work permits...? for domestic employment

Have you been living together for two years?

Victoria

lol
heck no...we've only been together 2 weeks! Needless to say it has been a very intense 2 weeks...he brought up the idea of me coming to stay here full time very early on, so we started looking into our options
I have not made any decisions yet...
We are doing our best to take it without the extra added pressure of the time limit on my stay (I have to leave by mid May)


StuzGirl...I agree w/your assessment. Too bad Americans can't be political refugees   It doesn't seem right, the number of third world immigrants who are somehow managing to work here and stay...

After 2 weeks together, don't you think you're rushing into things a bit?  A lot can happen between now and May. 

It doesn't seem right, the number of third world immigrants who are somehow managing to work here and stay...

yeah, lucky them, being able to flee their home country in order to escape torture and poverty.....

 

Victoria

Yeah, I'd just say enjoy your current visit, head back to the US for a while to save up some money for your next visit, and then decide what you want to do in the long term.  If everything works out, it sounds like your best options would be a spousal visa or a fiancee' visa, depending on where you get married.

yeah, lucky them, being able to flee their home country in order to escape torture and poverty.....

 

Victoria

Well said.

Too bad Americans can't be political refugees   It doesn't seem right, the number of third world immigrants who are somehow managing to work here and stay...

When you have a well founded fear of persecution in your home country you can.  Applying for refugee status is a serious business and not something to joke about.

Sadly lioness, it just is not easy to stay here without certain circumstances.

If you don't want the big M commitment, then you go back.  Save up as people have said and do a long distance thing.  It's up to you guys for how long, but so many of us did it here.....it can be done it it's right for you both.

And really, i think the above folks have covered the refugee comment.  I can understand frustration, but really, what right DO we have to believe that we can live in another country if we weren't born there?

It's a priviledge.  Not a right.  (and i'm not saying you said it was!)

It doesn't seem right, the number of third world immigrants who are somehow managing to work here and stay...

Unless they have British ancestry or married a Brit, you can bet they faced a difficult journey the ability to work and live here.  Being an asylum seeker is a long, frustrating process in and of itself, not to mention the extreme dangers many of these people faced trying to flee their home country.  Many also carry the weight of truly horrific experiences that have happened to them - starvation, rape, the murder of loved ones (often right in front of them), torture, etc.  - or have had to leave close relatives behind, a heartbreaking circumstances.  And for them, there's no 'I don't like the customer service here so I'm going home.'  Most can never, ever return and will never see those they left behind again in this life.  A sad thing all around.

By the way, you can read the 1952 Convention on the Status of Refugees here

http://www.unhcr.ch/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/home

and also find out all about how to be mandated and resettled by the UN. 

Can I say...I think we have all made the point!  I don't want to flame people too much for comments made in the heat of the moment and out of frustration.

thelioness - if there is anything else practical we can help you with, do please continue to post!


Victoria

After 2 weeks together, don't you think you're rushing into things a bit?  A lot can happen between now and May. 

yes, at times...and he and I  have discussed this.  As I said we haven't made any final decisions, but we wanted to know our options so we wouldn't be so rushed to sort it out if things are going this well come time for me to leave.

I was not intending to be cavalier about my  statement concerning third world  peoplecoming here, nor trying to make light of their circumstances in their previous countries
as for where we should/should not be allowed to live, it's only in the past 50 years that immigration has gotten this difficult (from what I've  read). Artists and writers used to flock to London and Paris and so on and take up residence there...in fact reading about this is probably one of the things as a teenager which first attracted  me to living outside the States! I wanted to be a poet living in a foreign land...

Hehehe!  You are right, it is comparatively recently that these chcks have come into place, and I agree, it is a shame that we can't just up sticks and say "I am going to live on the other side of the world for a few years, just to see what it is like".  However...it will certainly be easier for you to come here than for your man to move to the US...their immigration laws are even harder to negotiate than ours!

Good luck with everything.  I hope you will be posting on here before long with questions about your spousal visa application!

 

(I'm in a romantic mood today!)

Victoria

Can I say...I think we have all made the point!  I don't want to flame people too much for comments made in the heat of the moment and out of frustration.

thelioness - if there is anything else practical we can help you with, do please continue to post!


Victoria

I don't think any of the above were flaming, they are all long time UKY-ers.  Speaking for myself, this is an issue I feel strongly about as I am a lawyer who has worked in the refugee field for a number of years.  I don't like it when the myths that

(a) it is easy to gain refugee status

and

(b) anyone from the "third world" that lives here must have come here as a refugee

are perpetuated by those who are (apparently) ignorant of the international jurisprudence or the factual reality of  the plight of genuine refugees.   When I see that happening I will always try and nip it in the bud.

I know that she wasn't being flamed...just concerned that it might go down that route.

I feel the same - I used to do refugee stuff as well, and some of the cases I dealt with were horrific.

I just thought that the point had been made, and I didn't want the OP, who has apologised for her statement, to feel reluctant to ask us for help, that's all.

Victoria

Hehehe! You are right, it is comparatively recently that these chcks have come into place, and I agree, it is a shame that we can't just up sticks and say "I am going to live on the other side of the world for a few years, just to see what it is like".

(I'm in a romantic mood today!)

Victoria

I think I have just seen a lot of cases where people are in fact managing to get around the rules somehow. I knew many Irish and UK nationals living and working in the States w/o the proper legal documentation, and have talked w/people here who just seem to pick up, move here, get "cash in hand" work, and somehow manage to stay.
It makes those of us who are trying to do it legally...frustrated.

As for feeling romantic...keep yer fingers crossed for me!

I think I have just seen a lot of cases where people are in fact managing to get around the rules somehow. I knew many Irish and UK nationals living and working in the States w/o the proper legal documentation, and have talked w/people here who just seem to pick up, move here, get "cash in hand" work, and somehow manage to stay.
It makes those of us who are trying to do it legally...frustrated.

Some people can just pick up and move here -- if they hold an EU passport. 

You have plenty of options available to you -- it's just a matter of deciding which one is right for you.