Brit in US on visa waiver programme - stuck here over 90 days but now want to get married

[fishandcrisps 2]

hey all, I've seen some helpful advice on this forum so posting for thoughts.

• I am a UK citizen and boyfriend is a US citizen.
• I visited him in early March on the Visa Waiver Program just before the US banned travel from the UK. I was only intending to stay here for 1.5 weeks but all my flights (6 to date) had been cancelled. I've now been in the US (California) for over 90 days and was granted satisfactory departure recently (so now 27 days into the 30 day satisfactory departure extension).
• We decided we wanted to get married and applied for a marriage license and appointment. The County office are due to get back to us this week to confirm an appointment - so not legally married yet. 
• But I have a flight booked on the day of admission expiry (in 4 days) but it can be moved back if needed. 
• I do not intend to stay or move to the US immediately, my goal is maybe move in the next 6-12 months (if permitted). So plan was always for me to go back to UK after marriage if it were to happen here. However, it is now looking unlikely that we'll get married before I return home to the UK due to the County office not responding, so I was wondering what my best options are.

 

I really want to marry him before I return home so that we can start applying for the relevant visa as I know it can take a long time but also so that I can visit him if the covid-19 ban were to be extended for a lot longer (assuming those on spousal visas are exempt from travel ban?).

 

- Do I stay here a little longer and overstay by a couple of weeks (assuming marriage appointment isn't too far into future)? I'm not sure how this would look to USCIS when I get around to applying for a marriage based visa and how it would impact my next visit to the US.

- Do I just go home and get married on my next visit to the US - can I next visit on a visa waiver programme, get married and go home to UK? WOuld that be allowed, or do I need some sort of marriage based visa before I get married even if I was returning to the UK?

-Marry in the UK then apply for relevant visa? There's a US ban to visitors from the UK so we are considering option of getting married in the UK but there's a long waiting list, and no remote option and more costly so this option isn't ideal. If we do this, can I apply for the relevant marriage visa from abroad and enter the US without issues?

-Any other options I've missed?

 

thanks

 

 

 

 

 

[igoyougoduke 1,662]

Spouses of US citizens and green card holders are exempted . there is no ban. 

 

stay and get AOS or go back to UK and apply CR1. 

[fishandcrisps 2]

6 hours ago, James120383 said:

Spouses of US citizens and green card holders are exempted . there is no ban. 

 

stay and get AOS or go back to UK and apply CR1. 

Thank you. I don't think I can get married in time, my admission expires in a few days. So do you know if I would be able to return to the US on the visa waiver programme and get married but with the intention to go back to the UK and then file for CR1?

thanks

 

[igoyougoduke 1,662]

6 hours ago, fishandcrisps said:

Thank you. I don't think I can get married in time, my admission expires in a few days. So do you know if I would be able to return to the US on the visa waiver programme and get married but with the intention to go back to the UK and then file for CR1?

thanks

 

Yes

[DaveAndAnastasia 2,093]

On 7/6/2020 at 6:12 PM, fishandcrisps said:

hey all, I've seen some helpful advice on this forum so posting for thoughts.

• I am a UK citizen and boyfriend is a US citizen.
• [...]
• We decided we wanted to get married and applied for a marriage license and appointment. The County office are due to get back to us this week to confirm an appointment - so not legally married yet. 

Have you checked to see if any neighboring county clerk's offices are open for issuing marriage licenses without an appointment (probably not, but worth checking) or allow some notaries to issue confidential marriage licenses (some CA counties do)?

 

Also, depending on where you are in CA, checking into whether a road trip to Vegas (~4 hrs by car from LA) or Reno (~4 hrs by car from the SF Bay Area) would work might be worth looking into.

[fishandcrisps 2]

3 hours ago, DaveAndAnastasia said:

Have you checked to see if any neighboring county clerk's offices are open for issuing marriage licenses without an appointment (probably not, but worth checking) or allow some notaries to issue confidential marriage licenses (some CA counties do)?

 

Also, depending on where you are in CA, checking into whether a road trip to Vegas (~4 hrs by car from LA) or Reno (~4 hrs by car from the SF Bay Area) would work might be worth looking into.

Hi 

Yes we checked neighbouring county's offices and all of them are issuing marriage licenses remotely or require appointments. Thanks for letting me know about the notary, I had no idea that was possible but just did a search and can't find any close by.

Will speak to my partner about Reno, I only have a couple of days left so it is probably too rushed now. But helpful tips, thank you.

[fishandcrisps 2]

Good news there was a cancellation at our local county clerk office!