what is best?

[viennaspur 0]

Hi everyone,

Here's a little background to my question.

I'm British but living and working in Vienna, Austria and my fiancee is American and living in Texas. We hope to be getting married in America in the summer of 2014. If it's possible, we wouldn't mind living in Europe for a few years before settling in the States but long term we definitely see ourselves in the US.

According to my understanding, it appears we have two main choices. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

1 - I go to America on a normal tourist visa, get married, then come back to Europe with my wife for a few years before then applying for a K3 visa so we can live/work in the US.

2 - i apply for a K1 visa, get married to her in the US and stay there.

I think I read somewhere that, if we go for option 2 then we have to state where we intend to reside. is this true? are we allowed to change our minds at a later date or will that have massive consequences?

Can people please shed some light on what the possible problems might be? Obviously, I'd love this to be as stress free as possible.

Thanks in advance for any answers and advice. I just want to make the best decision possible.

Lloyd (and Jessica).

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

You are always free to move. If you move to another state within the US you just inform them of your change of address. If you leave the country permanently then you can relinquish your Greencard.

[Ryan H 3,813]

Moved from K1 Process & Procedures to What Visa Do I Need - Family Based Immigration forum; OP is considering different visa paths.

[Carla V 43]

The k1 visa and married visas, as cr1... (i think they dont have the k3 one anymore) allowed you to come and live with your wife, make your life in the us... and you have to fullfit certain conditions of residing in the us to keep your legal permanent residence...if you dont plan to live in the us for the moment you can get marry and wait until you both want to settle down here to start any other process.. check the different visas and what each one imply, and which option is the best for your case... hope someone can tell you about the affidavits of support if the petitioner lives outside the country (in case you both decide to live in vienna for a few years) because i'm not properly informed about that part.

[viennaspur 0]

Thanks for all your advice so far. It appears that as of now the CR1/IR1 visa is our favoured option.

One more thing though...when applying for that visa, it appears that my wife would have to be 'domiciled' in the US. surely, after being married to me and living with me in Europe for a few years, it would be impossible for her to be 'domiciled' there. how do they expect her to be 'domiciled' there to sponsor me over? does this mean we'd have to apart for a number of months while the visa goes through or can we await confirmation of the visa approval while both of us are still outside of the US?

It just seems counter-intuitive to ask my wife to be living somewhere in the United States so i can then go and live with her. the whole point of being married is that i don't ever want to be apart from her.

Have i misunderstood something?

Lloyd (and Jessica)

Edited September 3, 2013 by viennaspur

[stevie b 141]

Thanks for all your advice so far. It appears that as of now the CR1/IR1 visa is our favoured option.

One more thing though...when applying for that visa, it appears that my wife would have to be 'domiciled' in the US. surely, after being married to me and living with me in Europe for a few years, it would be impossible for her to be 'domiciled' there. how do they expect her to be 'domiciled' there to sponsor me over? does this mean we'd have to apart for a number of months while the visa goes through or can we await confirmation of the visa approval while both of us are still outside of the US?

It just seems counter-intuitive to ask my wife to be living somewhere in the United States so i can then go and live with her. the whole point of being married is that i don't ever want to be apart from her.

Have i misunderstood something?

Lloyd (and Jessica)

the term you are looking for is establishing intent to domicile.. check out links throughout the guides for this and try an advanced search.. there are many things that fall into this category.. think voter registration, insurance, etc..

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

Thanks for all your advice so far. It appears that as of now the CR1/IR1 visa is our favoured option.

One more thing though...when applying for that visa, it appears that my wife would have to be 'domiciled' in the US. surely, after being married to me and living with me in Europe for a few years, it would be impossible for her to be 'domiciled' there. how do they expect her to be 'domiciled' there to sponsor me over? does this mean we'd have to apart for a number of months while the visa goes through or can we await confirmation of the visa approval while both of us are still outside of the US?

It just seems counter-intuitive to ask my wife to be living somewhere in the United States so i can then go and live with her. the whole point of being married is that i don't ever want to be apart from her.

Have i misunderstood something?

Lloyd (and Jessica)

She can show intent to reestablish domicile instead (which would be evidence of looking for or buying/renting houses or apts, a job or a job offer, etc). If she is claiming "intent to reestablish" then she will need a co-sponsor who is really domiciled in the US for the financial contract (affidavit of support).