Job offer but need to relocate

[Lovemad 7]

Hi everyone, I arrived in the US at the end of May and took a month long vacation with hubby before beginning my job search in early July. I have applied for a variety of positions including some leadership development programs for graduates. I am happy to say that I have a job offer for such a program and I start in September. What is stopping me from accepting this position is the fact that I need to relocate for several months for training and upon completion of training I could be posted anywhere in the US. My husband and I have only recently been reunited and I don't want to have to leave. He keeps telling me that although he will miss me that I should accept this job, as I do not have any other offers at this time because he says it will be good for my career. But I just can't bear the thought of being apart from him. We are currently living on savings from my job in the UK and I am eager to start working as soon as I can and I keep telling him that we should wait a while because I have had some interviews and may be able to find a job in the town where we currently stay.

I don't what implications this would have for my permanent residence status as I arrived in the US on an IR-1 visa. My husband will be going into his final year of grad school and the plan would be for him to come and join me wherever I am posted after he graduates, if I accept this offer. Does anyone know if living apart from one's spouse for a period of time could result in revocation of their immigration status and/or could prove problematic if one decides to naturalize in the future.

Thanks and any advice would be appreciated.

[Mela17 36]

Hi everyone, I arrived in the US at the end of May and took a month long vacation with hubby before beginning my job search in early July. I have applied for a variety of positions including some leadership development programs for graduates. I am happy to say that I have a job offer for such a program and I start in September. What is stopping me from accepting this position is the fact that I need to relocate for several months for training and upon completion of training I could be posted anywhere in the US. My husband and I have only recently been reunited and I don't want to have to leave. He keeps telling me that although he will miss me that I should accept this job, as I do not have any other offers at this time because he says it will be good for my career. But I just can't bear the thought of being apart from him. We are currently living on savings from my job in the UK and I am eager to start working as soon as I can and I keep telling him that we should wait a while because I have had some interviews and may be able to find a job in the town where we currently stay.

I don't what implications this would have for my permanent residence status as I arrived in the US on an IR-1 visa. My husband will be going into his final year of grad school and the plan would be for him to come and join me wherever I am posted after he graduates, if I accept this offer. Does anyone know if living apart from one's spouse for a period of time could result in revocation of their immigration status and/or could prove problematic if one decides to naturalize in the future.

Thanks and any advice would be appreciated.

Hi Lovemad,

You mention you're living on savings in your post, so I would personally make my choice based on how much savings I have. If you don't have any worries money wise for a number of months I would continue to go on interviews to see if you can get a position closer to home. It's still early in August so it's entirely possible you could get another job offer before this one starts in September.

Many people relocate away from their spouses for a short period of time for work/school so I don't think it will be that big of a deal. The main thing is that you document your relationship in any way that you can, of course you already know this.

In my opinion, if you do take this job, it could easily be explained in the interview that you and your spouse wanted to relocate anyway and taking this offer was a way to go about doing that.

Best of luck.

[Darnell 8,478]

IR-1? USCIS doesn't mess with you until you apply for Citizenship.

[Owen_London 65]

Hi everyone, I arrived in the US at the end of May and took a month long vacation with hubby before beginning my job search in early July. I have applied for a variety of positions including some leadership development programs for graduates. I am happy to say that I have a job offer for such a program and I start in September. What is stopping me from accepting this position is the fact that I need to relocate for several months for training and upon completion of training I could be posted anywhere in the US. My husband and I have only recently been reunited and I don't want to have to leave. He keeps telling me that although he will miss me that I should accept this job, as I do not have any other offers at this time because he says it will be good for my career. But I just can't bear the thought of being apart from him. We are currently living on savings from my job in the UK and I am eager to start working as soon as I can and I keep telling him that we should wait a while because I have had some interviews and may be able to find a job in the town where we currently stay.

I don't what implications this would have for my permanent residence status as I arrived in the US on an IR-1 visa. My husband will be going into his final year of grad school and the plan would be for him to come and join me wherever I am posted after he graduates, if I accept this offer. Does anyone know if living apart from one's spouse for a period of time could result in revocation of their immigration status and/or could prove problematic if one decides to naturalize in the future.

Thanks and any advice would be appreciated.

First up, a question: Are you definitely on IR-1, not CR-1 visa? For an IR-1 visa, you need to be married for over two years, and your timeline looks like you entered the US just before that. If you have a CR-1 visa, you will need to remove conditions from your green card after two years of residency.

Second, if you can justify needing to live apart on the basis of study and employment, then USCIS are usually pretty understanding, as long as you have other evidence of a bona fide marriage, including mingling of finances. This question comes up fairly often on VJ.

Good luck.

[Lovemad 7]

First up, a question: Are you definitely on IR-1, not CR-1 visa? For an IR-1 visa, you need to be married for over two years, and your timeline looks like you entered the US just before that. If you have a CR-1 visa, you will need to remove conditions from your green card after two years of residency.

Second, if you can justify needing to live apart on the basis of study and employment, then USCIS are usually pretty understanding, as long as you have other evidence of a bona fide marriage, including mingling of finances. This question comes up fairly often on VJ.

Good luck.

Thanks for your reply. I am definitely on an IR-1, as our marriage was on July 7, 2010, and my GC is valid for the next 10 years. I understand why you ask though, as my POE date was May 30, 2013. We do have a joint account and other evidence of a bona fide marriage, so hopefully it should be alright if I accepted this offer.

[Lovemad 7]

Hi Lovemad,

You mention you're living on savings in your post, so I would personally make my choice based on how much savings I have. If you don't have any worries money wise for a number of months I would continue to go on interviews to see if you can get a position closer to home. It's still early in August so it's entirely possible you could get another job offer before this one starts in September.

Many people relocate away from their spouses for a short period of time for work/school so I don't think it will be that big of a deal. The main thing is that you document your relationship in any way that you can, of course you already know this.

In my opinion, if you do take this job, it could easily be explained in the interview that you and your spouse wanted to relocate anyway and taking this offer was a way to go about doing that.

Best of luck.

Thanks for your reply Mela17. I have gone ahead and accepted the job offer (as yesterday was the last date it would still stand) but the effective date of the contract is not until late September. So in the meantime, I will continue to apply for jobs closer to home and hope that I get some more interviews. I have managed to find a job at a bank in our hometown, however this is only on a part-time basis, so I need to keep looking.