Visa catch-22

Another person here who will attest to the fact that it's much more difficult to get a US visa.  My now husband went through the fiance visa process.  We were lucky to get it in 6 months.  I knew of others who had been waiting over a year.

Also there are many more steps and much more waiting time to become a permanent resident and ultimately a citizen.

Took me 10 years from permanent residency to citizenship. My green card was about to expire when I finally got it. They lost my application twice.

Took me 10 years from permanent residency to citizenship. My green card was about to expire when I finally got it. They lost my application twice.

wow, mort!  That sounds like my application to renew my 10-year green card after it expired- filed the I-90 in 2002 and never received a new green card.  I had to drive three hours to the nearest USCIS office for a few years to get "temporary" one-year stamps put in my passport so that I could work or leave the country!  The case was simply "pending" all the while- lost in a black hole, more like. So  much hassle and aggravation, I shudder to remember the hours I spent on the phone with their useless helpline!

I finally applied for citizenship after I learned I didn't have to have my new green card to file- but that application was ridiculously speedy for some reason (4 months!)

Took me 10 years from permanent residency to citizenship. My green card was about to expire when I finally got it. They lost my application twice.

My sister has a British coworker who has been living and working in the US (green card) for over 10 years. He still has not been approved for US citizenship. (I don't know the full details of his situation.)

My sister has a British coworker who has been living and working in the US (green card) for over 10 years. He still has not been approved for US citizenship. (I don't know the full details of his situation.)

It took my aunt nearly 25 years to get her US citizenship - although I'm not sure how much of that was due to time for approval or just her choosing to wait a long time to apply (she decided she wanted to adopt a baby a few years ago so that could have been the impetus for getting her citizenship after so long).

My husband's US visa took 3 months to get issued (this was 4 years ago), and he became a US citizen 3 years later.

Obviously everyone's situation is a bit different, but my husband got US citizenship much easier, CHEAPER, and quicker (!) than I would have gotten UK citizenship.

My husband's US visa took 3 months to get issued (this was 4 years ago), and he became a US citizen 3 years later.

Obviously everyone's situation is a bit different, but my husband got US citizenship much easier, CHEAPER, and quicker (!) than I would have gotten UK citizenship.

Perhaps, but citizenship and the simple live and work legally, are two different things. The fact that it took 1 day to get a spousal visa which allows me to live and work in the UK, blows US immigration out of the water. We would have never bothered with bringing him to the US, except I still had a year left of school.

The fact that it took 1 day to get a spousal visa which allows me to live and work in the UK, blows US immigration out of the water.

Yes this is true, and can I see why you'd say that.

Everyone's situation and motives are different, but both sides are equally stressful! 

Everyone's situation and motives are different, but both sides are equally stressful! 

This is certainly the truth.  Even though I managed to get my UK spousal visa within a week, where my husband's greencard took considerably longer (they did lose his application once  ), I still found the US system to be far less stressful.  I think part of the reason is because everything you need to be able to qualify for a greencard is spelled out clearly for you.  The US immigration website tells you exactly how much money you need to be making and exactly what paperwork they want to see.  So you know right up front whether or not your application stands a chance.  We didn't worry about whether or not we would be approved, it was just a matter of waiting for the actual greencard.  Waiting for the greencard wasn't really a big deal anyway because DH had the temporary work authorization so that he could work in the meantime and with advanced parole, he could still travel back and forth to the UK.  The US will even "forgive" any previous overstay once you adjust status from tourist to spouse as was the case with my husband.  And the fact that you can even adjust status is a huge plus.
When I went through the greencard process with DH, I never had to go looking for an immigration forum to get some answers on exactly what steps I needed to take to apply.  Had I not found this forum for my own UK visa, Lord knows whether or not I would have ever been approved.  There's a few posts I've seen on this very forum from people who've only read the official UK immigration websites and they've found themselves with a denial.  Perhaps if the UK could be a little more specific with exactly what information they wish to see from applicant's, and keep it all in one place on their official website, then their immigration process truly would blow the US one out of the water. 

When I went through the greencard process with DH, I never had to go looking for an immigration forum to get some answers on exactly what steps I needed to take to apply.  Had I not found this forum for my own UK visa, Lord knows whether or not I would have ever been approved. 

Absolutely spot on.

And although I researched a 'returning resident' visa for the UK to no end, I still had no idea what it was they were looking for. Therefore, I got denied because I didn't meet the criteria.

If they had clearly stated what was needed, I wouldn't have gone through the most stressful experience I've had in a long time.

<shrugs>
Funny. I sort of feel that people stress out a little too much about the UK paperwork. I just presented exactly what I was asked to present with my application. I would be curious to see examples of American that have been denied visa based around financial reasonings. I did some research awhile back and found the general percentage of Americans that are denied visas, but they had them all lumped into the same category (visitor, spousal, wv). It would be curious to compare that to the number of Brits denied US visas. Maybe I just got lucky, but I didn't worry at all that my UK spousal visa wouldn't get approved.

I was a bit younger when we were getting our paperwork ready for the US visa, so maybe that's why I found it more complicated? I think the fact that you had to apply for the temporary work authorization and advanced parole separately (apparently it's different now, they lump it all together?) seemed confusing, and you still had to wait a month or two before those things get processed. I lived and breathed visajourney.com at the time.
Because I lived in Dallas, they had the DORA pilot program, where you did the interviewed for AOS straight away, and only had to wait 3 months before getting the greencard. Theoretically, a great thing. Except ours took 6 months. So we were in constant limbo as to whether we wanted to shell out $250 for the work authorization or wait it out for the greencard (which might have come before the work authorization).

I mostly relied on uk-yankee threads for the PETS program, which is probably a thousand more times confusing than either UK or US immigration!!

<shrugs>
Funny. I sort of feel that people stress out a little too much about the UK paperwork. I just presented exactly what I was asked to present with my application.

As did I with my first spousal visa, way back in 2001. That was easy-peasy, compared to what people have to go through now. Things have changed quite a bit with UK immigration in the past few years.

In 2001, I went to the UK Consulate in DC, filled out a 4-page form, handed it right back with my passport and marriage certificate, paid $400 and then got my visa an hour later.

Now, from my personal experience, I know that some people have more of a reason to be stressed out about the paperwork. Especially when we're talking about 1)sending all documents in as opposed to being able to talk with someone face-to-face and 2)there is no 'checklist' of necessary documents.

You're lucky, but not everyone is in the same situation as you.

I think the UK visa process is easy enough IF your application is straight-forward. You're employed, have savings, your spouse/fiancee/LTM has a house, etc.

It's when you start entering the grey area that it gets stupid. Is it really so hard to provide concrete information about what they mean by enough money to support yourself, or how to prove that you can? For things like that, you pretty much have to seek out others with the same situations and ask for advice. Just reading the website (or calling the helpline) hardly helps at all.

I like the fact that US basically has the equivalent of "You must be this tall to ride" process. They tell you exactly what, where and how much. Very little ambiguity.

Another person here who will attest to the fact that it's much more difficult to get a US visa.  My now husband went through the fiance visa process.  We were lucky to get it in 6 months.  I knew of others who had been waiting over a year.

Also there are many more steps and much more waiting time to become a permanent resident and ultimately a citizen.

yes, we waited quite awhile and had many hoops.  though we were changing existing student visa into spouse visa so at least we were already together.  Once he had the spouse visa, INS stayed in touch and expected the occaisional in-person interview.  And THEN we started on his citizenship process.   hoo-boy.

And all of that was completed about 18 months before 9-11, so it was a cakewalk compared to now.

The most important thing is, just get started!  don't fuss around with should we do this or that, pick whichever procedure, and get on with it.