Hi everyone.. once again, I am fairly new here and full of questions. Originally my fiance and I were thinking of going the K1 route, but we think DCF would be better as it will allow us to marry in both Australia (my country) and the US.

Does anyone know what is going on with DCF in Australia? Is it likely to be around for the next 6-12 months? Do you know if there is a required amount of time that he needs to be resident in Australia before we file?

ANY help would be really appreciated! I'm clueless and confused!

hi there
im not sure about DCF thru sydney,but if you try posting in the DOWNUNDER thread,im sure you will find someone who will be a better source
its expat aussies so someone would have taken that route
good luck

G day, Your story is similar to mine. Ok I have started the DCF process I am in Melbourne and my wife is the American. I am just waiting for my medical (on Monday) I already have my police check and affidavits. We chose this route as it seemed the easiest way to go about it. We married in Australia. We were told that you need to to have at least 6 months (that is the non-Australian citizen) on there visa to be regarded as a resident. However, when we told them that my wife had only 3 months left on her student visa they said that was fine. She has since got her Australian residency. We emailed Sydney a lot and they were quick in answering our questions. The process is straight forward. You have your initial interview in which you lodge the I-130 and biographic information sheets. Then they were sent of to Sydney and then a month or so later I got my packet 3 in the mail. So my medical forms and instructions, instructions for police checks, about , well once you have the initial interview about a month maybe a bit less to receive packet 3 then it is really up to you to get all your documents in order. I have been told that I will get my medical results a week from the medical and I received my police check the week after I applied for it so really quick! Sorry if I have confused you! But good luck with it all.

The comment from davidaustralia is great. Listen to him.

On another note though, you can only get legally married once. You can have multiple ceremonies, but you can only sign one marraige license. So as far as the marriage goes, it's actually almost the same option as with K1 visa. With the K1, you could have a ceremony in Australia (either before or after immigration, but be careful with before) but not technically get married and then you'd get technically married in US. With an immigrant visa (CR1 in your case), the legal marriage could take place in either Australia or US but not both.

Forgive me if you already knew all that and I just misunderstood your post!

This has been really helpful. I'm just curious about a few things.. you say your wife only had 3 months left? How long had she already been there? Basically my fiance and I are going to Australia at the end of October.. he will be on a working visa for young Americans that enables him to work for four months, then extend his stay for three months as a tourist (i.e. no work). Do you think this will pass? It sounds like maybe not.. but that is the only way for him to come to Australia and work at the moment.




I didn't actually know that.. I always thought that if we went the K1 route, we would have to only have a "ceremony" in Australia, and the legal part in America. Since we'll already be in Australia, we thought (if we went with K1) it would be good to have a non-binding ceremony in Australia, then get the visa, go to America and do the legal ceremony. Would this be legal? What is the CR1? I am quite clueless and also very confused!

Hello there. You don't seem to be saying anything differently about the K1 than I said. You could have a non-binding ceremony in Australia and then get legally married in the US on the K1. You could also go the US on the K1, get legally married, and then once you have Advanced Parole return to Australia for a non-binding ceremony. Does that make sense?

The CR1 visa is given when the couple has been married less than two years. When you enter the US with it, you will receive a two-year green card.

Okay, that's great, that's what I thought. Thanks so much for your help! I think we'll still try and do the DCF as I don't really want to be apart from him, as we've done so much of that already! I think with K1 there might be some time apart.