My own, personal, opinion is that it's the 9/11 attack which impacted the visa process policies more so than people who are planning on returning to their home country.

With our situation I have to move there before we get a chance to get him here. But that's a year away. He talks about moving back to Egypt after a few years and retiring well. I always felt it would be better if we stayed here (well that is if we ever get him here).

That is somewhat it for us. We came back to the US because it was a better move financially for the moment, however moments are always subject to change. US immigration is a hassle and my husband don`t want to deal with it again if it turns out we return to Germany for awhile. At the moment, the plan is stay here and see if my husband will be allowed dual citizenship and if so, apply for it. After that, there will be no more dealing or backlog from us from USCIS. The place where this differs is that there is no red tape for me to return to Germany. Getting German PR as a spouse of a German citizen is a cakewalk like none other. I have to keep reapplying though because one of the requirements for German naturalization is definite proof from your country of origin that you have officially renounced that citizenship. Suuuuurrrrrreeeee.

As for living in your SO`s country opposed to the US, I like others have already been there done that. We came back for a variety of reasons and not all of us have shut the door on going back. Marrying a foreigner, there is always an elephant in the room if one party is not adamant about never going back wherever they came from. It can be a sore point for some couples.

Move back to Nepal eventually.

I actually told my husband this morning that I want to move to Brazil in a few years. I dream of living on the beach and know that I can get work there.
But, I want my husband to first have his American (it'll be dual) citizenship and I want to have some savings...so it wouldn't be for a few years now.

I didn't just fall in love with my Australian husband....I fell in love with Australia.

Everytime I went there it felt like home and I actually get homesick feelings for Melbourne even though I've lived in California my whole life.

Our original plan was to live there but life happens when your busy making other plans. *sigh* So here we are. We will move when things change....and they will.....it will just take some time. In the meantime this is what we have to do to stay together as a family.

Ok, now I know for a fact that you're wack on crack and deserve a smack.

So enlighten me -- where in the immigration paperwork does it state that I have to stay in the USA forever and ever, amen?

Hmmm....do you have information to sustain what you say here? I guess I am very confused...how would applying for either the K1 or K3 (CR1/IR1) have any impact whatsoever on the process if the plan for the future is to move out of the US in favour of living in the other spouse's country? I realise also your comment that you are not judging...yet you throw out the comments that sound as if you are complaining as well. I guess maybe I need to read something to either prove or disprove this type of thought process. Whether the goal is to move back to the SO's country or stay in the US doesn't have any bearing at all on the amount of time it takes to go through this process. At least to MY way of thinking.

As for me and my husband...I much prefer to live in Canada and so does my daughter. I would have emigrated there instead of going through this hellacious process of US Immigration. He came here for me and my daughter since I could not leave the US *with* my daughter due to the unfortunate joint custody I am forced to endure with her biological father. He would not give permission for us to emigrate even with the very generous visitation schedule, even though he is not active in her life So, the choice for us was a no brainer. We did what we had to do to be together, and we are doing what we have to do here in the US for the time being. ONCE joint custody is fulfilled we are moving. Nova Scotia is more home for me than where I am at the moment. I have no family here, my parents are gone, I have no one. The only family I do have is back home in my husband's province.

I am sorry you feel the way you do. I'm glad you and your wife plan on staying here for the rest of your lives. I feel that to imply those of us who plan on leaving the US at some point are in some way responsible for slowing down the process is complete and utter hogwash.

Of course, as always, this is only MY opinion.

I think his argument only makes a tiny bit of sense for serial reapplicants. However, I doubt that is any significant number of applications, not enough to cause real backlog. Most sane people only want to go through this process once, therefore staying until citizenship is the smart thing to do.

I think also that his argument holds less water when you consider most reapplicants he is referring to would be filing DCF where available to come back and there would be no applications though CSC, for example.

What I was referring to was those who have no intentions of staying in the U.S. There were a couple of posters who said they plan on moving back immeadiately to their country of origin so, I guess, they are here primariliy for dual citizenship. To me, if one has no intentions of staying in the first place (and especially for the minority who doesn't like the U.S. and would talk bad about it) if they would decide before applying here that they want to live abroad, then why not pursue that route? I understand people immigrate to the U.S. for different reasons (financial/family/etc), but for those who are planning to come and immeadiately return, by them applying in the first place, they are in turn creating backlog, right?

I know things change and some who plan on living here decide to move back. It seems to me, though, that for the minority who want to "immeadiately" move back home, they don't want to be here in the first place and maybe it would be more beneficial to them and to those who want to stay here for the forseeable future to just have their SO apply for citizenship where they want to live. Again, I know this is a minority, but most are aware of the backlog for naturalization applications and every bit helps.

I would be very disappointed if we jumped through all these hoops for him to immediately go back. Luckily, hubby gets more and more fed up with who/what he left behind and says he's not even sure he wants to go back and visit.

I would hope he wouldn't immeadiately go back without you.

We haven't been back in almost 2 years. Nothing immediate going on here.

In my case, I can't. Germany doesn't allow dual citizenship for PR wishing to naturalize. There are very, very few exceptions to this rule and none apply to me. I would consider it, but I would have to live in the country for such a substantially long time that it no longer makes that much sense to keep it. It is a committment I am reluctant to make, but then German PR is a cakewalk for spouses of citizens, so I really don't care unless there are massive changes to the law.

I think if no one wanted to be here, they wouldn't bother. However, doesn't mean where you came from was something you closed the door on ever going back to. That may not be forever either. Uncertainty is the name of the game for some people married to foreign spouses. In anycase, makes more sense to make things as easy on yourself as possible and just go through this whole process once and be done with it.

We're pretty comfortable here, but we know we'll move back someday - probably in the next few years.

Abdalla and i have had a lot of conversations about this, and at first i was dead against moving to Egypt...until i went to see him, i fell madly in love with Alexandria and the Egyptian people. We have decided that once he comes here we can save enough money to buy a flat and rent it out until we decide to move back...i would really like to raise my children in Alexandria

My husband has told me many times that nothing could entice him to ever live in Canada again. I lived there with him for 7 years, so I can say that I have experienced it and that was enough for me (I hate snow!)

Isn't it interesting, all the votes for moving back home!

We both love India and want to return someday to live, maybe in 10 years or so. We are trying to earn and save as much as possible and not get any debts, to make that a reality. He can get US Citizenship then get an OCI card which would allow him to live in either country indefinitely. And I could get a PIO card which would allow me to keep my US Citizenship and still live permanently in India.

Well, as I think 'forever' is a long time, I didn't vote... However, if I really had to choose now, I'd go for 'stay in the US forever'. When I leave (hopefully soon...), it will be to make a new life for myself and my husband (the USC), and if I stayed here in Italy I would always have to deal with the weight of some bad memories. Though I have a home, a job and other property, and getting here would be much easier for my fiancé than it is for me to move to the US, the current situation in Italy is not good at all. He would probably find no job, unless he wanted to work under the table and risk his life every day, since he doesn't speak Italian, and at 39 he would be considered too old for the Italian job market. Since he has got three children from his previous marriage, to whom he has to pay child support, without a job it would mean either not to pay (and therefore never be able to go back to the US), or ask me to support them (which wouldn't be possible for a number of reasons). On the other hand, he's got lots of opportunities in the US, and I would be able to find a new career for myself much more easily than he would here.

As to going back to Italy sometimes.. well, at my age (47) I would never be able to find another job, after I resign from mine after a period of unpaid leave of absence. Moreover, I really have no ties here - my parents are both dead, I am estranged from my only brother, and I have very few friends. My job doesn't give me any satisfaction either, so I don't really have a lot to lose. I've already lived abroad (in Finland) for a number of years, and I am very adaptable, as well as having no language problems. This means I'll do my best to make my home in the US.... I'll miss my home town of Rome, but very little else.

Ouch. 39 isn't even old. If you retired at 67, you would still have 28 years left to work. 28 years is a long time to be aged out of the market.