Marrying a US citizen question

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lmb1991

Registered Users (C)
To be concise I shall list my circumstances in point form.

-I am an Australian living in Australia currently.
-My girlfriend is a US citizen living in the US.
-I am studying Actuarial Studies and hope work in USA in roughly 2 years from now.

My questions are as follows:
1: If we marry now do I get the green card in 2 years from now?
2: Can I live in the country before then?
3: Can I work before then? Can I get a H1B work visa?

Thank you for your time.
 
There are multiple options:

1. Apply for the fiance visa (K-1). This process takes about 3-6 months after the initial application (I-129F) is filed by your fiancee. After obtaining the K-1 at a US consulate, you are given 6 months to enter the US. After entering the US, you have 90 days to marry her, and then you would file the rest of the green card paperwork.

2. Get married, and then have her file an immigrant petition (I-130) for you, selecting a US consulate in Australia for question 22. About 6-12 months later and some additional paperwork, you would interview for the green card at the consulate in Australia. After approval at the consulate, you'd be given an immigrant visa and will have 6 months to enter the US. Upon entering the US with the immigrant visa, you become a permanent resident and the physical green card will be delivered within 30 days.

3. Get a dual-intent visa like H1B, before or after you get married. Use the visa to enter the US. After entering the US, you file I-485 and associated paperwork, and get your green card in 4-6 months.
 
Thank you for your reply, you were very helpful. I have some follow up questions regarding these 3 options. Also I should note that my main objectives are to be married and be working in USA, citizenship and green card aren`t necessary to me but would be nice.

I have some questions for each scenario

1. How long would it take me to get the green card after that and can I work?

2. Can I work after getting the green card?

3. Does the H1B visa ensure I can work straight away? Does marriage or the green card inhibit this in anyway?

I`m not sure which scenario is best at this point but I should have an idea after knowing these answers.

Basically I need the option which will ensure marriage AND allow me to work the quickest.
 
1. The answer to "how long it would take to get the green card" varies by the option; I've already listed the timeframes above.

2. Yes, the green card allows you to work at any job in America (assuming you have the relevant education/experience/licensing/etc.), except for some types of government jobs and private-sector jobs tied to government contracts.

3. If you apply for a first-time H1B visa in the April to September time frame, you generally won't be able to use it to enter the US until October 1st due to quota limitations (there are exceptions if you will work for a quota-exempt organisation such as a university). But once you are admitted to the US with it, you can work immediately, but only for the specific company that sponsored the visa.

Does marriage or the green card inhibit this in anyway?
Click to expand...
The H1B is a "dual intent" visa, which means you are allowed to openly pursue permanent immigration (i.e. the green card) via marriage or other routes while holding the visa. But you can't actually hold an H1B and green card at the same time, nor would you want to. The green card enables you to permanently* live and work anywhere the in the US (except for those government-related jobs I mentioned above), whereas the H1B is a temporary visa which only allows you to work for a specific company for a limited time (normally 3 years, with the option to renew for another 3).

Note that as an Australian, you have other options such as the E3 visa which has certain advantages over H1B. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-3_visa


*for a marriage-based green card, if you've been married for less than 2 years at the time of the interview, the card will initially be a conditional one valid for only 2 years. Close to the end of the 2 years you'll have to submit another round of paperwork to show that your marriage is genuine, and you'll possibly have another interview.
 
I should have added that for options 1 and 3, the green card paperwork includes an application for employment authorization. The employment authorization card is normally approved in 2-3 months after submitting the application, and it would allow you to work during the remaining weeks or months until the green card process is complete. It would allow you to work in any job that a green card holder can work in (with a few exceptions).
 
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