Australian Citizenship Application during K1 Visa

[Derek & Cece 27]

Hello everyone! My fiance is currently a permanent resident of Australia (born in Vietnam) who is in the midst of her Australian citizenship application a process she has been working on since before we got engaged. Her application was finally submitted back in January (the company she had been working with kept giving her the runaround, asking for addition paperwork, etc and took forever to submit it) and we got engaged in February. My concern is whether this might have any impact on her K1 Visa application or whether the K1 might impact her citizenship application. She wants to continue pursuing her citizenship for Australia for several reasons. For one thing, Vietnam won't allow her to have a non-Vietnamese name on her passport, ID, etc so when we marry and she changes her name their will be a constant paperwork discrepancy but more importantly we may want to live in Australia one day and if so i will be easier to relocate there if she is a citizen rather than a permanent resident (especially since PR status will expire if she stops living in AU for too long). She won't be eligible for US citizenship (and therefore a US passport) for some time, but if she gets her Australian citizenship she can get a passport from that country instead. There is also the concern of not knowing when they will schedule her citizenship test and (assuming she passes) her ceremony to swear her oath to Australia. If she is in the US when she is supposed to go do her ceremony but doesn't yet have her green card, it might make it difficult to return to Australia.

 

TL;DR Will the Consulate Officer interviewing her find it strange that my fiance is applying for Australian Citizenship and a K1 visa and the same time and will one affect the other?

Edited April 9, 2019 by Derek & Cece

[payxibka 10,045]

47 minutes ago, Derek & Cece said:

Hello everyone! My fiance is currently a permanent resident of Australia (born in Vietnam) who is in the midst of her Australian citizenship application a process she has been working on since before we got engaged. Her application was finally submitted back in January (the company she had been working with kept giving her the runaround, asking for addition paperwork, etc and took forever to submit it) and we got engaged in February. My concern is whether this might have any impact on her K1 Visa application or whether the K1 might impact her citizenship application. She wants to continue pursuing her citizenship for Australia for several reasons. For one thing, Vietnam won't allow her to have a non-Vietnamese name on her passport, ID, etc so when we marry and she changes her name their will be a constant paperwork discrepancy but more importantly we may want to live in Australia one day and if so i will be easier to relocate there if she is a citizen rather than a permanent resident (especially since PR status will expire if she stops living in AU for too long). She won't be eligible for US citizenship (and therefore a US passport) for some time, but if she gets her Australian citizenship she can get a passport from that country instead. There is also the concern of not knowing when they will schedule her citizenship test and (assuming she passes) her ceremony to swear her oath to Australia. If she is in the US when she is supposed to go do her ceremony but doesn't yet have her green card, it might make it difficult to return to Australia.

 

TL;DR Will the Consulate Officer interviewing her find it strange that my fiance is applying for Australian Citizenship and a K1 visa and the same time and will one affect the other?

Many people hold multiple citizenships

[Derek & Cece 27]

Yeah that's true, I was just worried they might deny her one or the other since one involves her moving to the US while the other assume she will be remaining in Australia.

[Cryssiekins 976]

4 minutes ago, Derek & Cece said:

Yeah that's true, I was just worried they might deny her one or the other since one involves her moving to the US while the other assume she will be remaining in Australia.

Assuming it is complete before she leaves for the US, it shouldn’t be an issue. 

[Derek & Cece 27]

They are taking an extremely long time to process citizenship applications in Australia right now, there is a backlog of like 200,000 applicants last I heard 😕

[payxibka 10,045]

On 4/9/2019 at 5:04 PM, Derek & Cece said:

Yeah that's true, I was just worried they might deny her one or the other since one involves her moving to the US while the other assume she will be remaining in Australia.

Gaining citizenship does not mean you will remain in country. People acquire citizenship for a multitude of reasons 

[Derek & Cece 27]

Would be fiance be able to somehow leave (and return) in order to participate in her citizenship ceremony in Australia (where you swear your oath) after we get married but before she has her green card? This is assuming that she is able to take her test and get her approval but the ceremony date is too far out (sometimes up to 5 months) to attend before coming to the US on her K1 visa.

Edited April 11, 2019 by Derek & Cece

[payxibka 10,045]

10 minutes ago, Derek & Cece said:

Would be fiance be able to somehow leave (and return) in order to participate in her citizenship ceremony in Australia (where you swear your oath) after we get married but before she has her green card? This is assuming that she is able to take her test and get her approval but the ceremony date is too far out (sometimes up to 5 months) to attend before coming to the US on her K1 visa.

Only if she has approved advanced parole 

[MeghanK 629]

36 minutes ago, Derek & Cece said:

Would be fiance be able to somehow leave (and return) in order to participate in her citizenship ceremony in Australia (where you swear your oath) after we get married but before she has her green card? This is assuming that she is able to take her test and get her approval but the ceremony date is too far out (sometimes up to 5 months) to attend before coming to the US on her K1 visa.

We just went through this exact same stress/process in Canada and all was fine. We've had to delay my fiance's move to the states to stay in Canada and complete the citizenship. It was stressful trying to book the visa interview while not knowing when he'd be assigned his citizenship test date, but it worked out. Also stressful hoping the citizenship process would finish before the visa expires. He has the visa now, but still finishing up citizenship hopefully by June (2 months holding the visa w/o moving)

 

It's really about timing all the scenarios right... If she comes to U.S. before it's finished, assume about a 6-7 month window waiting on Advanced Parole, not allowed to leave the states, just to be safe. Unless she can delay citizenship interview for like 7 months without abandoning it, best to not leave Australia until she has it.

 

If she can't complete citizenship before getting the visa, make sure it won't take more than 6 months once she has visa, to complete. Because then she will have to choose visa or citizenship. So time the visa interview with a big enough padding to keep waiting on cit in Australia after.

 

So it won't cause any issues in the USAs eyes, but it may mess up your personal timelines. 

[Derek & Cece 27]

 

6 hours ago, MeghanK said:

We just went through this exact same stress/process in Canada and all was fine. We've had to delay my fiance's move to the states to stay in Canada and complete the citizenship. It was stressful trying to book the visa interview while not knowing when he'd be assigned his citizenship test date, but it worked out. Also stressful hoping the citizenship process would finish before the visa expires. He has the visa now, but still finishing up citizenship hopefully by June (2 months holding the visa w/o moving)

 

It's really about timing all the scenarios right... If she comes to U.S. before it's finished, assume about a 6-7 month window waiting on Advanced Parole, not allowed to leave the states, just to be safe. Unless she can delay citizenship interview for like 7 months without abandoning it, best to not leave Australia until she has it.

 

If she can't complete citizenship before getting the visa, make sure it won't take more than 6 months once she has visa, to complete. Because then she will have to choose visa or citizenship. So time the visa interview with a big enough padding to keep waiting on cit in Australia after.

 

So it won't cause any issues in the USAs eyes, but it may mess up your personal timelines. 

Thanks for the insight and information!