not necessarily lead to permanent residency (if that is what you guys decide you want). The current administration is also wanting to crack down on work visas to deter fraud etc. 

 

K1 processing times are indeed long. However if you do K1, then you need to do adjustment of status (green card application). The adjustment process requires the intending immigrant to remain in the US (until he/she has the travel permit approved but even then, it doesn't mean he/she is allowed to move back to their home country). Adjustment takes on average a year. You could potentially use the adjustment phase to do your traveling. This is just a thought as you will need to ensure you can receive USCIS' mail and respond to them if necessary and to appear on time for their interview. (EDIT: just wanna add that if you do K1, you already need to be sure you do wanna stay in the US.)

 

Otherwise, B2 is your only option and I believe it is maximum 6 months for everyone. If you just do B2, then you'll just have to accept your time limit is that unless you get approved for an extension. The extension is unlikely to be another full 6 months though.

Edited September 6, 2018 by mushroomspore

[Morgan&Heather 0]

Thank you again for your wisdom..... I just wonder if anyone else has gone down this path... I hate to be different!😀

[mushroomspore 3,044]

4 minutes ago, Morgan&Heather said:

Thank you again for your wisdom..... I just wonder if anyone else has gone down this path... I hate to be different!😀

Hmm I am sure people have done similar things. However as mentioned before, B2 is the only tourist visa the US has so the people who have done this were only able to do it for as long as their B2 allowed.

[Going through 5,671]

8 hours ago, Morgan&Heather said:

B2 visa, we want to stay for a year, not sure how hard it is to get the 2nd 6 months once in the usa.

The foreigner can apply to extend the B2 visa, but would have to give reasons why they cannot return before the first 6 months are up, mention any effects an extended stay in the US would have on their foreign residency, as well as arrangements made to depart the country after any approved extended stay.

 

Edited September 6, 2018 by Going through

[Going through 5,671]

8 hours ago, Morgan&Heather said:

K1 it seems like its a long process, for which we may not be sure to want to stay after the wedding and try and immigrate. Alot of the questions on the K1 seem to be tailored towards the petitioner living in the USA. Im not sure if this will make it difficult to obtain this visa as our property, income and jobs are in aus.

Difficulty would depend on how well you would be able to reestablish US domicile before filing.  Filing US taxes during the years you have been living in Australia is one part of that.

[Morgan&Heather 0]

Would using my brother as a sponsor who has lived there the last 7 years help the case?  I can open up a bank account and get a drivers licence but i havent drawn an income from the USA for close to 20 years.

[Going through 5,671]

15 minutes ago, Morgan&Heather said:

Would using my brother as a sponsor who has lived there the last 7 years help the case?  I can open up a bank account and get a drivers licence but i havent drawn an income from the USA for close to 20 years.

Depends on what route you plan to take----are you getting engaged and filing the K1, and then getting married within 90 days....or are you hoping for him to have a tourist visa only?

[Morgan&Heather 0]

We are engaged. Our intent was to file the K1 documentation so we could stay indefinitely. I dont know who to believe but it seems like the B2 visa is not a definite, and if knocked back, then would jeaopardise her travelling to the USA. Like I previously posted, our intentions are absolutely honourable, in the fact that whatever entry we gain for my Fiance, we plan to follow. I have 2 brothers who live in the USA so I dont want to jeopardise travelling in the future. She (Heather) is the Beneficiary. 

Edited September 7, 2018 by Morgan&Heather