US Immigration from Australia

QUESTIONS:

1) What can we do ahead of time to help ensure that he can make it into the US on his esta?

2) In the worst case scenario, if they don't let him in, can we just book a flight from the US to Latin America or would they make him return to Australia?

3) A friend thought he just needs to show a certain amount of money in his account to support himself for the time he is in the US - is this right? How much do they want to see? Will they consider money in my US accounts, since we're married (but as this is our first trip to the US together, and his first ever, we don't have a US joint account)?

4) Should I have a Chicago immigration lawyer on speed dial in case they give us problems? Would that even help if they decide to refuse him entry?

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

My husband, and I got married last year via the Utah remote zoom marriage while living together in Thailand. We looked into the CR1, but we eventually decided against it, as neither of us has a strong desire to live in the US. We've lived in Thailand for the last 8 years, but have decided to leave Thailand in June to travel and explore new destinations that would have better time zones for my remote work (we're looking into Ecuador and Portugal).

I've recently read some HORROR stories of people getting refused entry into the US bc the immigration agent believes they want to stay. I know one of the things they'll look at is his "close ties" to Australia, which I'm afraid he doesn't have, beyond his family, who we're visiting after the US. We both work remotely online, his work is for a European company, not Australian. He doesn't own a house or a car in Australia either. We have work permits here in Thailand, but we're giving them up before we go to the US.

He's got his esta, but I understand that doesn't guarantee him entry to the US. We'll have all our flights booked, including his return to Australia. Our itinerary:

mid-June - Fly from Bangkok to Chicago, followed by a domestic flight to my parents' city

6 weeks USA

8 weeks Ecuador

1 week Mexico

6 weeks USA (my brother's wedding)

He flies to Australia mid-November

I fly to Australia after Christmas/NY with my family (who I haven't seen for 3.5 years due to the pandemic) - this is the only flight that won't be booked when we enter the US the first time.

This is causing me a lot of stress, I'm happy to print out a load of documents or whatever may be necessary to help make things smoother. What are people's recommendations?

Hi, I am a New Zealand Citizen living in Australia and my partner is the US Citizen living in the states. We have applied for a K1 visa and had our NOA1 on 29 March 2021. We recently got NOA2 and were transferred to NVC about a month ago but now have realised that due to Sydney being closed and not taking any more applications we are stuck at this stage. NVC said they cannot give us the invoice to pay our fees and proceed until sydney says they will take more applications as they are still working through the backlog when they reopen.

What I am wondering is - does anyone have any idea of the timeframe to reopen? As I am a New Zealand Citizen, I could also move back to New Zealand and do my interview there. Another question I have is what do I need to do to prove 'residency' in New Zealand. the auckland embassy says they will not accept my application until I actually move countries to NZ and am resident there but are very vague as to what evidence to provide to show residency.

Has anyone made a move like this before? What did you provide?

Also does anyone have any general advice for us on whether to stay put in Australia and wait for Sydney or actually quit my job, give up my home, car etc, and move to NZ and live with my parents waiting for an interview there.

Thank you,

Anushka

Hello.

I had my greencard via marriage interview on April 5th, and because it took so long for them to give me an interview date from when I landed in the US (18 months ago), my medical expired and they made me get a new one, meaning they had to issue an RFE. I went and got the medical, and posted it via usps. That was over a week ago, and my case status hasn't changed. Is this normal? The tracking shows my documents were received the day after i posted them.

I'm in the US and my partner is Australian. We sent our I-129F out at the end of October 2020 and it was received at the US service center on November 2nd, 2020. We got our NOA1 Feb 1st 2021 and our NOA2 June 24th 2021. We haven't received anything from the NVC since then except a few emails saying "This notice is to inform you that NVC is currently holding your approved Form I-129F (Petition for Alien Fiance(e)), and it has been at least 60 days since we received it from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS). When NVC does forward your case, you will receive another notification." I've checked the timelines and it looks like so many other people with Australian beneficiaries who have submitted their cases after us have not only received their NVC packets, but also some have had interviews and even been married months ago. I've tried to email the NVC multiple times and only received copy pasted responses back telling me that the Sydney Consulate is currently not processing cases, despite cases evidently being processed since so many other people on here have had their cases move along and even close. I heard that since the Sydney consulate is closed, they are doing interviews in Melbourne. So I tried to inquire about that and again got a copy paste response saying yes, they are doing them there. But nothing saying that we can do ours there. No packets. No invoice ID since no packet. I can't check on our status or do anything to find answers. I don't know what to do at this point. I have tried the "just wait" tactic because I understand Covid has affected so much. But is this not an insanely long amount of time waiting since we submitted ours well before others who have had success? I don't understand if I've done something wrong, missed a step, or if they lost our case or something. Please can somebody advise me on what, if anything, I can even do. I miss my partner. I miss having a life.

I have arrived in USA via LAX on 30 March and I have just received my SS card. I had paid my fees 3 weeks prior arrival.

I am still waiting on my green card. Any idea how long it would take to arrive?

It seems there is a tracking number from USPS to track its delivery but I can't seem to locate the tracking number. I tried contacting USCIS but was met with automated service, I could not get to a representative.

Anyone able to shed some light? TIA!