I have had a green card for more than 10 years, through marriage. I am divorced now. I want to bring my boyfriend to the US. He is from Tanzania and lives in belgium where he is working on his papers. Either I move back to Belgium where I am from, or he moves to the US. Long distnce relationship is too hard. We are not married yet but are thinking about it. If he opts to come here, do I have to do the whole fiancee thing and wait forever since he is not in the US at this point? what is the most efficient way to do this? get him here and then marry? marry over there and then bring him here? wait forever? no can't do. who has an idea? thanks for input.
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green card holder marries foreigner
- Thread starter 54belgo
- Start date
green card marries foreigner
thanks for your answer Joe. Is there an other alternative? for example, if he is married to me and my home is here, does not that entitle him to get at least a work permit? In this case, he would not be interested in the green card but would be able to suport himself. I remember the case of somebody who had been sent from abroad to work in the US and his wife accompanied him (of course) and she was entitled to a work permit. Any thoughts on that?
thanks for your answer Joe. Is there an other alternative? for example, if he is married to me and my home is here, does not that entitle him to get at least a work permit? In this case, he would not be interested in the green card but would be able to suport himself. I remember the case of somebody who had been sent from abroad to work in the US and his wife accompanied him (of course) and she was entitled to a work permit. Any thoughts on that?
thank you for your answer joe. Now I am totally depressed. But I have several more questions.
1)once you apply for citizenship, how long till you get it?
2) then you have to petition to get hubby here? is that the 5 years you were talking about?
3) do you have to surrender your passport when you become a citizen?
Belgium does not recognize dual citizenship. What happens then?
4) I am not familiar with the H1 visa you are mentioning. Does it require special qualifications? My buddy is a welder, hardly anything exceptional.
Thanks for your input. Really appreciate it.
1)once you apply for citizenship, how long till you get it?
2) then you have to petition to get hubby here? is that the 5 years you were talking about?
3) do you have to surrender your passport when you become a citizen?
Belgium does not recognize dual citizenship. What happens then?
4) I am not familiar with the H1 visa you are mentioning. Does it require special qualifications? My buddy is a welder, hardly anything exceptional.
Thanks for your input. Really appreciate it.
Thank you joe for your answers. It is a little clearer to me now. I guess I have a lot of thinking to do.
If you have a chance to answer this one: is there a big risk for a green card holder to loose their card if they go back to their country of origin for an extended amount of time? Can the card be taken away from them at customs upon re-entry if they have been absent 6 months or so? I understand that it would make sense, since you are not completely a resident, why hold a resident card? but at the same time, you want to keep your privileges. After all, it was hard enough to get! What if you have to take care of a sick parent in your own country? and stay there for some time? I go back and forth, 4 times a year, stay in Belgium for 4 weeks, even 5 and have had no problems so far. When does it start to be a problem? Is filing a tax return good enough to justify the card?
If you have a chance to answer this one: is there a big risk for a green card holder to loose their card if they go back to their country of origin for an extended amount of time? Can the card be taken away from them at customs upon re-entry if they have been absent 6 months or so? I understand that it would make sense, since you are not completely a resident, why hold a resident card? but at the same time, you want to keep your privileges. After all, it was hard enough to get! What if you have to take care of a sick parent in your own country? and stay there for some time? I go back and forth, 4 times a year, stay in Belgium for 4 weeks, even 5 and have had no problems so far. When does it start to be a problem? Is filing a tax return good enough to justify the card?
thank you for all that information.
Do you have to file for re-entry permit when you leave the US (so before you go anywhere)and do you have to know when you will be back in the US or do you submit this when you reach customs upon your return to the US? What is the number of the form?
One more question (it is never the last one)Can I file for US citizenship before leaving and wait for it being abroad? The INS notice for the interview would reach somebody who could open my mail in the US and tell me when the interview is scheduled. How much time is there between notice and interview for naturalisation? Time to hop on a plane if I am abroad? Thank you for your input.
Do you have to file for re-entry permit when you leave the US (so before you go anywhere)and do you have to know when you will be back in the US or do you submit this when you reach customs upon your return to the US? What is the number of the form?
One more question (it is never the last one)Can I file for US citizenship before leaving and wait for it being abroad? The INS notice for the interview would reach somebody who could open my mail in the US and tell me when the interview is scheduled. How much time is there between notice and interview for naturalisation? Time to hop on a plane if I am abroad? Thank you for your input.
For somebody who is not a lawyer, you know quite a bit about all this. thank you very much for all the information.
I did call the Belgian embassy to check about the dual citizenship and they told me a strange story....they do not recognize dual citizenship...BUT!!!! I can apply for US citizenship, loose my Belgian citizenship (even if I keep the Belgian passport, it is no proof of citizenship, it is only proof of identity-???-) and once I get the US passport, I can re-apply to regain my Belgian citizenship and within a year, I should have it (99% sure, unless I become a criminal etc...). Then, I become holder of two nationalities and I am "dual". What is the logic of this? Why not just recognize both right away instead of making me do this acrobatics with citizenship????? The end result is the same, no? Belgian logics I suppose. Does not surprise me. Well, anyway, thank you!!!!
I did call the Belgian embassy to check about the dual citizenship and they told me a strange story....they do not recognize dual citizenship...BUT!!!! I can apply for US citizenship, loose my Belgian citizenship (even if I keep the Belgian passport, it is no proof of citizenship, it is only proof of identity-???-) and once I get the US passport, I can re-apply to regain my Belgian citizenship and within a year, I should have it (99% sure, unless I become a criminal etc...). Then, I become holder of two nationalities and I am "dual". What is the logic of this? Why not just recognize both right away instead of making me do this acrobatics with citizenship????? The end result is the same, no? Belgian logics I suppose. Does not surprise me. Well, anyway, thank you!!!!
gree card holder marries foreigner
Thank you joe for all the info. I will have more time in the coming week to examine all your comments and make a decision, and look into the other websites you gave me. This is valuable information. Thanks a lot and have a good Holiday.
Thank you joe for all the info. I will have more time in the coming week to examine all your comments and make a decision, and look into the other websites you gave me. This is valuable information. Thanks a lot and have a good Holiday.