Should I apply for Adjustment of Status or Not?

[Sweden12 0]

Hello, First time post. First I want to say thanks for all the info from the forum. Its been a great help in my wife's visa process.

I need some advice on what my next move should be. I hope someone can help.

My situation: My wife is from Sweden. Our Fiance K-1 Visa was approved and she arrived in USA yesterday 6-05-13. We were married today and already have our marriage certificate. I have all the paperwork ready to be shipped out for our Adjustment of Status. Here is the issue.

I am a professional hockey player in Sweden, and she has one more year of dental school in Sweden. We both need to leave the U.S and be in Sweden by Sept 1, the latest. Also we will both be out of the USA for 8-9 months.

Should we apply for our AOS, or not? I have form I-131 advance parole, ready to be mailed out with my AOS, but I am not sure if we can be out of the country for that amount of time and it still be applicable. Also I am reading we will also need to be present at an interview sometime before she receives her green card. Has anyone been in this situation? Just need some advice on what my next move should be. We plan to only be in the USA for only 2-4 months a year for the next 3 years. . Should we wait to get her Green Card?

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks everyone for your time.

[Andrea&Henry 311]

If that was your plan I dont know why you applied for a k1 in the first place. Of you guys are going to stay out of the country most of the year, she could enter with her european passport with no problems at all. You cannot file for a residence because she is not gonna live here. If she applies for a GC she cannot be out of the country that long. The maximum period is 6 month and she needs to return to the States. She can live again but if immigration finds out she is not living here, she can get her gc revoked.

[Andrea&Henry 311]

If you planned live here for 2 month for the next 3 years dhe could perfectly enter with her sweden passport as a tourist with no problems. Once you decided to leave here that when you should applied for a k1 visa. Not now!

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

Do you plan to live in the US after the 8 or 9 months are up?

You could apply for AOS in that case and come back to live once it is over. You'd have to manage your mail and see if there were any notices sent to you. The GC would have to be mailed to a US address.

But if your plan was to live abroad, there was no need for a K-1 visa.

[Tygrys 143]

Do you plan to live in the US after the 8 or 9 months are up?

You could apply for AOS in that case and come back to live once it is over. You'd have to manage your mail and see if there were any notices sent to you. The GC would have to be mailed to a US address.

But if your plan was to live abroad, there was no need for a K-1 visa.

OP stated that they plan to be in the US only for 2-4 months for the next 3 years. Not much of a residency...

IMHO, there is no reason to apply for AOS, not to mention that the entire K-1 process appears to have been unnecessary.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

Oh, that fact got lost to me. Yeah, K-1 was pointless. It's only for people who want to stay here.

OP: Make sure your wife leaves before her I-94 expires or she can never use the VWP for visits again.

[Dave&Roza 748]

Hello, First time post. First I want to say thanks for all the info from the forum. Its been a great help in my wife's visa process.

I need some advice on what my next move should be. I hope someone can help.

My situation: My wife is from Sweden. Our Fiance K-1 Visa was approved and she arrived in USA yesterday 6-05-13. We were married today and already have our marriage certificate. I have all the paperwork ready to be shipped out for our Adjustment of Status. Here is the issue.

I am a professional hockey player in Sweden, and she has one more year of dental school in Sweden. We both need to leave the U.S and be in Sweden by Sept 1, the latest. Also we will both be out of the USA for 8-9 months.

Should we apply for our AOS, or not? I have form I-131 advance parole, ready to be mailed out with my AOS, but I am not sure if we can be out of the country for that amount of time and it still be applicable. Also I am reading we will also need to be present at an interview sometime before she receives her green card. Has anyone been in this situation? Just need some advice on what my next move should be. We plan to only be in the USA for only 2-4 months a year for the next 3 years. . Should we wait to get her Green Card?

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks everyone for your time.

It seems a shame you spent all that time and money on the K-1 visa process when you have no intentions of living in the US until 3 years from now. You also took the place of someone else with real use for the K-1. I really wish people would do proper research on what is expected of them once they file the K-1 or the IR-1/CR-1 visas. Both of these are for the fiance(e) or spouse of a USC (or LPR) to come to the US and live their lives as a LPR of the US. For your situation it would be best to return to Sweden as a marreid couple and when you finally decide to live in the US you can see if Sweden allows for DCF or if you need to file for a spousal visa and wait for it to be approved.

Good luck,

Dave

[Sweden12 0]

Thanks for the info.

I thought in order for us to get married inside the U.S, we had to have a Fiance Visa, unless we lied on her entry. So we thought we were doing the right thing.

I called USCIS today and they said I should go ahead with getting her AOS and her Green Card. We plan on living here 2-4 months each summer in our house in MA. I really don't know what I should do. Although thanks for all the advice, its been a great help.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

You don't need a special visa to marry in the US. People marry in Vegas all the time. The K-1 visa is for people who want to marry and immigrate here in one fell swoop.

The people you call at USCIS are called the "misinformation line" around here. If you get her a GC it will just get taken away. You must live in the US to maintain a GC. if you live elsewhere they will take the card away because you abandoned your residency. Don't take advice from the people on the phone.

[Dave&Roza 748]

I called USCIS today and they said I should go ahead with getting her AOS and her Green Card. We plan on living here 2-4 months each summer in our house in MA. I really don't know what I should do. Although thanks for all the advice, its been a great help.

You could maintain your LPR status, but it will not be very easy. You have a perment residence in MA that you will be staying at for about 4 months each year. You file US income taxes. The hard part will be spending more time outside the US over the next few years than inside. This can be done by showing that the job you have requires it and your wife is coming with you . You will have to think like a college student that proves that college residence is temporary and their permentant residence is say their parent's house. But there is the timing issue. Your wife will not receive her GC before you leave in September. Then there is the possibility of an interview that both of you will have to attend. It is doable, but you really need to do your homework on AOS procedures, how to maintain the LPR status, and how extended stays outside the US impact the ability of become a USC if that is also a desire of your wife.

So you can put off filing for AOS and live in Sweden and travel to the home in MA using the VWP. You can file for the GC along with AP and once the advace parole is issued, your wife can then travel and re-enter the US with LPR status. You will have to be deligent in documenting that you are maintaining your residence in MA and plan to live there in the future, but expect to have issues with CBP when arriving in the US after having been outside for so long.

Study up and make the decision that works best for your future plans,

Dave

Edited June 7, 2013 by Dave&Roza

[KayDeeCee 4,893]

Skip AOS and continue to visit here each summer. File for the IR1 spousal visa in 3 years when you are wanting to live in the US permanently.

http://www.uscis.gov/USCIS/Resources/B4en.pdf

[Sweden12 0]

Thanks Jay Kay,

That IR-1 spousal visa looks very interesting. I am going to research it.

Thanks to Dave and Roza as well. It looks like the IR-1 Visa could be the way to go for our situation. I just wish someone told me this before I was told I had to get the K-1 Finace Visa. I should have joined the forum earlier. Thanks for all the help.

[bigdog 376]

Basically if you do not plan in living in US 3/4 of the year you do not need AOS or LPR. You did this much you might as well apply and see if you have enough time to be in US to satisfy the AOS LPR requirements. Of not get married and in two years apply for I130 and you will have a instant green card. The residency requirements still apply. Good Luck what ever you do.

[Neonred 3,468]

I'd say it would be better for her to do AOS and stay in the US. You said she is returning for her last year of dental school, but when you move to the US she will be required to do a couple of more years of schooling in a US dental school program. Would be better to find a program here and have her start those couple of years now.

Just a thought.

[Sweden12 0]

Thanks for the help,

I have been reading a lot of your posts in other forums. I am contacted to work in Sweden for 8 months starting Sept 1st. If I go ahead with the AOS, then there is no way we will be able to make the green card interview. Usually it seems it takes about 4 months after you file. I don't know if my work would be considered a good enough reason to reschedule my wife's appointment. Even so, I doubt I would be able to hold off this interview until Christmas or even later. So it seems if I file I would be putting myself into a tough situation, or even a impossible one. I would love to keep this process going because we have done pretty much all of the work already. I just don't want to spend another $1070 dollars and never get my wife's green card. What would you do?