Only been here a short time, we've decided to go back to the US and need help

We got married in the US in october, then she went back to the UK right after.  I stayed in the US until 2 months saving up money at my job, and then moved over here in mid-december.  Difficulties in finding a job here have forced at least me to go back and look in the states again, where I can get a job very easily.  The industry in which i work is much much smaller here, and even non-related smaller jobs seem to be impossible to find.  I make calls, send out CVs every day to anything that I can remotely do for a livable wage and I have only got 2 or 3 callbacks, 1 interview which didn't pan out, and one interview that was really a scam to sell seminars. The problem is not my CV because it meets all the UK standards, and the 8 years of specialized experience in my industry (web analytics) as well as smaller bit-jobs doing other IT stuff should be enough to get me hired.  I can;t help but think the difficulty comes from a resistance to hire an immigrant.

The situation is that I am a US citizen, but my wife currently has no US status.  we both want to go over to the US and get a fresh start, but don't know how to go about it.

If we want to do it (relatively) fast we should do consular processing, but I don't know if I am correct in assuming our application for that would be denied because I have not been here for 2 years (only 2 months).  I see there are exceptions to this, and perhaps I would qualify, because I do LIVE here.  I don't have a residence in the US so I do not fall into the jurisdiction of any field office.  We WILL be living in northern california, but I don't know if I have to select that as my field office, also I am dreading having to go through the california offices because I know they have such a backlog it may never go though. We don't want to spend months apart, we've already done that our entire relationship (1 week together, 2 months apart, 2 weeks together 3 months apart, 2 months together, 2 and a half months apart, and now 2 months together again) and it only gets harder every time.

Please, let us know what you recommend.

Thanks,
Jason and Becca

We don't want to spend months apart, we've already done that our entire relationship (1 week together, 2 months apart, 2 weeks together 3 months apart, 2 months together, 2 and a half months apart, and now 2 months together again) and it only gets harder every time.

I hear ya.  Unfortunately, though, that's probably what's going to happen when you go through the process of getting her into the US.  You're right- I'm almost certain you wouldn't be allowed to DCF since you've only been here for two months, so you need to go through a service center in the US.  If you don't have a job here it will be really difficult to meet the financial hurdle (unless you get a US co-sponsor or lots of savings), so your best option is probably to go back to the US and get a job, then petition for your wife on a K-3 visa, which will take several months to be processed (but of course you can visit during that time, like you're used to doing.) 

However, if you can meet the financial hurdle of the I-130 without leaving the UK, by all means file the CR-1 from overseas and then you guys won't have to be apart at all.

Check out http://www.visajourney.com or http://www.diveintoamerica.com for more details on the process- both very helpful sites.

My dad (a US citizen) has agreed to be a co-sponsor and we'd be staying with him for a short time in northern california until I got a job (which may be anywhere in the country, my industry has me moving around a lot)

also I do still plan to get a job here in the mean time, I'm going to keep trying.  I will go back to the US for a job as a last resort though, if need-be.

update: found a job and am now happy.  staying here

Congrats on the job!

Great news Gutbomb! You must be relieved!

That's great news! Its so hard & I'm glad that you can now start enjoying being a newlywed & not have to worry about unemployment.

Congratulations and hope all goes terrific with it!

Glad you found a job!  Congrats! 

new update: the job didn;t work out and I am now back in the states by myself.  my wife is planning to come back to the US this summer, just to visit, not to work or anything, because i pretty easily found a job here as soon as I got back.  she wants to use the visa waiver instead of applying for any visa, since it will be easy and she will only be here for 2 and a half months anyway.  a few questions:

1. Can my wife use a visa waiver even though we're married? we have not yet attempted any change of status or anything like that.

2. Her passport still has her maiden name.  She has informed her bank of her new last name, and her employer, but these are the only steps she has taken with a name change.  she has not informed any government agency of any sort of name change.  Is she required to get a new passport with her new name on it (even though i believe she has not officially changed her name yet with any government agency) or can she just use the passport.

#2 is important because i want to buy the tickets with enough advance notice so they won't cost a fortune.  but i don't want to buy tickets and have them useless if she needs to get her passport changed and they keep it longer than they should and she misses her departure due to not having her passport.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

If you are not set in your current plans, you can now actually file through the embassy in London if you have lived in the UK for 6 months or more. This means if your UK visa was issued October and you had lived here since then, you are eligible to use direct consular filining.

http://forum.diveintoamerica.com/showthread.php?t=3706

new update: the job didn;t work out and I am now back in the states by myself.  my wife is planning to come back to the US this summer, just to visit, not to work or anything, because i pretty easily found a job here as soon as I got back.  she wants to use the visa waiver instead of applying for any visa, since it will be easy and she will only be here for 2 and a half months anyway.  a few questions:

1. Can my wife use a visa waiver even though we're married? we have not yet attempted any change of status or anything like that.

Isn't the visa waiver only good for sixty days?  Plus, she's married to you, so I don't know if you need some sort of family visa.  It may look like she's coming to stay illegally, which could get her detained.

2. Her passport still has her maiden name.  She has informed her bank of her new last name, and her employer, but these are the only steps she has taken with a name change.  she has not informed any government agency of any sort of name change.  Is she required to get a new passport with her new name on it (even though i believe she has not officially changed her name yet with any government agency) or can she just use the passport.

If her passport is still in her maiden name, I would think you would just get the plane tickets in her maiden name and it would be fine.  Or, you could get the plane ticket in her married name and she could carry a marriage certificate with to show her new name.  I think others have done that...maybe they can confirm.

Isn't the visa waiver only good for sixty days?

90 days, maximum.

Plus, she's married to you, so I don't know if you need some sort of family visa.  It may look like she's coming to stay illegally, which could get her detained.

She must bring plenty of proof to show, if asked, her intention to return to the UK after the duration of her stay.

There is no need to change the name on her passport if she doesn't want to.