US Immigration from Australia

Hi, first time post and we're pretty new to a lot of these issues, so apologies if I make any poor assumptions, etc.

My Aussie bf and I have been living together in Thailand for the past 6 years. Currently I'm on a work permit (which I can renew for another 12 months next June, if necessary). He left his job a few months ago and switched from a work permit to the Covid Emergency Extension. We would like to get married and live together in the US. We are not officially engaged at this moment, but we are looking at our options.

We are considering the K-1 or the CR-1, but we're concerned because maybe they aren't processing applications for these visas in Thailand at the moment? We CAN handle another 6-12 months here, if necessary, but if it's more realistically 24+ months, then that is starting to feel unreasonable. We aren't terribly bothered about whether the marriage takes place in Thailand or the US, we're open to whatever is more practical.

If it matters, we're scheduled to receive our second AZ vaccine around the end of September, but we're worried that the US will soon require full vaccination and they may not recognize the AZ produced by Thailand's Siam Bioscience (similar to how they aren't recognizing the Indian AZ vaccine). I know that as a citizen, I would still be able to return to the US, but he would not.

Additionally, he can't physically return to Australia at the moment due to the over-inflated cost of flights right now and the fact that many flights to Aus get cancelled anyway - and even if he could, I couldn't join him due to their heavy restrictions.

We are also open to relocating to Mexico temporarily (either on a 6 month tourist visa or applying for temporary residency, as I hear it isn't too difficult to get) and submitting the application from Mexico if that would be more possible/advisable/easier/faster. I work online, so my job can really be done from anywhere (so if there's a better country than Mexico, please feel free to suggest it). He's currently unemployed but looking for online remote work. But I'm also worried that it may look bad on us if we're applying for temporary residency in Mexico immediately before applying for a K-1 or Cr-1?

Our priorities (in order) are:

1) Not to be separated from each other

2) Him to receive green card ASAP

If anyone has any advice or had a similar experience, we'd appreciate your input very, very much.

Thanks!

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone had experience with the above. Basically my husband and I are living between two states right now. I want to file in MA, which is where we spend half of our time, and where we will be located at the start of January, however we are planning to send in documents next week. We are currently located in PR and there are a variety of reasons we would prefer MA. We're meeting with a lawyer friend later in the week to finalize our documents, but just wondering if anyone has been in the same position. We have mail forwarding set up depending on where we are. So would I be safe to put that my mailing address is in MA but physical is PR? Or can I do both in MA?

Thank you!!

I am a US-Australian dual citizen. My spouse and I live together in Australia. Spouse is due to receive CR1 visa shortly. The plan was simply for us to move together after he acquired his visa.

There is now a chance that I might get a really good job that keeps me in Australia for a little bit longer (it's a contract, so not an open engagement). I can't, in good conscience, ask my spouse to stay here in Australia and bumble around waiting for me to finish up, when our intention has been for him to start his career in the US.

What I'd love to do is for us to go over to the US together, set up our apartment, and then come back for the job. But unfortunately, Australia's closed borders mean it isn't quite so easy. Can my spouse go over in advance of me to set up our domicile? If I get this job, I intend for the company to list the US city we're moving to as my home base. And the job will be partially produced by an American company. Any ideas on this?

Hello! I just wanted to confirm what hair color should I put on my Biometrics appointment form if I have recently dyed my hair? I assume I should put the natural hair color but others have been saying to put the existing hair color. Thank you very much in advance.

Have a lovely day!

I (beneficiary) am currently at the NVC stage and I recently finished submitting my AOS docs pending review.

I intend to go to USA sometime in mid 2023 due to family reasons. Hence I am trying to drag my NVC stage out. I've seen advices online about people paying their IV & AOS fees many months apart so that their case stays open. Does this work? Has anyone done this? If you have dragged your case out, for how long and how did you do it?

Thanks in advance for your sharing!