Getting the Green Card bit...

Howdy!

After my fiance (USA) and I (UK) get hitched, we'll be living in London. But can I apply for a Green Card then, or do I wait until we eventually move back to the US?

I've heard tales of people who had to wait 2+ years in the USA for their Green Card, and couldn't leave the country for a vacation or something as a result! ANyone else heard about this?

Thanks!

Flaurena x

A friend of my husband went to the US, married a woman illegally (without a visa) and was then told by immigration he had two choices - be deported or be granted a green card and basically be under 'country arrest'. He went for the green card option so he could stay with his new wife in the USA and could not leave the US (except for the death of a parent) for 3 years.

I dont think this applies to you.

You will not be able to apply for a green card until you have the intent to move to the USA. The process is not difficult and is quite quick. You can find more about it in the Repat forum. Green cards are residence permits only - they do not act like passports. You cannot legally maintain a green card while living out of the united states. So if and when you ever have the intention of moving to the United States with your spouse, he can apply to the Embassy in London to have a visa granted to you which will enable you to obtain a green card.

Hope this helps,
Sarah

You might be thinking of the conditional vs nonconditional green card as well. Once you go through the DCF process (take a peek in the Repat board) you enter the US and receive your green card (though apparently it is beige!) shortly thereafter - either conditionally (meaning you have to apply to remove the restrictions, and I think I'm correct in saying that you can't travel the 1 times each year your application is being sent in?), or unconditionally - meaning you're good to go for (I believe) 10 years. It depends on how long you've been married when you apply for the visa (You get the visa in the UK, the green card when you arrive in the US) - -- the mark is 2 years. My husband will be entering the states and will get a conditional beige card.

Hi Marlespo,

Can you explain the "conditional" restrictions on travel? I ask because my husband will also be on a conditional status when we move since we have been married under two years (I thought about sticking it out here in Reading until next March but....no can do).  Are you saying that while the paperwork is in process to remove the conditional status (I think we send it in 90 days prior to our 2nd anniversay) he can not travel out of the US (i.e. - to visit family back in the UK)? I vaguely remember reading somewhere a few months ago that the process of removing the conditional status takes months due to a back log. Do you know anything about this?

Thanks!

Julie

There are no restrictions on travel outside the US with a conditional spousal residency. Nor even with a K3 visa. The only people who need permission ('Advanced Parole') to leave the US are those with a K1 fiancé/e visa. If they leave the US without AP they basically abandon their application for PR. How long does it take to get AP? How long is a piece of string? A K1 takes a long time to get. Up to a year depending which US Service Centre you apply through. So most people on a K1, once they enter the US, would not risk leaving the country without AP, otherwise they'd have to re-apply for the K1 all over again and wait another year (or a K3 if they got married to the US citizen by then).

This is what I thought happened: that no, there aren't any travel restrictions while on your conditional green card. But yearly you need to apply to have those restrictions removed - and you have to do it yearly until they get to you (which takes a while) - but that in those few days that you apply, you can't travel.

I could be totally and completely wrong, since I'm still learning about all of this myself, so please correct me! That's the only time I thought travel restrictions applied though - just while they get your paperwork, review it, and then send it back to you?

Thanks Squirrel for the info.


Marlespo, I have been looking around the web this morning. Here is an excerpt from the VisaJourney.com that may be helpful.

"13.6)...I just arrived in the United States as a K3, but if I have an emergency and need to return to my home country, can I return to the United States with no problems using my K3 visa?"

A..Yes. A K3/K4 is a multiple entry visa, and you may leave the United States and return using the same visa, even if you have applied for Adjustment of Status. Unlike a K1/K2, the K3/K4 does not need to obtain an "advance parole" document to reenter the United States, and applying for Adjustment of Status does not terminate the K3/K4 status".

Julie

Martin is currently a conditional resident and can come and go as he pleases. We'll apply to have his conditions removed (basically apply to get him the long-term green card) in Feb 2005 which will be about a year on from when he got his green card. When the application is sent in to remove conditions the green card is automatically extended until the new green card arrives or the application is denied. As far as I know travel during this application period is legal. I expect that when the green card is scanned upon re-entry to the US that US Immigration can see that the application to remove conditions is pending.

Just to make sure the info Im giving here is correct I'll use my web foo later on to look up some factual sources. There are a couple of members here who know about removing conditions but I havent seen them on in a while. Maybe they'd care to make a reappearance?

WOW, thank you everyone for all that information!

I bet half the people here never thought they'd be an expert on UK-USA visas and red tape, huh...

Now am going to Repat board to learn the differences between K1, K2, K3... am tempted to make a K9 joke, but won't!

xx

no need to worry yourself with the K1 - K2 - K3 stuff. They dont apply to people returning to the US from the UK with UK spouses in tow. If my memory serves me correctly the official visa designations for people in our situation are CR-1 (conditional permanent resident) and IR-1 (un-conditional permanent resident). The K visas are for foreign spouses and children who are residing abroad while the US citizen is residing in the US and applying for the visas through the National Visa Center and Service Centers in the USA.

Also the Green Card only has to be renewed every TEN years, not yearly. If it is a conditional (2 year) Green Card, you only apply for removal of conditions once (after 2 years as a PR).

I think conditional is one year. I'll look into it

Well, for once it's my bad. I guess I was just hopefull for my own sake lol

From the Embassy website ...
"Applicants who qualify for a visa on the basis of a marriage which was entered into less than two years prior to the date on which he/she is admitted into the United States as an immigrant, or in the case of a fiancé(e) visa holder completes an application for an adjustment of status, will be granted conditional resident status for a two year period. Ninety days before the two year anniversary of being granted conditional resident status, both the petitioner and conditional resident will be required to file a petition, form I-751, with the Immigration and Naturalization Service to have the conditional resident status removed."

*kowtows to squirrel*

guess Id better get my act together when we get back to houston and get the service center pull their finger out.

guess Id better get my act together when we get back to houston and get the service center pull their finger out.

I feel for you, the Houston service center is one of the slowest in the country.  Our K1 (fiance visa) took 7 months from mailing the application to interview date.  After we were married, from filling the Green Card paperwork to hold the Conditional Green (Beige) Card in hand took 13 months, in Houston.  In that time period, my husband could not leave the country with out advance parole.  We did get it to visit his kids back in England.  It's can take upto 90 days.  Also the work permits can take upto 60 days, but they usually get it to you in about 30 days.  Once you get the card in hand, you have no travel restrictions at all.  It's just if you get divorced in that time period, the green card holder can have it revoked unless you can prove it wasn't a 'Green Card Marriage'.