HELP! U.S. Citizen to marry Irish Citizen- Dual Citizenship. Where to start???

[Amanda_Loving 0]

Hello, all

 

I am so incredibly lost on how the whole process goes. I am a U.S. citizen living in the United States and my fiancé is an Irish citizen living in Ireland. We are wanting to get married here in the states as soon as possible. However, I cannot find any clear answers on the process anywhere! It is super frustrating. 

 

What we want:

To marry here in the states, have him live with me with allowances to work here as well, we pay off my debts (about 2-3 years,) and then we move to Ireland to live. We have family and friends in both countries and want the freedom to travel between so dual-citizenship is our ultimate goal. 

 

HOW can we do this?? I have seen all sorts of forms here and there, but I am not sure if they pertain to our situation. We also WANT to be legal all around, but the government makes it so complicated. 

 

Please HELP!

 

I need simple directions. Lists if possible! THANK YOU SO MUCH! 

[Dashinka 24,765]

Ok, quite a bit to unpack here.  You can get married here in the US with him coming with ESTA, but he cannot enter the US with the intent to stay and adjust status.  Therefore your only option is to get married then you as the USC file the I130 so your spouse can eventually get a CR1/IR1 spousal visa (this may take 1.5-2.5 years).  Then you mentioned the goal of dual citizenship.  Once your foreign spouse gets their spousal visa, and activates their GC, they will need to live in the US for 3 years as a legal permanent resident before they can apply for US citizenship.  So overall, you are looking at a 5-6 year endeavor.

 

You can start by researching and becoming a student of the spousal visa process (guide linked below).  To start the process, you need to be married, and that can happen anywhere.

 

Good Luck!

 

 

Edited 16 hours ago by Dashinka

[appleblossom 3,052]

28 minutes ago, Amanda_Loving said:

Hello, all

 

I am so incredibly lost on how the whole process goes. I am a U.S. citizen living in the United States and my fiancé is an Irish citizen living in Ireland. We are wanting to get married here in the states as soon as possible. However, I cannot find any clear answers on the process anywhere! It is super frustrating. 

 

What we want:

To marry here in the states, have him live with me with allowances to work here as well, we pay off my debts (about 2-3 years,) and then we move to Ireland to live. We have family and friends in both countries and want the freedom to travel between so dual-citizenship is our ultimate goal. 

 

HOW can we do this?? I have seen all sorts of forms here and there, but I am not sure if they pertain to our situation. We also WANT to be legal all around, but the government makes it so complicated. 

 

Please HELP!

 

I need simple directions. Lists if possible! THANK YOU SO MUCH! 

 

If you want him to be able to move and work straight away, then it may be that your best option is to get married and then apply for his spousal visa. There is also the fiance visa (K1), but he wouldn’t be able to work straight away with that and it costs quite a bit more overall so probably not ideal if you’re aiming to save to pay off debts. Start with the Visa Guides at the top of the page, which set all of the options out in laymans speak so you can compare them. https://www.visajourney.com/guides/

 

@Crazy Cat also has a fabulous comparison chart of the two visa routes which would be brilliant if he doesn’t mind posting that again.  

 

But the whole process for a spouse visa is going to be at least 18 months - so you might be better off doing it the other way around and living in Ireland first as I think it’s much quicker. 

 

Best of luck. 

Edited 16 hours ago by appleblossom

[Boiler 46,016]

Better to marry in Ireland and file the I 130

[yuna628 9,712]

58 minutes ago, Amanda_Loving said:

Hello, all

 

I am so incredibly lost on how the whole process goes. I am a U.S. citizen living in the United States and my fiancé is an Irish citizen living in Ireland. We are wanting to get married here in the states as soon as possible. However, I cannot find any clear answers on the process anywhere! It is super frustrating. 

 

What we want:

To marry here in the states, have him live with me with allowances to work here as well, we pay off my debts (about 2-3 years,) and then we move to Ireland to live. We have family and friends in both countries and want the freedom to travel between so dual-citizenship is our ultimate goal. 

 

HOW can we do this?? I have seen all sorts of forms here and there, but I am not sure if they pertain to our situation. We also WANT to be legal all around, but the government makes it so complicated. 

 

Please HELP!

 

I need simple directions. Lists if possible! THANK YOU SO MUCH! 

 

So here's the thing... green cards are for living in the US. Your general plan here is to have him come to you. Okay, you can certainly do that with a spousal visa process if you marry. But then you want to go to Ireland and live there, and well, the big issue I see is that you need to finish ONE immigration process (it's going to take conservatively with no hiccups.. 5ish-6ish years) before beginning another (otherwise you forfeit the process you went through), and that's going to take a lot of time. You'll also need to ensure understanding of Irish immigration law before beginning on that side of things and once going to Ireland you'll need to ensure that you understand tax obligations on worldwide income as dual citizens.

Edited 16 hours ago by yuna628

[Lee Thacket 46]

Here is a link from the Irish on how to become an Irish citizen which will add several years on to your journey and, obviously, cost more.  Irish and American citizens can travel fairly freely between each other's countries for short visits. Are you sure you both need dual nationality?

 

https://www.irishimmigration.ie/how-to-become-a-citizen/become-an-irish-citizen-by-naturalisation/

[SalishSea 18,125]

6 hours ago, Amanda_Loving said:

Hello, all

 

I am so incredibly lost on how the whole process goes. I am a U.S. citizen living in the United States and my fiancé is an Irish citizen living in Ireland. We are wanting to get married here in the states as soon as possible. However, I cannot find any clear answers on the process anywhere! It is super frustrating. 

 

What we want:

To marry here in the states, have him live with me with allowances to work here as well, we pay off my debts (about 2-3 years,) and then we move to Ireland to live. We have family and friends in both countries and want the freedom to travel between so dual-citizenship is our ultimate goal. 

 

HOW can we do this?? I have seen all sorts of forms here and there, but I am not sure if they pertain to our situation. We also WANT to be legal all around, but the government makes it so complicated. 

 

Please HELP!

 

I need simple directions. Lists if possible! THANK YOU SO MUCH! 

He will not be eligible for US citizenship with this plan.  

[OldUser 7,434]

2 hours ago, SalishSea said:

He will not be eligible for US citizenship with this plan.  

Agreed, citizenship takes at least 4.5 - 5 years if living in the US and naturalizing under 3 year rule

Edited 8 hours ago by OldUser

[Ontarkie 14,435]

~~Moved to What Visa Do I Need, from K1 P&P- The OP is just starting to look into their options.~~