Help with moving to US

[ajed]

I hope someone can give me some advice, I want to move to NV to be closer to my boyfriend who is incarcerated there, but I live in the UK and I dont know where to start. My man thinks if we get married then I'll be able to gain citizenship, but I know its not that easy as he's in prison and so obviously doesn't make the required amount of money which they say is needed to be a sponsor.

I dont know what to do, I have tried looking through the net for something, but everything seems so complicated and confusing, I would really appreciate any advice from anyone who has moved from the UK to the US, or even anyone who is still in the process of doing so,

thank you for your time and please pm with any information or advice you think might be of use to me, as I really have no clue at the moment.

[babybyrd]

Hi ajed


sorry it has taken me a long time to see your post and to start a reply
but i do have quite a bit of info for you so here goes:

to be honest i do notthink you will gain the right to live in the usa when married to anyone currently incarcerated - to enter and live in teh usa permemnantly you have to have someone to sponsor you - this means they have to have assets of five times the poverty line for your household size OR be earning 3 times the poverty line - - if your household is two people i THINK the poverty line is $18,500 ish

my other half was released last year after a 20 year sentence during which we considered marriage but we waited and are starting teh process now

these are the options i have found open to me:

1 he petitions and gets me a k1 fiancee visa - which takes about 9 months and then if you get approved you have 90 days to get into the usa and get married - you then have to file for ajustment of status in order to be able to stay

2 i enter the usa on a visitors visa and marry him then leave - come back to the uk - and he then applies for a cr1 spousal visa to bring me legally into the usa - takes about 8 months or more
please note that YOU CANNOT GET MARRIED OR AT LEAST SHOULD NOT ON THE VISA WAIVER PROGRAMME which you have probably been entering teh usa on if you have a european passport


the whole thing looks like it will cost at least £600 in fees to teh USCIS

i have a few really gopod forums i have been using which are all dedicated to usa immigration issues:
http://immigrate2us.net/forum/content.php
http://visajourney.com/forums/index.php?act=home
http://britishexpats.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=57

have actually had loads of advice from these forums and there are a few immigration lawyers posting on them too

you should also look at www.uscis.gov
and also if you go on amazon there is a good book called fiance and marriage visas - a couples guide to us immigration which has loads of info but its not cheap

good luck - its a long and difficult journey
if he has a release date i personally would wait for that
if he doesnt well i wish you all the best

stay in touch

[Veggie]

I am in the process of immigrating to the US. What would you like to know?

[cheray]

Whatever any of you do to try and get entry to the Usa dont fall for the Green Card Lottery thing like I did. I thought I was applying for a ticket in the lottery to gain a green card and it was not the legitimate site and I got scammed. They spring cleaned my credit card, yes I gave them the number...thought it was the real thing, but nooo.... and freaking out over whether it they may have stolen my identity.

[Sherry123]

I have been through this process so to correct some things a previous reply said. We got married in prison while I was on vacation under the visa waiver from the UK. There is no problem with this but obviously you do not tell immigration at the airport. You can start the green card application if someone else can act as a co-sponsor. It can be any american citizen who is employed & earning over $18k a year. He fills in an affadavit of support. There is a delay until your husband is released because he needs to attend the interview with you but meantime, you can apply for a one year work visa (H1D or H1B) I think. If he is within a year of certain release it will enable you to be in the country & working. Please PM me if I can be of any further help. Good Luck.

[2nice]

Originally Posted by babybyrd

please note that YOU CANNOT GET MARRIED OR AT LEAST SHOULD NOT ON THE VISA WAIVER PROGRAMME which you have probably been entering teh usa on if you have a european passport

You can get married whilst entering the US under the Visa Waiver programme, but you MUST leave afterward (within the 90 day visa period).