CR1 Process With Asylum Seeker in Germany

[dcgirl112 0]

I've been lurking the forums for a while and have searched extensively for people with a similar situation to my own without luck, so am grateful for any responses, advice, insight, etc. since I am at the very beginning of this process with my boyfriend. Sorry in advance for the long post -- a lot of context feels necessary.

 

I'm an American citizen and met my boyfriend, an Afghan asylum seeker (his first asylum claim was rejected and he's in the appeals process) living in Germany, 13 months ago when I was on exchange in Germany. We were friends for 3-4 months before becoming romantically involved. 2 months after we became romantic, my exchange ended and I had to return for a short time to the US, but I knew I would be returning to Germany as I had received a job offer and planned to stay in Germany with that job for 2-3 years (he was a big reason that I wanted to stay in Germany and accepted the job). If all went well, after 2-3 years we would go through the K1 process and return to the US together. However, I recently and unexpectedly had to return permanently to the US because my boss in the German job became emotionally abusive, so I quit but was unable to find a new job in the time I could stay in Germany and support myself without an income (I have nearly 100 job applications and bank statements from the time period that I could provide as evidence if ever needed in the process). Enrolling in graduate school in Germany in order to stay and be with my boyfriend was not an option, as I still need to have a reliable and sufficient income. Because his asylum claim hasn't been approved, he can't leave Germany and his options within the country are also extremely limited.

 

That brings me to CR1 -- because of the change in my situation, we want to get married in Germany and then file CR1. Basically, we would get engaged the next time I visit him (hopefully this summer) and then 6-9 months later get married (again, in Germany) and stay long distance through the CR1 process. We haven't decided yet if we would only do the legal marriage in Germany and invite only our friends who live there, and then do a celebration in the US once (if all goes well) we are there together, or if we would have my family and the relatives of his who are able to travel also come to Germany and do a proper celebratory wedding there as well as the legal marriage. We're similar in age (I'm 25, he's 22) and have two common languages (German and English). I'm also planning to learn some Dari, his native language.

 

That said, we know there are a lot of red flags to our case and are trying to anticipate any and all possible obstacles so we can front load the petition and address potential questions before they become issues.

 

Red flags:

-he's not only an Afghan male, but also an asylum seeker 

-some specifics of his asylum claim that will probably lead to even more "administrative processing"

-different cultures/religions; also, we're fairly young.

-fairly short period of time that we've known each other and that we've been in a relationship

-his family is not super supportive, though not 100% opposed, depending on which person you ask

-limited ability for us to see each other now that I'm back in the US permanently (finances and my job in the US probably won't allow me to visit more than 2x/year)

-haven't lived together and can't combine finances (his status in Germany requires that he live only where the government mandates and prevents him from opening additional bank accounts etc. -- we can provide letters from his lawyer and the appropriate German authorities attesting to this in our petition)

 

As for evidence, we have quite a few photos together alone and with friends (although unfortunately pretty much entirely from the last 8 months so not showing the full 13 months we've known each other), photos on Facetime with family members living outside of Germany, on Facetime together, and nearly daily chat logs/calls on Whatsapp and Facebook messenger since the first day we met and will of course continue to document chat logs and visits. I'm also going to try to add him as an authorized user to my credit cards and we have friends in Germany and the US who will write affidavits attesting to our relationship. We unfortunately don't have receipts from gifts, dates, day trips, or the like, although going forward we'll be sure to save those things as well as any flight/hotel receipts from visits.

 

Given how complicated our case is, we plan to retain lawyers in the US and Germany to help us through the process.

 

At this point I don't have any specific questions for those of you who already have experience with this process but am just looking for any insights, advice, or perhaps any other lurkers who also have been through a similar situation but not posted about it...

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Edited April 20, 2019 by dcgirl112

[Crazy Cat 42,681]

Personally, I would be extremely concerned about some of the red flags you listed....especially the first 3..........what if he is again denied asylum?    

[dcgirl112 0]

6 minutes ago, missileman said:

Personally, I would be extremely concerned about some of the red flags you listed....especially the first 3..........what if he is again denied asylum?    

Definitely concerned -- that's why we're doing a lot of research now, trying to collect as much evidence as possible in advance, and looking for advice here  

 

As for the very real concern about a second denial, he's currently doing an apprenticeship, which allows him to stay in Germany for the length of the schooling (3 years) with the possibility to extend for work in the apprenticeship field after the training period is over, regardless of his asylum claim. So not ideal, but it does mean we have at least 3 years to work with. His status from that perspective could work for us (argument: even if I moved back to Germany to study, for example, we wouldn't have long long term security there together) or against us (the obvious red flag that it's not a bona fide relationship).

[Just Paul 4,595]

A few thoughts:

The asylum / refugee visa has some benefits compared to the spousal.

He is going to have AP either way.   If he has an German attorney maybe he can shed some light on the timeframe for the asylum petition.

 

I think he can have the asylum petition pending the same time as a spousal petition.  (too late here to pull research). If that works and the timeline for asylum is more than 2 years, get married on the next trip and file for the spousal visa.  (if you think the relationship is there).  You have already met and want to be together.  You don't need any sort of engagement period.  You can get enough evidence together.  With all of the delays, k1 timelines are getting longer,  and then having to do an AOS, giving him an option to work immediately in the US is probably very valuable.  

 

 

[dcgirl112 0]

On 4/20/2019 at 11:33 PM, Paul & Mary said:

A few thoughts:

The asylum / refugee visa has some benefits compared to the spousal.

He is going to have AP either way.   If he has an German attorney maybe he can shed some light on the timeframe for the asylum petition.

 

I think he can have the asylum petition pending the same time as a spousal petition.  (too late here to pull research). If that works and the timeline for asylum is more than 2 years, get married on the next trip and file for the spousal visa.  (if you think the relationship is there).  You have already met and want to be together.  You don't need any sort of engagement period.  You can get enough evidence together.  With all of the delays, k1 timelines are getting longer,  and then having to do an AOS, giving him an option to work immediately in the US is probably very valuable.  

 

 

Thanks. Unfortunately the marriage process in Germany will take about 6 months (gathering our documents from our respective countries, getting an appointment, etc.) so we figure we might as well get engaged and then start the process to give the relationship as much credibility and time as possible. An asylum application in the US isn't possible for him, and his lawyer hasn't been able to get any concrete updates about his petition in Germany, so we don't see any disadvantage to starting the CR1 process.