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I am a US citizen my fiance is a live in au pair from Brazil. We would like to get married and start living together but dont know where to start the green card process. We are curious on the cost and how long it usually takes to get a green card. Should we wait until her contract is up with her sponsor family? If we get married and she quits her job will she be sent back to Brazil? If we apply for a fiance visa can she work in the US? Any and all help will be greatly accepted and appreciated.
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What you have to do is did you meet your fiance here in the US while working as an au pair or did you know fiance before they came to work in US? You have 2 choices you can marry now and apply for I-485 residency but your new spouse would not be able to return to Brazil till green card has been approved which can take between 4-6 months. Or your you can apply for a 129f petition for you fiance to receive a K1 visa to marry you here in USA. Your fiance would have to return to Brazil at end of contract and have medical and interview in Brazil to be approved for a K1 visa. If k1 visa is approved they will then return to US and you have 90 days to marry and then you apply for green card I-485 residency. Costs $1070 plus the k1 visa and medical and the 129f petition costs $340. You have to weigh all this up as it expensive or you get married now and you apply for I-485 and hope that it gets approved and fiance can stay or you can also get married . your spouse returns to Brazil and you apply for CR1 spousal visa taking around 9-12 months but your spouse will get GC on arrival and can also work immediately where as K1 cannot work tiil the get work authority EAD card or GC first. You need to read all the guides on here and then make a choiceOriginally posted by travisshuford View Post -
Don't follow the other post yet!
You and the fiance have other things to do first. Is she on a J1 visa? Many of those have a requirement that you return to your home country for two years before adjusting status.
Look at the visa and see if it says TWO YEAR RULE DOES NOT APPLY. There are waivers that can be submitted if she is subject to the two year rule, but they have to be done before any adjustment of status to a marriage based greencard.
You might want to search the internet for "Waiver of the Exchange Visitor Two-Year Home-Country Physical Presence Requirement"Comment
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Thank you both for your quick responses. My fiance has her J1 but the two year rule does not apply. Does that mean we can follow the options in the previous post?Comment
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You start by getting married. Then you file a spouse petition I-130 and for adjustment of status I-485 at the same time. Here's a guide page. https://www.immihelp.com/family-base...ons-in-us.htmlOriginally posted by travisshuford View Post
She entered legally. There are links from that page to help you do the steps and documentation for the I-130 and the I-485. Read them carefully and treat them as two different processes even though they will go off in the same envelope. Meaning, if the I-130 says to send passport photos and so does the I-485, then attach photos to each application.
The only thing you don't have to consider is if the I-130 discussion talks about an interview in her home country for a CR1 visa. She won't be getting a visa in Brazil to come to the US. She is already in the US on a J1 visa. So fill out the I-130 form and include evidence it asks for, but that's about as far as that process will go (to approved status) since her application for the greencard (I-485) will kick in and her interview at an office near you wil be for the greencard, not a spouse visa.Comment
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