Quick question

Hi there,

My English husband and I met in New York when he was on a visa for his work.  We married in New York and decided to move to the UK in August of 2004.  My question is, when we move back to the US next year will we have problems since I will not have been here for two years to get the ILR?  It will only be a couple of months short and don't know if they will look at the fact that we were married in New York and lived together for 2 years prior to moving over here.  What I mean is that we didn't move to the UK because we had to as he had a valid visa for the US for 1 more year before we moved here.  Does this make any sense?!  Any suggestions would be great.  Thanks!!

HI tradog, and welcome to UKY,,

I don't think they will care either way, where your marriage took place to be honest. It may be worth waiting those last couple of months, and apply for your ILR so you can go the DCF route. It will be alot easier and worth it in the long run.  The way they have it set up currently, you have to have that little ILR in order to do that.  If you file before then, you will still be in the same boat you would be in if you filed now. The American half would have to file from America, establish residency, etc.  It would still happen, but with alot more hassles.      Good luck to you

A couple sites you might want to check about moving to the US:
http://forum.diveintoamerica.com/  (Another community of people who met on this site, and have since made the move back to the US)

also,

http://www.visajourney.com/ (lots of info on the visa process and where you can read and ask questions about how others are doing with this same thing. )

good luck to you   Hopefully we will be moving back in a year or so too

Thanks for all the information Tebs!  I figured that would be the case but I was hoping that since he already lived on a visa in New York it would be a little easier.  Guess we'll just have to wait then. 

Where do you plan on moving back in the states?  I can't say I don't like living here, I just think we preferred living in the states. 

Thanks again for responding!

Well, I am not sure where we will move when we do move back.  The move back would mainly be so I will be closer to my two teenage girls,, but I don't necessarily want to live in the same city I left (Houston),,lol.  They would like to live with us, somewhere in the US, and I am thinking of maybe Austin, or San Antonio. Ideally I would move to Florida    Hubby likes the idea of buying a little piece of land, and building a house, and an office for him. He's a software designer, and does contract work.  I have had my ILR for about two years now,, but we are slow in getting ourselves together,,lol. It does help knowing that when we are ready, we will be able to go the DCF route. It will be worth the wait to be able to go the DCF route.  Where in the US would you guys move to?

 I wish the US would take a page out of the book on how to handle marriage visas, from the UK. 

I like living here too,, there is so much to see and do.

You can never research all this too soon tho,, do read up on other's expirences, and it will help you know what to expect

I think we would either move to New York or California.  I am currently studying to be a lawyer (another reason we can't really move now unless I want to do another year in the US) and NY and California are the most liberal with admitting foreign qualified attorneys.  We'll see!

I have never been to Texas.  I grew up in Ohio and then lived in PA for a while and New York City before moving over here.  I think that would be great to be able to build a house in Florida.  You can definitely do that there for a decent price.  I think that is another reason we want to move back.  The house prices here seem outrageous to me!  My husband is also in the IT field. 

Thanks again for the suggestions!