US military officer needs advice for marrying British/ Norwegian citizen and getting here to the US

V

vincebray

New Member
Where do I begin??? I am a US citizen and met my fiancee while in graduate school in England. She holds both Briitish and Norwegian citizenship (I mention this in case it makes a difference). She resides in the UK. I returned to the States 18 months ago. We got engaged earlier this summer (2010). Our plans were to marry in December 2010 in Florida (no waiting period for non-residents) while we are together on vacation. She would return to the UK after her visit and apply for a visa from the UK.

She unfortunately broke her neck in a car wreck last month and may not be well enough by then to travel to the US next month. So, I will likely go to the UK to see her. We have looked at getting married then in the UK, but it requires a 6 day residency requirement followed by a 15 day waiting period before we can get married. So, we may wind up getting married in Spain, France or Italy on a very short vacation there.

1.Will the country of marriage affect her spouse visa application?
Another twist is that I am deploying with the military (again) next summer for about 12 months. Originally, we planned on using this time to get her visa. That way it would hopefully, be approved by the time I get back to the States (summer 2012) and would allow her to move to the US.

I will be at Ft Hood until I deploy next summer. Since she is not doing well physically, I would like to have her come over (whether we are married or not) if she is able. That way she has a better supprt network. 2. If we do get married (some place), can she still come over on a tourist visa or would this not be allowed? If she comes over on a tourist visa for 90 days, how long would she have to leave the US before returning on a tourist visa? On a side note, I do not want to do anything that would get either of us in trouble and make her coming her permanently more difficult.

3. Can anyone reccomend an immigration attorney in the Killeen, TX area? Thank you for reading this and any advice is appreciated.

Thank you,
VB
 
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Marry her and then file an I-130, selecting a consulate in the UK or Norway on the form. After I-130 approval, she'll get notified to set up the consular interview and related formalities (medical, fingerprinting, paperwork). Time from the I-130 filing until consular approval should be about 6-12 months. Once approved at the consulate, she'll have 6 months to enter the US.

Once you get married, beware of having her travel to the US as a visitor. Spouses of US citizens have a high rate of overstay, and thus they are likely to be sent back if the officer at the port of entry knows about the marriage.
 
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Go here and read about options:

http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/types/types_2993.html

You could file to bring her over as a fiance or just go ahead and get married abroad, then apply to immigrate her as your wife.

The fiance route would be an I-129F form with USCIS then she get a K-1 visa from the consulate (2 to 3 months??) to come over and get married within 90 days then file for adjustment of status (I-485, I-131 and I-765).

You could go abroad and marry then file an I-130 and just wait for her to get her immigrant visa by filing at the consulate (6 months to a year).

You could go abroad and get married, file an I-130 then when you get the receipt notice, immediately file an I-129F for a K-3 nonimmigrant visa and she would apply for that visa at the consulate (3 to 6 months????).

No matter how you proceed, you need to file the appropriate form(s) on her behalf to get the ball rolling.

If you get married abroad, she can get a K-3 non-immigrant spouse visa to come to the U.S. faster and then apply for adjustment of status while in the U.S. instead of consular processing for an immigrant visa.

As for legal help, ask the miitary for help (JAG or Legal Assistance/Aid Office), they provide it free to service members. They deal with this situation and know how to proceed.

If she came over on a tourist visa with the intention of marrying and staying here, that would be fraud and they would allow her to file for adjustment, then deny it and make her go abroad to get a visa at the consulate.

After you get her LPR status (a greencard) depending on the nature of your deployment, there may be additional benefits. If you will be deployed to a non-combat area and she can go with you, she would be allowed to file for expedited naturalization under INA 319(b). The military legal service can help with this also.
 
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Thank you.

I would like to express my gratitude to everyone that provided advice. Neither of us want to do anything improper and get ourselves in a pickle. In my line of work, they really frown on things like that. I think we will end up getting married and filing for a marriage visa through the consulate in the UK.

That is good advice about not mentioning that we were married if she comes to visit me again. When she came to visit on one of her trips last year, she got asked 20 questions because she was honest and told them that she was coming to see her boyfriend. They wanted to know if she planned on getting married on the trip, how long we had dated, how we met... They almost stopped her from entering the US because the agent was convinced we would get married and she just wouldn't go home.

Thank you all again.
 
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