I am marrying a USC in the US in October. She will come to the UK on a Spouse visa after the wedding. We both plan to eventually go back to USA. A couple of Q.s

1. Am i right in thinking she cannot DCF for 2 years ?
2. If so should we start the K3 process now ?
3. If we start the K3 process now, will that cause problems getting her UK spouse visa in October ?

Thank you for a informative forum...

Yes. You cannot do DCF in London until your spouse has received Indefinite Leave to Remain; which is after the original Further Leave to Remain expires (the date on the pretty spousal visa).

You cannot apply for the K-3 until you are married. You can start gathering information, but you cannot actually submit anything until you are legally husband and wife.

Your having a K-3 will not affect her spousal visa in any way. However, after enough time in one country, the visa for the other country will expire. That limit is 90 days for the UK visa, if she's out of the UkKfor 90 days the visa becomes invalid and you will have to apply to Home Office for a new one. The same is true for US visas, although I'm nit sure on how long you can spend out of the country before the visa is invalid.

TO clearify the latter part of what Gwen said, for a US citizen, the visa is good for 6 months. That is on the VWP. Good luck on your journey!

LJ

Actually, the requirement to have ILR in order to DCF is not written in stone it would seem. I arrived in UK on spousal visa 8/05, and filed for a DCF last week (7/4/06).
Although I am awaiting confirmation from London in the mail. my cc has been charged the $190 filing fee by the embassy, which I have been told is indication of acceptance for DCF.
There are also cases of others with 8-9 months of residency that have successfully been accepted for a DCF.
To say we are excited would be an understatement

The missing piece is "when do you plan to move to the US?"

Since you will be living together overseas, you don't face the time urgency that causes most people to want to do a non-resident DCF (which is not available in the UK).

Approx. 9 months before you want to move to the US, your spouse can file I-130 for you in the US and let the case work its way through the Service Center and the NVC. Your USC spouse should plan ahead to protect her US domicile if she will only be temporarily abroad (that definition is quite loose--read up on 'domicile' in the DCF Guide for more info).
9 months should give you ample time to work a case through the 'regular' way in the US.
Don't forget the I-864; study it ahead to know what the USC will need to do to qualify as your Sponsor.

The K-3 process probably does not apply to you. Be sure to read up on the differences between these 2 'spousal' visas.

I don't think that the UK cares what other immigration plans you have.

If you are not planning on coming to the US for several years, your USC would probably qualify at that time to file locally in London (DCF). If that becomes the case, a rule of thumb is to start your US immigration process about 6 months before your intended move.

Everyone here has been given you good advise...

And as someone said before, to be able to DCF you do not necessarily have to have ILR... I am on definite leave to remain and we were approved a month ago...

Good luck on your journey...

According to the Embassy, the USC has to be "resident" in the UK. It has been commonly held that this is ILR; however, I would imagine that if you had evidence you didn't just come over here to file for the faster route, they'd let your application through!

That's a good theory....

DCF can be quite quick, had we not put it on stand by for a few months, we would have had our Visa in less than 6 months...

Thanks all for the replies.

My answer to



I dont want to stay here longer than 2 year MAX.

Just one other quick Q. If i start the K3 process just after were married and say i get it in 9 months, is there a time limit for me to use it.

Thanks

Again, please study the K-3---it doesn't sound like the visa you want. The other 'spouse' visa is the Immigrant Visa CR-1/IR-1.

Any of the visas, once issed, will be valid for 6 months, during which time you must travel to the US.