Pregnant and apart... What to do?

[Andrea&Henry 311]

Former k1 beneficiary here and mom:

Giving birth here in the US plus prenatal care is extremely expensive without health insurance. I know people who came here with k1 visa, married, got pregnant and applied for emergency medicaid to cover the expenses and it was approved.

she is already 3 months pregnant so that gives very little time. The k1 visa takes at least 5 months in very very few cases. The media is 6 to 8 months.

If I were you I would let her give birth in the UK (the baby will be an USC citizen regardless)...Apply for a k1 visa once she is around 5 to 7 months pregnant so by the time she gives and recover (recovery takes 4 to 6 weeks), she will be ready to move, recovered from childbirth and the baby will be old enough to travel (4 to 6 months)...the baby should not travel before 2 months old or at least having the 1st set of vaccines.

unfortunately, planned or not, a pregnancy is not a strong reason for expedite case. In my 5 years as an visajourney member I've seen many cases like yours

[SachaAndIain 10]

I don't know what your work situation is, or how easy it would be for you to get another short term visa to live/work in the UK for six months. Assuming you can do all of that (it's really not that hard, way easier than getting any of the immigrant visas to the US), DO IT!!!. Do it now, or at least start the process now so that you're there and set up long before the baby is born. You'll want to be with them when the baby is born and for the first few months anyway. The earlier the better, because as I'm about to explain, you''ll want to be there for at least six months.

Next step: get married. Doesn't matter if you do it before the baby is born or after, but you'll need to do that before you file anything. The reason you want to do that before you apply is twofold. First, I130 is cheaper and faster than a K1. If you do a K1, you've got to wait at least six months, mine took nine. then, after she moves here, you've got to apply for adjustment of status, and pay another huge amount. You've got to get married within 90 days, then she can't work or do much of anything until the AOS clears and she becomes a permanent resident. My AOS took six months, and I basically sat on my ####### the whole time, very depressing. Second reason is you can do a direct consular filing. DCF for I130 will cost you about half as much as the full K1 process, and take as little as 6 weeks (versus the nearly 18 months total it took me to get my PR). She'll become a permanent resident immediately, and you won't have to deal with the US service centers, only the consulate in London.

The requirements for a DCF are that you must already be married and you must both be living in the UK for 6 months before filing. I found out about this option the day I put my then fiancee (now wife) on a plane back to the US from Sydney to wait out our K1. If I'd learned this 24 hours earlier, I'd have had her stay and do it this way, and if I'd known the K1 and AOS would take as long as they did, I'd have told her to come back. If you were hoping to have a US wedding, have a small ceremony in both countries.

As far as the baby is concerned, you definitely want the kid born in the UK. I think the UK is like Australia, in that if you're born there you're automatically a citizen, if you're born elsewhere you have to do a full immigration application. It's gonna cost us about 3k to get our son his Australian citizenship, but if he'd been born in Australia it would just be a cheap registration of foreign birth to get him US citizenship. Then, as everyone else has pointed out, the NHS is a million times better than having a baby in the US without health cover.

In short, go be with your partner and baby in the UK right now, and then bring them here with a DCF for her and a US passport for the bub.

[N-o-l-a 7,167]

As far as the baby is concerned, you definitely want the kid born in the UK. I think the UK is like Australia, in that if you're born there you're automatically a citizen, if you're born elsewhere you have to do a full immigration application.

The process to do a CRBA is pretty similar to the process to register a UK birth abroad, so no big difference there. It is fairly simple and getting the passport is the exact same procedure as any other Brit who is currently residing abroad.

[N-o-l-a 7,167]

Your baby will have duel citizenship wherever it is born. But if born in the UK he/she will also be able to pass on UK citizenship to his or her future children as well as US citizenship.

This, though. My parents waited until they moved to America to have me and I haven't spent the required time in the UK to pass down citizenship. I don't know if that is a huge deal now that I'm married to a Dane and Brexit has happened, but it is kind of weird when one of your kids is not an EU citizen, but the rest of your family is. Especially weird when several of her grandparents were born in Europe....

Is there a time requirement if you are born there? If there isn't, it is worth it just for this.

[JFH 12,189]

As far as the baby is concerned, you definitely want the kid born in the UK. I think the UK is like Australia, in that if you're born there you're automatically a citizen

Not anymore.

We no longer have jus soli in the UK. One of your parents has to be a UK citizen or permanently settled in the UK for a baby born in the UK to be British.

OP's baby will qualify as the mother is a British citizen but visitors who have babies here have no claim to citizenship.

[SachaAndIain 10]

Not anymore.

We no longer have jus soli in the UK. One of your parents has to be a UK citizen or permanently settled in the UK for a baby born in the UK to be British.

OP's baby will qualify as the mother is a British citizen but visitors who have babies here have no claim to citizenship.

Yeah, that's what I meant, just talking about the difference when born outside the UK to a UK-citizen-parent. As N-o-l-a has pointed out, I was wrong on that score, but the kid still needs to be born in the UK to pass on their UK citizenship to their own kids.

[NikLR 13,220]

Also SachaAndlain, you always had to do the chicago lockbox route. There is no DCF in Oz.

[jjbandero 39]

I don't know what your work situation is, or how easy it would be for you to get another short term visa to live/work in the UK for six months. Assuming you can do all of that (it's really not that hard, way easier than getting any of the immigrant visas to the US), DO IT!!!. Do it now, or at least start the process now so that you're there and set up long before the baby is born. You'll want to be with them when the baby is born and for the first few months anyway. The earlier the better, because as I'm about to explain, you''ll want to be there for at least six months.

Next step: get married. Doesn't matter if you do it before the baby is born or after, but you'll need to do that before you file anything. The reason you want to do that before you apply is twofold. First, I130 is cheaper and faster than a K1. If you do a K1, you've got to wait at least six months, mine took nine. then, after she moves here, you've got to apply for adjustment of status, and pay another huge amount. You've got to get married within 90 days, then she can't work or do much of anything until the AOS clears and she becomes a permanent resident. My AOS took six months, and I basically sat on my ####### the whole time, very depressing. Second reason is you can do a direct consular filing. DCF for I130 will cost you about half as much as the full K1 process, and take as little as 6 weeks (versus the nearly 18 months total it took me to get my PR). She'll become a permanent resident immediately, and you won't have to deal with the US service centers, only the consulate in London.

The requirements for a DCF are that you must already be married and you must both be living in the UK for 6 months before filing. I found out about this option the day I put my then fiancee (now wife) on a plane back to the US from Sydney to wait out our K1. If I'd learned this 24 hours earlier, I'd have had her stay and do it this way, and if I'd known the K1 and AOS would take as long as they did, I'd have told her to come back. If you were hoping to have a US wedding, have a small ceremony in both countries.

As far as the baby is concerned, you definitely want the kid born in the UK. I think the UK is like Australia, in that if you're born there you're automatically a citizen, if you're born elsewhere you have to do a full immigration application. It's gonna cost us about 3k to get our son his Australian citizenship, but if he'd been born in Australia it would just be a cheap registration of foreign birth to get him US citizenship. Then, as everyone else has pointed out, the NHS is a million times better than having a baby in the US without health cover.

In short, go be with your partner and baby in the UK right now, and then bring them here with a DCF for her and a US passport for the bub.

Hi,

I'm just curious about the $3K you quoted for getting your son his Australian citizenship, I thought the current application cost is AUD230 for Form 118? https://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Citi/pathways-processes/Application-fees-forms-and-appeals

Thanks

[jjbandero 39]

I also vote for having the baby in the UK. Pregnancies can be quite unpredictable and going through a stressful immigration process on top of it is unhelpful. My wife was having an uneventful pregnancy (even traveled internationally in her 3rd trimester), but towards the end, her blood pressure spiked and our baby had to be induced in order to protect them both. It is not worth the risk to try and rush through the K1 process. Additionally, even if you were able to get insurance coverage, some doctors will not want to take on a new patient so late in the pregnancy, and finding a doctor with hospital privileges close to you/preferred hospital is another complication you wouldn't want to have to deal with.

Best of luck

[Cathi 5,610]

The $20,000 estimates given here are assuming a normal delivery at around 40 weeks. A pre-term delivery, complications, surgical intervention will ramp those costs up considerably. It's not unheard of for NICU costs of a pre-term baby to go into the six figures.

Also, the six months quoted for the K-1 visa are again assuming all goes well, with no delays, RFEs, etc. As we approach holiday time where government departments will be closed for some days at a time processing will slow down. Mail will also slow down. Embassies will be closed.

Although Delta may allow women to fly in advanced stages (I'm sure that doesn't apply to transatlantic but I work for a different airline so the policy may be different) she would struggle to find travel insurance to cover her for a transatlantic flight whilst 9 months pregnant.

I understand you don't want to be apart. None of us does. That's why each and every one of us is doing this. Many couples have had much longer separations and survived. Women have given birth alone. I was scheduled for brain surgery last year to cure my epilepsy and I had to face that without my husband. You've got yourselves into a pickle but the health and wellbeing of mother and child should be your first priority. The baby will still be able to acquire citizenship if born in the U.K. So what's the rush to get her there? You can come here to be with her for the birth.

I know someone commented on being able to do DCF on a tourist visa but that won't fly at the London embassy. But it would only take 12 weeks for a partner visa for the U.K. So you could consider moving here if you are keen to be together quickly.

My cousin had a baby last year at 22 weeks-a little more than halfway through a pregnancy. The baby(a girl) weighed a little over a pound and spent 8 months in the hospital after birth, most of that time in the NICU. She had 4 open heart surgeries, 2 surgeries on her bowels and several other surgeries. The baby is now 18 months old, she is still on oxygen and a heart and oxygen monitor, she will be disabled the rest of her life. Her hospital expenses are literally in the millions. Both of my boys were 5 weeks premature(emergency c-sections) and even being that far along my first boy was in the NICU for 2 weeks because his lungs were not developed enough(the first few days were touch and go and VERY stressful). That was almost 22 years ago and his hospital bills were easily in the 6 figures back then. I will also add, before I had my 2 sons I had a baby girl who died from SIDS and losing a child is absolutely the worst thing for any parent to endure. Preemies are no joke, and in my opinion, any mother who is willing to fly and put her child at risk for pre-mature birth is just plain stupid.

Edited October 25, 2016 by mimolicious

[JenniferNangel 137]

My cousin had a baby last year at 22 weeks-a little more than halfway through a pregnancy. The baby(a girl) weighed a little over a pound and spent 8 months in the hospital after birth, most of that time in the NICU. She had 4 open heart surgeries, 2 surgeries on her bowels and several other surgeries. The baby is now 18 months old, she is still on oxygen and a heart and oxygen monitor, she will be disabled the rest of her life. Her hospital expenses are literally in the millions. Both of my boys were 5 weeks premature(emergency c-sections) and even being that far along my first boy was in the NICU for 2 weeks because his lungs were not developed enough(the first few days were touch and go and VERY stressful). That was almost 22 years ago and his hospital bills were easily in the 6 figures back then. I will also add, before I had my 2 sons I had a baby girl who died from SIDS and losing a child is absolutely the worst thing for any parent to endure. Preemies are no joke, and in my opinion, any mother who is willing to fly and put her child at risk for pre-mature birth is just plain stupid.

Well for people who haven't had any problems during pregnancy it's completely safe to fly in the last trimester and no child is being put at risk. Not everyone goes into premature labor and since when does flying make people go into labor ??

[mindthegap 2,521]

It is perhaps a somewhat convoluted route, but given your circumstances your desire for speed, I think the below would be quicker than a K-1 fiance visa, and also quicker than filing a regular CR-1 spousal visa.

- Firstly, get married. Doesn't matter where as long as it is legal. FYI: She can come to the US and marry you in the US on the VWP/ ESTA with no issues. Meet in Los Angeles County and have a same day ceremony with no witnesses needed, no waiting requirement and no visits to city hall (confidential license) - ditto for somewhere like Las Vegas if so inclined.

- When she is back in the UK, file for a UK 'family of a settled person' visa https://www.gov.uk/join-family-in-uk which takes 12 weeks. Not sure if there is a premium service available for this.

- You go to the UK and enter on your new visa.

- From the UK, file for a spousal CR-1 via DCF at the US London embassy. The UK six month DCF minimum residency requirement for the US citizen was scrapped a few years ago, and as you would be in the UK legally and not on a tourist visa ( as you cannot do DCF on a tourist visa) then you would be ok to do so reasonably quickly.

As you are currently domiciled in the US, you should have no issues with those aspects of the I-864 or proving intent to re-establish domicile. For a DCF with all your ducks in a row, from initial filing to vis issuance it would be maybe 4 or so months, which you could stretch out to suit your timeline. You do not need to remain in the UK for the entire DCF process either.

- By the time this is all done and the visa issued, she should be nearing time to or have given birth, which she then does in the UK, and then after that she moves to the US with, of course, the child.

The CR-1 visa will be valid for six months from the date of her medical, so should be valid beyond well beyond the anticipated delivery date.

Edited October 25, 2016 by mindthegap

[SachaAndIain 10]

Also SachaAndlain, you always had to do the chicago lockbox route. There is no DCF in Oz.

Information I can find right now varies, but at the time it appeared to be possible. this page says they do it. Maybe they did and now don't?

Hi,

I'm just curious about the $3K you quoted for getting your son his Australian citizenship, I thought the current application cost is AUD230 for Form 118? https://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Citi/pathways-processes/Application-fees-forms-and-appeals

Thanks

Huh. No idea where I pulled that number from, but it's been a while since I looked at it. Possibly confused how much it would cost us to migrate my wife to Australia? Although looking now it looks more like 7k for that.

Anyway, hooray for $230!

[Hypnos 6,576]

For DCF to be an option there needs to be a USCIS field office in that country's embassy.

You can find a list of international USCIS field offices here: https://www.uscis.gov/about-us/find-uscis-office/international-immigration-offices

As you can see, there is no field office in Australia, therefore DCF isn't an option.

[mindthegap 2,521]

For DCF to be an option there needs to be a USCIS field office in that country's embassy.

You can find a list of international USCIS field offices here: https://www.uscis.gov/about-us/find-uscis-office/international-immigration-offices

As you can see, there is no field office in Australia, therefore DCF isn't an option.

Great, but the OP's partner is in the UK, not Australia...