Thread: Lost in the Immigration services

Hi there,

This is my first time posting here so forgive me if I’m a little lost.

I’m having some trouble figuring out the US immigration system (and from looking at the forums I’m not the only one) thing is I’m actually an American citizen, I am getting married to my long time fiancé who is British and wanting to move back to the states and I just don’t have a clue where to start. I left the states when I was a child and moved to various other countries and have been in the UK for the past few (too many) years.

We’re getting married in the UK as friends and family are here then we’re wanting to move to CA but don’t really know how to negotiate the system, most of the immigration FAQs I’ve read are for people in the US bringing in a partner or for folk who are already there.

Any advice would be really appreciated as my ultimate nightmare is getting some form stamped wrong and him getting into a mess with the immigration laws.

Thanks Salz

Hi Salz welcome to B-A.

A difficult question, try this websit and copy & paste
your quetion in the box they maybe able to help.
http://www.justanswer.com/law/immigr...FQtWtAodQR4uDQ

Good Luck


andy

Hi salz,

Congratulations on the wedding! Have you looked at the US Dept of State site?

http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigra...ypes_1315.html

According to the 'Immigrant Visa for a Spouse' section...

"Sometimes a U.S. citizen living abroad can file an immigrant visa petition at an U.S. embassy or consulate (post). To find out whether you can file a petition at a specific post abroad, you must ask that post. For information on how to contact the post, please select U.S. embassy or consulate abroad"

Hope that helps!

Hi Salz,
I don't envy you.. I've just come through the immigration process and it is a nightmare.. it took us well over a year to get me to the USA. The literature you get from the Consulate is far from clear and it seemed to me at the time that noone there really knew what they were doing.
I believe that the process you will need to go through with getting married in the UK, being a USA Citizen is very similar to the other process.. having a K1 Fiance Visa. You will need to get a K2 Spousal Visa. Oh I hope you're rich..lol. the fees we were charged kept on coming.. you pay in the UK, you pay more in the USA and when you think it's almost over you pay even more.. :-( I had money at the start of the process but not a lot now..

However, for all the hassles we had, we stuck with it, got married here and I love it.

I hope things run smothely for you eventually. Stay aware though and ask lots of questions.

Best Wishes,

Denise.

Congratulations Salz!

You are right to be concerned.
Our experience was a long time ago, but the Immigration process hasn't changed much.
Keep a copy of everything you give to the USCIS, and document everything you say to them.
We got married in the UK in 1982, while my husband was in the US Navy.
Before Navy Intelligence would allow us to marry, I had to have a complete background check and a full medical exam.
That took a year.
So I had been on their files and had a Military ID for 10 years by the time we were moving to the USA to take care of my parents-in-law.
We did all the paperwork, sent it off to the Embassy, and waited.
To cut a long story short, Immigration kept losing bits of my paperwork, and we were getting very fed up.
I went to the Embassy and waited 4 hours to speak to them.
Still no result.
Finally, when my husband told his old CO, he said "just get her there, take her to NIS (now USCIS) and do the paperwork there."
So I came in as a tourist married to a US Citizen, then 3 days later I had my "green card" work permit.
I'm not recommending you do the same, it might not work for you.
It's best to go through the process, if your spouse has to go for an interview, go with him.
You get more cooperation if you are pleasant and compliant. (Not easy sometimes!)
Your spouse can apply for Citizenship after being a resident for 3 years.