Question regarding becoming a citizen of the united states

J

Jonny99

New Member
Quick background to my question:

I have just visited the usa for 91 days on a visa waiver programme as im from the United kingdom. This is 1 day longer than i should have! I met a beautiful american girl a few years ago who i love and when visiting promised her id stay with her the full 90 days & clever me managed to mess up my dates & didnt count the original day id landed in america. :(

Now i am back in england and would like to try to become a US Citizen, move to the united states and live with her! We have pretty much planned out a future together.

Would my 1 day overstay on visa waiver harm my application to become a US citizen in anyway?
 
The 1 day overstay is unlikely to cause you much of a problem - typically big problems only occur after 180 days overstay.

Having said that, I feel you need to research the process for legally emigrating to the US. As it happens, the last step (at least 3-5 years after you've been living here with a green card) is obtaining US citizenship. Its a long process that can be frustratingly painful at times.

Perhaps you and your gf, assuming she is a US citizen (USC) should investigate the applicability of a K1 "fiance" visa. Once granted, this would allow you to move here and marry her, but the catch is, the marriage must happen WITHIN 90 days. Once married, she applies for your green card (GC), which will usually be of the 2-year conditional variety. After 3 years of holding a GC and marriage to the same USC, you can apply for citizenship.

Start your research in the various online immigration forums, and USCIS website.

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis
http://www.immigrationportal.com/forumdisplay.php?f=35
http://visajourney.com/forums/index.php?act=home

Good luck.
 
Agree 100% with boatboad!!! While technically you violated visa stay (1 day over), I do not think that you will have significant problems during your naturalization process...when you get to it hopefully one day.

Frist step first....Becoming a US citizen is a loooooonnnggggg way process, so don't dream of doing it automatically and over night :)

You will have to jump through many hoopes and hurdles.

Good luck!

P.S.: I'm just an ordinary guy. I'm not a lawyer or an immigration expert. You are soley responsbile for your actions.
 
Thanks for the replies!!

I was probably being a bit naive, but im new to all of this...this was only my first trip overseas!

I do love this girl but im not sure we're ready for marriage?? Im 20 and shes 18, is this the only way for me to be able to get a green card and become a permanent resident?

It seems silly that for me to want to be with someone in another country i have to marry them. Im trying to take in a lot of information at the same time and its pretty confusing, i have been doing research but it would be really helpful if someone could lay out the basic steps i would have to take to move towards being able to stay in the US regardless of how long they take.
 
Jonny99 said:
I do love this girl but im not sure we're ready for marriage?? Im 20 and shes 18, is this the only way for me to be able to get a green card and become a permanent resident?
Click to expand...

No, but its certainly the quickest way. Other avenues take muck longer and a good dose of luck. Here are some, in decreasing order of probability:

- You could temporarily move to the US on a student visa (F1) if you enroll with suitable college. That may give you 3-5 years depending on length of the program, and whether you participate in OPT (work experience).

- You could find a US employer who will sponsor you for H1B, assuming you have a bachelors degree and experience in a relevant field. This would give you 6 years temporary stay, during which you'd (ideally) convince them to sponsor you for employment based GC.

- You could find a US employer who will sponsor you for employment based GC (I-140 + consular processing). Depending which employment category, this could take 3 years or more to be approved.

- If you have pots of money, you could start a US business and apply for an investor (E2) visa.

As an example, I first moved here from the UK in 1998 on an H1B sponsored by the US headquarters of a startup company I worked at in the UK (not eligible for L1 visa). Shortly after arriving, the co was acquired by a Fortune-500 multinational who put in paperwork for a GC that was eventually approved in early 2001. I submitted my natz paperwork last spring, and was naturalized during the summer.

As you see, its a long slow road! Good luck finding an on-ramp!
 
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