Seeking work in US

Apologies in advance if this has been covered before. Moderators, kindly direct me to the proper thread, if there is one.

I'm married to a UK citizen and have a Limited Leave to Remain stamp in my passport (spouse visa). We both live and work in the UK.

Here's my question: can my husband seek employment whilst still living the UK, with a view to us moving to the US? Or is there some sort of application process to go through before he can start applying for jobs in the US?

Our thinking is, we'd like for him to get a job, then we move to where the job is, and then continue the process to of getting him his leave to remain in the US (whatever that may be called) from our new home in the US.

Is this possible?

How much longer until you have your ILR?

Is your husband wanting to enter the US on a work permit, or as your spouse?

I don't know how much longer until I get ILR. I've been married 10 months. Lived here on work permit 20 months before we were married, but I don't know if that counts toward anything.

He wants to enter as my spouse.

Hmmm....does anyone know if time on a work permit counts toward ILR?  If so, you can apply for ILR now.

If work permit time DOESN'T count, you'll need to wait until you've been here two years (as a spouse) before you can apply for your ILR.

Once you have your ILR, you can apply to take your DH to the US via DCF (direct consular filing).  The benefits of that are 1) you can stay together while going through the process and 2) it's a bit faster than if you went to the US to apply.

Note -- I dunno if there's any written rule on this.  Several people on this board have tried to use DCF without having their ILR and their applications have been rejected because they haven't been here long enough.  There seems to be a shift in the rules lately -- limiting DCF to those who have (or who very nearly have) their ILR.

I don't mean to be obtuse, but does he have to have his clearance via DCF or whatever before he can seek employment in the US?

Carla.. he can try and get a transfer or the like from his current company to the USA and then go over on a visa H-1 (I think it's called), but don't quote me on that.  Like here, most companies won't want to look at him unless he is legally able to work in the USA.  Or you guys have to go the spouse route via filing in the USA from here or DCF if you have the ILR.  What they will not like is him entering in under a tourist Visa and then trying to change that to a spouses one once you are in the USA or anything similar.   

Yep -- that's why I wanted to know if he would be entering the US as your spouse.  If he's wanting to head over based on work, he'll need a transfer with his company or would have to find someone to sponsor him on a work permit.  I just think it'd be easier to wait it out and go for DCF when you can.

Oh. Well, why am I not surprised! Another year then. *sigh*

You can apply now -- but you'll have to go to the US to do so, which means leaving hubby here.    

A year will go by fast -- just think of it as your "nesting" time to get ready for your big move back to the US!   

I can't move back to the US without him. I'll have to wait.

Now, once we get the thingy for his passport, will it then be okay to apply for work from here, so he'll have a job when we go there?

I really think you should probably read through the experiences of those in the Repatriation section.  Moving a spouse from the UK to the US is IMHO very different from moving a spouse from the US to the UK.

I really think you should probably read through the experiences of those in the Repatriation section.  Moving a spouse from the UK to the US is IMHO very different from moving a spouse from the US to the UK.

I agree.  That's the reason I'm here with my husband and my husband's not in the US with me! 

Yep..I can only offer advice for applying within the USA as my husband came over on a K1 and adjusted to a conditional perm resident and then a perm perm resident... so much fun... now we would have to go through DCF or return in the next 6 months...

Hi,

Firstly, from my discussions with a Consular officer at the US Embassy, you *dont* need to have ILR to apply using DCF.  You just have to have a permanent visa in the UK (Leave to Remain is fine) and have to have lived here for "long enough".  According to the consular officer, it entirely depends on your situation, and one year is about the minimum.  Since you've been here over two years, even though you didnt have Leave to Remain during the first 20 months, and you've been married for 10 months now, you should be just fine for DCF.  It doesn't cost anything to try (they return your payment if you dont "qualify").

Secondly, if you do have to file in the US (unlikely), you can apply while you're living here.  My wife and I are both living in the UK, but we filed with the Texas Service Centre.  You just have to have a US address to put down (friend or family is fine).  We put down one my friends addresses in Texas, and we were just approved yesterday (applied in October)

I suggest filing *immediately* if you wanna do this as it seems that delaying one day delays the whole app by one week!  I suggest filing with the US Embassy first and seeing what they say.  If they accept it (and based on my discussions with the Consular Officer who denied my case, they would accept yours without any problems), it should take about 12 weeks to approval.  Your first step is filing the form I-130 with them with PHOTOCOPIES of proof documents (birth certs, passports (ALL pages), marriage cert, and for good measure we included photocopies of about 60 digital pictures of us together, including ones of the wedding ceremony, plus a US-passport-sized picture for each of you).

Thanks and good luck!  Let me know if you need any advice (since we only just went through this process!)

S.