US citizen planning to marry Aussie in OZ and then move back to US... Impossible?

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optimyst

Registered Users (C)
My fiancee is an Australian citizen who is in the U.S. on an F-1 visa as a student in college. We want to get married at the end of 2007 in Australia, but we're worried she can't get back into the U.S. once we get married over there. From what I've read her F-1 visa is no longer valid and she would have to have a different visa here. We don't want to be apart of course and she also has school to get back to in the U.S. Should we be looking into the K-3 visa? Is it easier to get married in the U.S. and have the ceremony in Australia? How would she get back in the U.S. then? We have to start planning for the wedding really soon if we can do it in Australia, so what do people recommend?

Thanks in advance for any help!
 
have a wedding here in the States, apply for adjustment of status (AOS, GC) and an advance parole, travel with an advance parole, and have a reception in Australia. Come back with an advance parole. Continue to enjoy married life and school.

Other than that, be prepared for a lengthy separation - about a year.
 
Thanks Lucy for the response!

From the info I've just read about advanced parole, it takes about 3 months... so I'm guessing we should get married quickly and apply for the adanced parole and adjustment of status... If we know that we are going to be moving to Australia in 2008 and she just needs to stay here until then for school, she doesn't need to apply for a green card does she? What should she apply for when she is "adjusting her status"? Thanks again in advance for anyone's help!
 
if she doesn't want a GC, then she doesn't need to apply for a GC.

Keep in mind that after marrying a US citizen, it would be pretty much impossible for her to enter the US on any kind of non-immigrant visa (for example, F-1).

Applying for K-3 visa is only possible if you applied for her immigrant visa first.
 
Thanks for replying again Lucy. I think I'm just unclear as to which visas are considered "immigrant visas". Are you saying the green card is the "immigrant visa"? Would she apply for that... then the K-3? Is there any other type of immigrant visa she can apply for once we're married? Because if applying for the GC is the only way she can get the advanced parole, then that would have to be the way to go. Thanks in advance for your help!
 
You get a GC through either adjustment of status (in the US) or through consular processing (immigrant visa). The only way to get an advance parole is to apply for adjustment of status and AP.

I think I'm just unclear as to which visas are considered "immigrant visas".
Click to expand...

There is only one immigrant visa.... It's IMMIGRANT. It may have several letter designations (CR, IR, DV) but it's just different categories of the same immigrant visa. You enter on it - you get permanent residency in the US.
 
What are your long term plans? You both want to live in the US or Australia?
Depending on your answer, you can be better advised here.

optimyst said:
Thanks for replying again Lucy. I think I'm just unclear as to which visas are considered "immigrant visas". Are you saying the green card is the "immigrant visa"? Would she apply for that... then the K-3? Is there any other type of immigrant visa she can apply for once we're married? Because if applying for the GC is the only way she can get the advanced parole, then that would have to be the way to go. Thanks in advance for your help!
Click to expand...
 
Hi Triple Citizen,

Our long term plans are to move to Australia when she is done with school (end of 2008), BUT it seems that for us to get married at the end of 2007, and for her to be able to leave the U.S. and come back, she needs to apply for a green card and Adjustment of Status, and advanced parole. Do you have anymore input on this? We would greatly appreciate it. Also, is the time it takes to have the I-130 and advanced parole approved accurate to what I wrote earlier? Thanks for your help!
 
If both of you will be moving to Australia by the end of 2008, going through the GC process is not worth it in my opinion. She stays in the US on her F-1 visa and then you both move to Australia at the appropriate time.
 
The only problem is that we want to go to Australia to have our ceremony, and we can't do that unless she can get back into the U.S. We would have to apply for the green card or risk her getting arrested or kicked out of the country. We thought about waiting, and we don't want to wait an extra year to get married... Thanks for your advice, and if you have any other ideas, I'd love to hear them!
 
Let us assume you marry in Australia as planned and return to the US together. To start off with, she will not be arrested :) There is however a potential for her being denied entry. The key obstacle is to convince inspectors at the POE that she will indeed return to Australia with you once she completes her studies. Here is a list of "things" that may work for her:-

(1) She being Australian. She comes from a nation with a very low percentage of visa fraud. If she was Vietnemese or Pakistani, it will be a different beast altogether.
(2) If you can produce any documentation showing that you BOTH plan to leave the US upon the completion of her studies. For example, your long term visa (residence permit) for Australia, if you have one.
(3) If she can show a job in Australia waiting for her, etc.
 
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