Hi all! I'm a US citizen and my fiancee is a Slovak citizen (an EU country). She currently lives in Europe, and I in the US. We plan to get married soon and move to the U.S.. I read a lot through the previous posts and online as well, below is our plan - I'm just not sure I'm not missing anything or if there isn't a faster way for her to be in the U.S. with the ability to work:
1. She comes over to the U.S. on her ESTA and we get married. She leaves to Europe within a few days (from what I gather this is fine as long as she leaves the US post-marriage within the ESTA time limit)
2. We submit the I-130. I assume this goes the normal route and not the consular route even if she stays in Europe during this time.
3. The process starts & we get communication on next steps which sound pretty self-explanatory / standardized
4. She does her interview at a consulate in Europe and once she (hopefully) gets approved for a green card she can come over and can start working or looking for a job
Our understanding is this will take ~1 year all in. My main questions are A) Am I missing anything? Is there a faster way to do this?, B) Do we need a lawyer? Our case seems pretty standard (no criminal records or delicts etc., only thing is Im a naturalized US citizen but doesnt seem that affects things), C) If she is in Europe and I in the U.S. during the process do we qualify for the consulate path?
Thanks for any tips in advance! We are still new to do this so apologies if we are missing something basic
