Help - new to this.

[kelkashel]

Hi everyone. I am new to all of this so please bear with me.

I am a wife to a US citizen (US born). Currently he is living with me on a temporary permanent visa in Australia (we have already been through a visa process for my husband to get into Australia). I am a UK citizen. Our circumstances have changed and we are now needing to move to the US (Tennessee) to be family. We married in TN on December 3, 2016 and have been living in Australia since.

My question: we intend to move to US in January 2019 (at that time having been married for 2 years). I will go over on a visitor visa and once in US we will do concurrent filing of i-130 and 1-485 (and any other that we need to do) along with my daughter (husbands stepchild). Is this doable?

Many thanks

Kelly

[Tezza]

Hi everyone. I am new to all of this so please bear with me.

I am a wife to a US citizen (US born). Currently he is living with me on a temporary permanent visa in Australia (we have already been through a visa process for my husband to get into Australia). I am a UK citizen. Our circumstances have changed and we are now needing to move to the US (Tennessee) to be family. We married in TN on December 3, 2016 and have been living in Australia since.

My question: we intend to move to US in January 2019 (at that time having been married for 2 years). I will go over on a visitor visa and once in US we will do concurrent filing of i-130 and 1-485 (and any other that we need to do) along with my daughter (husbands stepchild). Is this doable?

Many thanks

Kelly

Legally you will need your husband, who is the US citizen, to petition for you via a spousal visa, which allows you to move to the US to live and work. If you come to the USA on a visitor visa with the intent on never leaving again, you'd be committing fraud.

If you get to the POE and the CBP officer asks reason for visit and you say that you're coming to live with your husband, they will want to see your valid visa, otherwise they will deny you and send you on the next plane back to where you came from. If on the other hand your answer is that you're just visiting, so you can get past them, you will be lying to a federal officer which is a criminal offence and can see you receive a ban from the country.

Your USC husband should petition for you, using the form I-130 which establishes your relationship, by submitting the required evidence, and he can also use another of the same form I-130 to petition for your daughter assuming she's unmarried and under 21 now and will be when they receive the green card (in most cases). Since it's the USC's stepchild, she'd have needed to be under 18 at the time of the marriage.

Although generally this form is filed in the USA, it can be filed from abroad, but obviously the process can be slower due to the distance. Australia does not have an international office so your only option is to mail it from there to the USA if you intend on doing that.

Once these forms are approved, you can then apply for an immigrant visa or come and adjust status from the USA, which is to file the I-485 and all associated forms.

[UScitizenFilingforspouse]

Hi everyone. I am new to all of this so please bear with me.

I am a wife to a US citizen (US born). Currently he is living with me on a temporary permanent visa in Australia (we have already been through a visa process for my husband to get into Australia). I am a UK citizen. Our circumstances have changed and we are now needing to move to the US (Tennessee) to be family. We married in TN on December 3, 2016 and have been living in Australia since.

My question: we intend to move to US in January 2019 (at that time having been married for 2 years). I will go over on a visitor visa and once in US we will do concurrent filing of i-130 and 1-485 (and any other that we need to do) along with my daughter (husbands stepchild). Is this doable?

Many thanks

Kelly

Tezza?s explanation is spot on. I just wanted to add that it might be more time efficient for your husband to petition for you right now, and request consular processing. That?s an option worth exploring because right now, the adjustment of status route is rather congested and it is only going to get worse.

All the best,

USCFFS

[Tezza]

Tezza?s explanation is spot on. I just wanted to add that it might be more time efficient for your husband to petition for you right now, and request consular processing. That?s an option worth exploring because right now, the adjustment of status route is rather congested and it is only going to get worse.

All the best,

USCFFS

I also agree with USCFFS on this point. The fact you're planning to move January 2019 means you're not moving immediately anyway. So you could have your husband petition now via the form I-130 and try to have it done via consular processing while in Australia, rather than waste the next 6 months doing nothing, you could grab the bull by the horns because unfortunately the process to be allowed to live and work in the US isn't a short one, the whole system is congested, and in the current climate I guess USCIS is getting spread even more thinly than they were before.

[Randomdude]

If you're married file it now. It takes a while to process (we've got one still pending since January 2018). Hey with any luck it'll be approved before you move and you can do consular processing at the embassy there. Might be faster than AOS stateside.

[UScitizenFilingforspouse]

Hi everyone. I am new to all of this so please bear with me.

I am a wife to a US citizen (US born). Currently he is living with me on a temporary permanent visa in Australia (we have already been through a visa process for my husband to get into Australia). I am a UK citizen. Our circumstances have changed and we are now needing to move to the US (Tennessee) to be family. We married in TN on December 3, 2016 and have been living in Australia since.

My question: we intend to move to US in January 2019 (at that time having been married for 2 years). I will go over on a visitor visa and once in US we will do concurrent filing of i-130 and 1-485 (and any other that we need to do) along with my daughter (husbands stepchild). Is this doable?

Many thanks

Kelly

Once your application is in, and you have travel dates, or a compelling reason to be in the US by X date (e.g., either one of you gets a job offer), then you may reach out to your Senator and expedite the I-130 and consular processing.

I forgot to mention that. A lot of people have done that and it works. And while you are at it, do not forget to apply for the diversity visa lottery 2020. My husband is from Malaysia, and it would have been a lot easier to have him apply for the lottery. It's a numbers game. Malaysians tend to be selected, because not that many of them apply.

All the best,

USCFFS

[UScitizenFilingforspouse]

Here is another alternative. You could apply request an exception to be able to file the I-130 at the Sydney Embassy - like this couple did.

[cali2018]

Slim chance you will get a visitor visa to begin with. Zero chance once the i-130 is filed. Everyone is correct file it now and start the cr-1 process now.

Let?s say you go visitor route, using ESTA. Since this is fraud we assume you going Jan 2019 for a short trip to see how the TN air feels and if your career works there. You would have to spend 45 days at least since this is a short trip to explore and return to Australia. Then change your mind and you love TN, okay so AOS fime. 2 weeks to file AOS, then 4-6 (5 months very likely) to get an EAD/AP. So july/Aug 2019.

So truly if you can complete whole CR1/IR1 process 16months you are better off. You can even go visit on ESTA for 2 months or so once your husband moves back.

Truly the advantage of AOS is somewhat minimal now and depending on field office CR1/IR is faster.

[Tezza]

Slim chance you will get a visitor visa to begin with. Zero chance once the i-130 is filed. Everyone is correct file it now and start the cr-1 process now.

Let?s say you go visitor route, using ESTA. Since this is fraud we assume you going Jan 2019 for a short trip to see how the TN air feels and if your career works there. You would have to spend 45 days at least since this is a short trip to explore and return to Australia. Then change your mind and you love TN, okay so AOS fime. 2 weeks to file AOS, then 4-6 (5 months very likely) to get an EAD/AP. So july/Aug 2019.

So truly if you can complete whole CR1/IR1 process 16months you are better off. You can even go visit on ESTA for 2 months or so once your husband moves back.

Truly the advantage of AOS is somewhat minimal now and depending on field office CR1/IR is faster.

cali is right about this. Your chance of being granted a visitor visa is very slim, since you're married to a USC, they're going to put two and two together and see the "immigrant intent" and deny it. Since you're from the UK you do have the ESTA option, but again, risky. You may be granted the ESTA when you apply online for it, but that doesn't mean you are in. You still need to get past CBP at the POE and if they ask you questions on why you're there and you tell them about your husband being a USC, they may also see the "immigrant intent", although sometimes by proving strong ties to the country you came from, they will let you in. And also just remember as a note, hiding some of these facts from CBP in order to gain entry is a federal offence so please don't do that, it may come back to bite you later on.

In my personal view though, get your husband to petition you with the form I-130 asap.