Any advice For Spouse Visa from Chicago?

Hi everyone...


New to these boards, but not new to the worry and stress.  My husband and I met in June of 2001 and I went to england for a few months to stay with him. We flew back to the States in March and flew back together after two weeks in the US and I was told I could not gain entry at that time because they thought I was trying to work, *which I wasn't, a complaint was filed with documentation to the home office and the officer at gatwick was fired over it*

About a month later Jay flew back to the US and in a spur of the moment decision *we realised we didn't want to be apart and this was the real thing for us* we got married, with all intentions of applying for his papers for him to live over here, but as several hellacious months past wrecking me financially we were unable to get the money together to file his papers in the allotted *120 days after his I-94 expired*

So here we are facing the constant possibility of him being deported while we get our stuff together to relocate back to the UK *which we are both happy with, its just taking us awhile on only one paycheck to do that and survive*

I am going in March to apply for my spouse visa for settlement and are hoping to be back in the UK by mid-June.  I am going to have to apply by mail as I do not have access to a car to drive to the consulate office...will this worsen my chances for getting the visa.  I just don't know what we should do at this point.  We both have employment offers on the table for our proposed move date and will be staying with a family friend until we can get a place sorted out.

Is there anyone that can help with advise or suggestions on how we can go about this whole thing and be successful, I'm just feeling very overwhelmed by the whole thing. :'(

Welcome Kokuei.

I got my spouse visa via mail through the Chicago embassy. It took 2-3 weeks to get it back.

It seems to me that you have little to worry about with the visa. You've been married, you're living together, very legit. At the time of my application, hubby was in the UK and I was in the US.

All you need to do is make sure you include all of the required documentation. You can never have too much. If in doubt, send it anyway, you'll get it all back. I wouldn't worry about the application, I'm certain it will be processed. The benefit of going in person is that you can get it back the same day or the next day.

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask. I can imagine how hard it must be worrying about your hubby's status. Hang in there. ((((hugs)))

Well things are changing for us...Due to some personal issues we are moving this weekend to virginia and now will be applying through the NY office.  I heard they have a Fast Track Application Process, is this the way to go...has anyone else done this with success?

So any advice regarding the NY consulate would be much appreciative...thanks!!

Well things are changing for us...Due to some personal issues we are moving this weekend to virginia and now will be applying through the NY office.  I heard they have a Fast Track Application Process, is this the way to go...has anyone else done this with success?

So any advice regarding the NY consulate would be much appreciative...thanks!!

I don't know about Spouse Visas, but we did our Work Permit Dependant entry clearance Visas thought the NY Consulate.  Very fast service -- we FedExed the paperwork, passports, etc. on a Wednesday morning and got the passports w/ entry clearance stamp back that same Friday via FedEx.  We didn't do any Fast Track process, but the immigration lawyer working with us did contact the consulate for us to advise that our paperwork was on the way.

HTH,
Stephanie

Well things are changing for us...Due to some personal issues we are moving this weekend to virginia and now will be applying through the NY office ....

Why New York?  The British embassy is in DC (just a few hours drive from almost anywhere in Virginia), and they processed my wife's visa in just a couple of days back in 2000.  She showed up on day one, handed over the fee and papers, went home again, and got a call the next day (or the day after, I don't recall now) that she could go back to collect it.  All quite painless and no interview at all.

Well, I thought about the DC office also, but according to the site... www.britianusa.com [nofollow] NY is the office we have to apply through. DC would be closer and that way I could do it in person versus mailing things in.  Can you choose where to go or should I call and they would let me know if I could go to DC to apply?

.... Can you choose where to go or should I call and they would let me know if I could go to DC to apply?

I'm really not sure, but unless you have a part-completed application that has been arbitrarily sent to New York I can't imagine any reason why you shouldn't apply through DC.  

In fact even if you do have a partially completed application I'd ask them to send it to DC for you to continue with.  After all it is the main "full service" British embassy in DC!

If you haven't applied yet, check the web site as my wife applied in DC as a "walk in" applicant, and if you can do that it wil probably be easiest.  Just make sure that you plan to get to the embassy really early.

Good luck!