Thread: moving to america

apologies if this has been asked about 50 times previously!

my husband and i plan to move to america as soon as we can, hopefully in the next 6 months. we've almost completed the spousal visa application form (i am a us citizen that's been in uk for over 8 years and we've been married over a year, etc etc) but i'm wondering if that's all we need to do or if we're missing something vital?

we now have a baby on the way, as in she's due in just over three weeks. do we simply add her onto the spousal visa form, or do another form of some type completely? also... is she automatically a british and american citizen? i imagine she would be british, but i don't know what i may need to do to get her a social security number in america, etc.

so... essentially, do we only need the spousal visa form? or do we need to be filling out a crapload more forms?

thanks a lot for any help! we're so unsure and don't want to get it wrong!

-maz

Forum member Pink lives in the US so hopefully she can answer that one for you, welcome to the forum Maz

Hi Maz,

I am no expert, especially when it comes to marriage visas, we are in the US on work visas ;)

A few things I have picked up.... make sure your tax returns are up to date, being a USC you are required to submit one every year even if you don't live in the US. Make sure you have LOADS of money as moving back over will cost you a fair bit, especially if you are moving things such as furniture (we are glad we moved our furniture as we found it a lot more expensive over here).

I am assuming from what you said your haven't actually submitted the forms yet?! Get them done asap as they take a while to be processed, probably 6 months +. Start looking into what immunisations your husband will need, if any, also find out which ones your baby will need and when, kids are required to have loads here, although I suspect there may not be many differences in the first 6 months. I am sure you are extremely familiar with the healthcare, or lack or it, in the US... so make sure you have health insurance from the moment you arrive, especially as you have a young baby ;)

Do either of you have a job to come too? I am not familiar with the spouse visa but doesn't the sponsoring partner have to be able to prove that they can support the 'foreign' spouse?

eek, I've not filed a tax return since I left.... but I left right after uni, there's a chance my mom took care of that for me, I will have to ask!

we're not planning on taking any furniture with us... or anything really besides clothes as we're going to stay with family at first, until work is sorted and more solid plans can be made. so that's one less expense at least for now.

i believe that as i will have no work on my entry my baby will qualify for free health care until I can provide it for her, my mother is researching this for me. I more need to know if she is automatically a citizen of both countries due to my being American as she needs a social security number for the health care....

and I don't think I need to be able to prove I can support my husband. I believe that is more to do with fiancé visas as I had to do that when I originally came here... spousal I think is different, at least, there is no question on the form which leads me to believe it is an issue....

Originally Posted by Pink

Hi Maz,

A few things I have picked up.... make sure your tax returns are up to date, being a USC you are required to submit one every year even if you don't live in the US.

That caught us out during the interview in London.
We had to go away and my DW filed the past 3 years worth in one evening.

We returned to London a few weeks later to complete the process.

You just need the last 3 years worth. You won't owe any taxes it's just a paperwork excercise.

Hello!

Well, we're registering our daughter "birth abroad" to get her us citizenship and a us passport tomorrow in london. next we plan to send off for the visa, and i think they notify us when we should make the appointment for the medical exam yes?

i've not filed taxes in america for over 8 years... how do you do it? i will gladly do it if i can figure out how it's done! :/

thanks so much for the help so far!

http://www.irs.gov/uac/Free-File:-Do...Taxes-for-Free

We used the free online service.

Just go back to 2009 then 10 then 11.
it was pretty painless.

Hello!

I need to ask a sneaky question here... My daughter now has American citizenship and we're awaiting her US passport... yay!

However, does anyone know if you can apply for a spouse to stay when on holiday in America? We thought that perhaps we would go for less than 90 days (under the visa waver program) and my husband could get a feel for the area we plan to live in and we could also make some day trips to other areas and see how he feels about them also. We could also start looking at job prospects for myself! Now, if we did this and decided to stay rather than come back, is there an acceptable process to do this? I don't particularly want him kicked out of the country because US immigration decided we were being tricky.

I know you can apply for a visa as a spouse and get a K3 while waiting, but as we're thinking of seeing how we get on, this may not be the best bet for us.

We have no issue with packing up some clothes and leaving everything else behind since that was the plan if we moved anyways and so either way we'd have to re-start our lives.

Anyone know if this is possible?

Thank you!!

Originally Posted by mkatbuck

Hello!

I need to ask a sneaky question here... My daughter now has American citizenship and we're awaiting her US passport... yay!

However, does anyone know if you can apply for a spouse to stay when on holiday in America? We thought that perhaps we would go for less than 90 days (under the visa waver program) and my husband could get a feel for the area we plan to live in and we could also make some day trips to other areas and see how he feels about them also. We could also start looking at job prospects for myself! Now, if we did this and decided to stay rather than come back, is there an acceptable process to do this? I don't particularly want him kicked out of the country because US immigration decided we were being tricky.

I know you can apply for a visa as a spouse and get a K3 while waiting, but as we're thinking of seeing how we get on, this may not be the best bet for us.

We have no issue with packing up some clothes and leaving everything else behind since that was the plan if we moved anyways and so either way we'd have to re-start our lives.

Anyone know if this is possible?

Thank you!!

Ofcourse it's going to throw a spanner in the works if you try to do it that way.
Honestly you have no need to. Your American and your husband should have no problems getting a green card.
you can still travel on the visa waiver program and explore all you like.
What is the estimated time between applying and getting approved nowadays? Its on the INS website.
My whole process took 4 months from the application to living in Florida. But this was back in 99. Things are alot more difficult nowadays.

Hello!

Right, we are now well into the process...

however, i thought i could file my taxes online, but it appears not.

did you just fill in to 1040 and the 1116 to get credit for taxes paid here? also, what did you do about the tax years being different dates?

Lastly, how long did it take to get information back confirming you'd filed? I have to post to Texas so I have no idea how long this will all take! :/