Boyfriend Wants to Visit Me From UK, Confused on Procedure?

[jxn 86]

OP, regarding the costs: if you are planning on sponsoring your boyfriend so that he can become a U.S. resident and live stateside with you as your spouse, you will end up paying these fees when you file for Adjustment or Status. I'm not sure if the fiancé visa ends up costing more or just incorporates some of the costs of AoS earlier on, but you would be paying $1,490 in addition to all of the forms and requirements, including having a co-sponsor if you don't make enough money to sponsor him yourself.

[BOS_LHR 829]

Thanks everyone, finally some innovative ideas! I really appreciate this! We've talked over everything you mentioned and have a basic gameplan. A couple questions.

For the spouse visa sponsor income requirements, can my personal savings count towards that? How about the members of his family he lives with?

We're considering having him come to the US for a month to marry with the ESTA thing (the fiance visa sounds stressful costly and a giant waste of time) and have a simple courthouse wedding, saving the "real" one for later with family and such. Can I do this legally?

Finally, if he can prove he'll be returning and has heavy ties to his own country, will he be likely to have an issue getting into the border here in the US because he has a love interest here? Should he mention that we're serious or try to downplay it? (how much info should he reveal)

Thank you!

I'm not sure if you mean a US or a UK spousal visa, now both have been discussed in this thread. So, in the both the US and UK, assets can be used toward the financial requirements, but the requirements are much higher if you use assets rather than income. In the UK I believe something like 62,000 GBP is needed in cash before the annual income requirement is waived. For the US I think it's 3x the federal poverty level for your household size. In the US, a joint sponsor (e.g., family members) can use his/her assets to meet the requirements, but not so in the UK. They don't do joint sponsors there.

You can absolutely get married in the US legally on just the ESTA. If you were to marry in the UK it would require a special visa (easy enough to get, but still), whereas on the US it can be done simply as a regular tourist during the course of a visit.

Don't lie at the border, no matter what. My husband visited the US while we dated and also during visa processing. It's perfectly legal, but do be honest about what you're doing. If they ask who he's staying with, he should say his girlfriend. With adequate ties to home and a clear understanding that he has to return at the end of his scheduled stay, he should be fine. Longer visits are often subject to more scrutiny, so make sure he's well prepared.

[icv21 110]

It's illegal to come to the states with the ESTA with the intention of getting married and STAY.

If you two get married and then he leaves you will have to do a visa process anyways and that one will be longer than a k-1 since you are already married. And ALL of the process will have the requirement of the money. That's why people usually does the k1.... It's the best way and faster I believe, after seeing so many people here with different process.

If the plan is to live in the UK he come come here get married then go back to UK and apply for you as his spouse... But he will need a sponsor????? ( since his YouTube business doesn't make enough ) maybe some family member could also be some good friend, he could even need to sacrifice himself for a while and work doing something he doesn't enjoy that much to be able to have money by himself.

Thanks everyone, finally some innovative ideas! I really appreciate this! We've talked over everything you mentioned and have a basic gameplan. A couple questions.

For the spouse visa sponsor income requirements, can my personal savings count towards that? How about the members of his family he lives with?

We're considering having him come to the US for a month to marry with the ESTA thing (the fiance visa sounds stressful costly and a giant waste of time) and have a simple courthouse wedding, saving the "real" one for later with family and such. Can I do this legally?

Finally, if he can prove he'll be returning and has heavy ties to his own country, will he be likely to have an issue getting into the border here in the US because he has a love interest here? Should he mention that we're serious or try to downplay it? (how much info should he reveal)

Thank you!

It's illegal to come to the states with the ESTA with the intention of getting married and STAY.

If you two get married and then he leaves you will have to do a visa process anyways and that one will be longer than a k-1 since you are already married. And ALL of the process will have the requirement of the money. That's why people usually does the k1.... It's the best way and faster I believe, after seeing so many people here with different process.

If the plan is to live in the UK he come come here get married then go back to UK and apply for you as his spouse... But he will get a sponsor ( since his YouTube business doesn't make enough ) maybe some family member could also be some good friend, he could even sacrifice himself for a while and work doing something he doesn't enjoy that much to be able to have money by himself.

Edited September 16, 2014 by IRIScv

[elmcitymaven 9,711]

Lots of long trips trips to the UK will eventually result in issues.

Yep. An American friend of mine in London was essentially living in the UK, coming in for almost six months, then spending a week in France with her family there, then returning to her long-term partner for another six months. After about 3 years of this, she was deported back to France, since that's where she last came from. Not nice. Luckily they were in their early 30s, this was the later 90s, and her UK boyfriend was absolutely minted. They flew back to the US, got married, and she came in on a spousal visa. Problem fixed.

[DannybearsGirl 0]

We don't intend to have in come here and become a resident. He has actually been taking a job training course under a college designed to help him get work (he has experience, work is just tough to find over there right now,) and he is almost finished with that. Taking a lot of your financial advice into consideration we decided this might be the best course of action.

He doesn't want to come here and waste time not getting a job just to get married and go home, so I looked into the UK fiance visa. On the government website it seems they've done away with that and now have this https://www.gov.uk/join-family-in-uk/overview Which would allow me to go there as a fiance, marry him, and apply to stay for another 6 months. Once married I could apply again to stay longer than that.

He said rather than coming here he's going to get a job as soon as his training ends and I'll continue saving with my crappy call centre job. Once we have saved up enough money for the visa rather than attempting to get into his country so soon after just coming back from there I'll just apply for the visa and hopefully we can get married in England after that, then I'd be allowed to work there too. If he has a job the income requirement would be satisfied for the visa.

Anyone see flaws in our plan or any legal issues we might run into?

I saved my 6 months plane ticket receipt, his family and several people can verify how serious we are about each other, we have pictures of us together and years worth of emails and skype messages to prove our history. We also may still have paypal history from the money we've sent each other over the years. Would this be enough to prove our relationship is substantial?

[elmcitymaven 9,711]

If the plan is to live in the UK he come come here get married then go back to UK and apply for you as his spouse... But he will get a sponsor ( since his YouTube business doesn't make enough ) maybe some family member could also be some good friend, he could even sacrifice himself for a while and work doing something he doesn't enjoy that much to be able to have money by himself.

I think it's been mentioned already in here, but UK immigration doesn't permit joint sponsorship. It really is truly unfair. I know a number of long-term US/UK couples who have been living over in the States for years who can't return together because of the financial support rules.

[icv21 110]

We don't intend to have in come here and become a resident. He has actually been taking a job training course under a college designed to help him get work (he has experience, work is just tough to find over there right now,) and he is almost finished with that. Taking a lot of your financial advice into consideration we decided this might be the best course of action.

He doesn't want to come here and waste time not getting a job just to get married and go home, so I looked into the UK fiance visa. On the government website it seems they've done away with that and now have this https://www.gov.uk/join-family-in-uk/overview Which would allow me to go there as a fiance, marry him, and apply to stay for another 6 months. Once married I could apply again to stay longer than that.

He said rather than coming here he's going to get a job as soon as his training ends and I'll continue saving with my crappy call centre job. Once we have saved up enough money for the visa rather than attempting to get into his country so soon after just coming back from there I'll just apply for the visa and hopefully we can get married in England after that, then I'd be allowed to work there too. If he has a job the income requirement would be satisfied for the visa.

Anyone see flaws in our plan or any legal issues we might run into?

I saved my 6 months plane ticket receipt, his family and several people can verify how serious we are about each other, we have pictures of us together and years worth of emails and skype messages to prove our history. We also may still have paypal history from the money we've sent each other over the years. Would this be enough to prove our relationship is substantial?

I think this is the best decision!!! , get jobs, save as much money as you can and be ready to be together sooner

I did so much traveling because we were knowing each other and because of my husband's job travels so much it was the easy way. ( I will have to spend months alone here in the states now... ) once you know for sure you two want to stay together if you keep traveling its money you are losing some way.

Maybe will take a few months and it's hard to be apart but you two will make it worth!!

I hope you have good luck with all the legal process in the UK. I sadly can't help with that. I'm still trying to figure out everything in the US

I think it's been mentioned already in here, but UK immigration doesn't permit joint sponsorship. It really is truly unfair. I know a number of long-term US/UK couples who have been living over in the States for years who can't return together because of the financial support rules.

Yes sorry I saw it after writing that post and I edited it. Not sure if it showed or not. ( I don't want to create confusion to them )

[Nick&Diane 32]

Finally, if he can prove he'll be returning and has heavy ties to his own country, will he be likely to have an issue getting into the border here in the US because he has a love interest here? Should he mention that we're serious or try to downplay it? (how much info should he reveal)

Thank you!

Never lie to the border guard. But don't get overly talkative either, only answer what you're asked.

I travelled and married my husband in the US on a visa waiver in 2012. I stated that the purpose of my visit was to get married and that I would return to the UK after. I confirmed that I understood that I would not be able to adjust residential status. We married on a two week stay in the US then returned to the UK.

Since my husband returned to live in the US (just over a year ago) I have visited four times, two 2 week trips and two 3 month trips. I have always travelled with proof of our immigration petition/application status and my ties to the UK. I have discussed our immigration plans with the border guard when asked. I haven't had any trouble and have never been invited into secondary processing on the border.

Be polite and demonstrate your thorough understanding of the immigration rules that pertain to your situation.

[Jawaree 717]

You have to compromise, have him visit on vwp, file K1 for

him in the meantime, when he is approved ,U both marry & live here

and aos, by the time he gets GC it'll be 2 yrs or close, then

U both fly to UK have a reception & he obtain additional work

& petition U...since he don't want to live in the US then I guess

he'd abandon his GC...anyway its gonna cost money and a bit

of time away while he travels on the vwp which would be twice for the

yr if he spends all 90 days, and you'd have lived together 2 yrs

[Camelot13 63]

My now husband and I chose the US because the UK immigration is really tough right now. We initially thought about the 2 year partnership visa but that's really meant for people already living together in the country or elsewhere who can prove continuous cohabitation and not for long distance couples flying back and forth. The most important thing for UK immigration is the salary requirement. There's no way around it and no cosponsoship allowed. It also takes 5 years to qualify for citizenship there.

[AnotherLostSoul 167]

@OP: since you want to immigrate to the UK you are better off leaving this site and find a site that is nothing but UK immigration. People here throw around all sorts of informations (and most are very useful!) but clearly, this website provides many good primary information for those who want to immigrate to the US, not the UK. So I think you should find a site that is more "Immigrate the UK dot com".

[DannybearsGirl 0]

We have spent most of the day researching visa requirements, talking about what we're willing to do, and making plans. In a nutshell:

He'll finish his training and get a job. I'll continue working and we'll save up for the UK fiance visa and prepare for a basic wedding ceremony. I at least want a dress and a family gathering of some kind, and we both want rings. Once we've saved for that and the obvious extras of my living there and later visa fees and such, I'll fly over there on the fiance visa (we're aware of the income requirements and have worked this out) and we'll marry. I can then apply for a family of a settle person visa which would allow me to stay in the UK with him for 2 and a half years and repeat until I can settle there and apply for citizenship myself. With this we won't have to spend the extra money to have him come see me until we want to, not because we're forced to for visa requirements. My family is spread out all across the country (grandparents/friends in Oregon, mother in Colorado, friend in Virginia, uncle in Maryland) so I'd rather be able to have him stay here with me when we can spend that kind of money and have family all come to one place to meet him.

Neither of us have any intention of ever living in the US, it's not a matter of compromise, it's what we've both wanted as children. I dreamed of living in England before I even met him (yes I was 10 years old, so what?) and it just so happened I fell for a Brit and made my life a living hell.

Thank you all for your advice and sharing your personal experiences, I'm sorry if I came across harsh, we've been extremely frustrated at the unfairness of this system and on top of that my family still isn't respectful of my decision. We haven't even told them we're getting married yet. If anyone wants to offer advice on THAT landmine, feel free.

Otherwise, it seems we now have a much better understanding of how these things work in the US and the UK, so I feel much better prepared to deal with this in the future. Thanks again!

[Darnell 8,478]

Sorry I didn't say anything, I was still reading. It definitely helped, I'm still wondering though - would it be difficult for him to get in? We don't want to pay that much money for a visa unless we're pretty damn sure it'll happen.

Huh? Economies of scale considered, I think you have financial issues. With those in place, it seems difficult to forecast anything else.

I've given a link, asked you to study the content.

If'n you two actually want to get married, think 'several orders of magnitude' more , in terms o money and finance, for living as a married couple.

[MacUK 983]

on top of that my family still isn't respectful of my decision. We haven't even told them we're getting married yet. If anyone wants to offer advice on THAT landmine, feel free.

That's an easy one, it's your life and if you give up on what you want to keep others happy then you'll always regret it.

My girlfriend gave up her dream of joining the RAF because she felt her family didn't support it and has spent the last 25 years thinking 'What if I had, where would I be?'

You have just one life. Live it for yourself, not for others

[Camelot13 63]

One more thing to keep in mind as you think about the timing of everything. I'm pretty sure your boyfriend will need 6 months of payslips at his job in order to apply for the fiance or spouse visa for you in the UK.

Edited September 17, 2014 by Camelot13