Process for getting UK hubby a US green card or passport?

You're settled in the UK. That means you qualify to file directly at the US Consulate in London. This saves you time.

You'd fill out and file the form I-130 (along with a G-325A biographic data form) at the consulate. That's the petition to apply. Once your petition to apply is approved (about 10 weeks, give or take, and much faster than Stateside processing), you receive a paper called the NOA-2 (Notice of action) and the papers are sent to the immigrant visa processing unit. Your husband will then receive his invitation to apply, along with the actual application form (DS-230), IV-15 checklist telling him what documents to collect, an I-864 for you (financial support form) and information on how to schedule the medical exam.

Once the documents are gathered, the medical scheduled and you're ready, you send back the DS-230 and IV-15 checklist. Your interview is scheduled.

On the day, you bring the documents to the Embassy. They give you a number. You're called up to hand in the papers. You sit back down again and wait, wait, wait. You get called again, your husband answers questions on the paperwork and you're given the decision. If the decision is good, you go over to the payment desk and pay for delivery. If the decision isn't resulting in a visa, they'll tell you the next steps.

If you do receive the visa, then when he enters the US a green card will be produced for him. If you enter on a CR-1, you get a 2 year green card that needs renewal. If you enter on an IR-1, you get the 10-year green card.

That's it in a nutshell.

This is a lot to absorb.  So with regards to Consular processing, how many appointments will actually be required in London for everything that needs to be done start to finish?  Is there no where in Northern Ireland to get the ball rolling?  And is the £420 fee or whatever it is, suppose to be given over with the forms I-130 & G-325A?  But they don't want the I-864 at the same time? 

We're in Northern Ireland. Would the American Embassy in Dublin process an I-130 and an immigrant VISA for a UK citizen?  Still not the most convenient but certainly better for us than incurring the expense to go all the way to London and back how many times. I'm thinking that a US Embassy would help a US Citizen regardless of where that US citizen is originally from.  So could I send my I-130 petition to them? 

Unfortunately that's not the case -- immigrant visa processing is tied to the consulate of the country you're resident in, and that means you have to file in London.

Unfortunately that's not the case -- immigrant visa processing is tied to the consulate of the country you're resident in, and that means you have to file in London.

 
Right.  Maybe the consulate in Belfast can help. 

Right.  Maybe the consulate in Belfast can help. 

Doesn't look like it: http://belfast.usconsulate.gov/immigrant-visas.html

Doesn't look like it: http://belfast.usconsulate.gov/immigrant-visas.html

  Bah! 

This post has been incredibly helpful to me so far, but very confusing.

In my situation, my fiancé is a UKC and I am a US/Italian Dual Citizen.  We live in the UK, but I am self employed here and earn almost no money in the UK (most of my money is earned in the US).

We plan to get married sometime in the next 9 months or so (end of 2013), and plan to move back to the US in 2015.

It sounds like we will be in the same situation as the OP, but I have a few Qs:

• What you mean by being "settled" in the UK?
• How long does the whole process take? Can we start the next day after we get married?
• If I go this route, does that mean that my fiancé will need to spend 365 consecutive days in the US without leaving?

Thanks!

"Settled" means living legally in the UK on the proper visa (or in your case exercising EU treaty rights?) -- that is part of the documentation you'll be asked for when filing the I-130.

You can start immediately after you're married -- you'll need your marriage certificate. A straightforward case is presently taking around nine months to complete.

No, your fiance doesn't need to spend a year in the US -- there's obviously a residency requirement for the green card (leave for too long and you lose it) but otherwise there aren't any restrictions.

"Settled" means living legally in the UK on the proper visa (or in your case exercising EU treaty rights?) -- that is part of the documentation you'll be asked for when filing the I-130.

This is confusing to me, because the US gov't website says something different:

Is Residence in the U.S. Required for the U.S. Sponsor?
Yes. As a U.S. sponsor/petitioner, you must maintain your principal residence (also called domicile) in the U.S., which is where you plan to live for the foreseeable future. Living in the U.S. is required for a U.S. sponsor to file the Affidavit of Support, with few exceptions. To learn more, review the Affidavit of Support (I-864 or I-864EZ) Instructions.

I have an address in the US that I use for mail and things (my mother's house, where I live ~3 months of the year.  But how can I be "living legally in the UK" but domiciled abroad?  Does it just mean that I need an address there?

Sorry if these are stupid questions.

The website you're looking at isn't taking DCF into account; those are the "everyone else" instructions.

A permanent address you use for mail is fine.