my g/f and I are considering marrying. She is a US citizen and I am Irish. We both currently live and work in Ireland (not without visa struggles for her). Her situation is straightforward; once we marry she will automatically have the right to live and work here, and to be naturalized in three years. End of story.
However, my situation with regards to the US is more complex. Although I often work in the US under employer visas (E2), I will not be attempting to actually immigrate there for the forseeable future, but this may change down the road. It seems to be recommended that we follow the K visa system and get married over there but as this involves several months of unemployment I don’t see this as a realistic option. So, we will probably go ahead and marry over here and try the immigration thing down the line.
What exactly is involved? I can’t get my head around the BCIS rules and regs, so I hope an immigration lawyer or someone with experience can tell me in simple terms how I can stay over here (Ireland) and obtain a green card for the US.
Regards,
If you don’t foresee moving to the U.S. anytime soon, then there’s no need to do anything right now. But if you do decide to at a later point, the K visa is certainly not your only option. Of course, all the rules may change between now and then, so definitely check before you make any plans.
The way it works right now is that your then-wife files an I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, with the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services in the U.S. After some waiting (I’m not sure what processing times are right now; I can look it up at work tomorrow if you want, but it’s at least several months), once the I-130 is approved (basically, it’s just a pretty straightforward form showing your identities, proof of your marriage, and proof of the termination of any prior marriages), the appropriate Consulate will be notified to schedule the two of you for a permanent residency interview.
If there are no red lights for fraud, i.e. if it seems you two are legitimately married and nobody has any prior immigration violations or criminal records or anything of that sort, then it’s usually pretty smooth sailing; Ireland isn’t a high-fraud post, so they shouldn’t grill you too badly, especially if you’ve been married for a while by then. They will probably want to see proof of your relationship beyond just the marriage certificate, which can include things like joint lease or mortgage papers, any joint financial paperwork such as bank statements or beneficiary designations for life insurance, photos of the two of you togeher, preferably taken over a period of time, correspondence between the two of you or from others addressed to both of you, affidavits from family and friends, that sort of thing. Think inclusively rather than exclusively. The most incontrovertible proof is generally 1) your children, or 2) an obviously pregnant wife.
That’s the basics; if you have more questions, please post again and I’ll take a crack at them.
P.S. Once you file an I-130 to begin the permanent residency process, you shouldn’t travel to the U.S. on an E visa; the E category does not allow for intent to immigrate. Talk to the person in your company who handled the E visa, but there is probably another category that is more appropriate, such as L or H-1B, but allows for immigrant intent. Or post a bit about your job and whether your company haas a U.S. parent, subsidiary, or affiliate, and I’ll take a crack at that, too.
Something that Eva Luna didn’t mention, but I think was implied in the OP…
“Green card” is an unoffical name for what is actual known as Permanent Residency. As such, they won’t give it you if you don’t intend to be a permanent resident in the US. You have to actually be living in the US for a certain minimum number of days every year in order to maintain your permanent resident status. So if you’re not intending to actually live here, you might need to wait.
I’m no lawyer, but I’m going through a similar situation to yours. I defer to Eva Luna’s better informed responses, of course.
emulsified is absolutely correct. But if you don’t intend to reside in the U.S., there is generally little or no reason to go through the bureaucratic hell of the green card process anyway.
To add to Eva Luna’s excellent response, once you move to the U.S. the process goes something like this:
You are first given a provisional permanent residency, for two years. After two years you again provide proof that you are still genuinely married, and the spouse is entitled to ‘permanent’ permanent residency. Then you are allowed to apply for citizenship after one more year. However the processing of citizenshp applications can be slow. In order to become a naturalized citizen, one must past a simple test on reading English and American history and government and then attend a swearing in ceremony.
The above assumes you a living in the U.S. more or less continously during this time.
True, except that if they have been married for more than two years at the time of application for permanent residency, they get to skip the conditional permanent residency part and go straight to “regular” permanent residency. So it may actually be less hassle overall if they end up staying in Ireland for a while, which it sounds like they are planning anyway.
