US Citizen, German Fiancé, both living in Germany

[Travelandlove1112 0]

Hello and thanks for your potential help! Here are the details!

I am a US citizen that has been living in Belgium with an Au Pair visa since last December, the au pair visa dates from March of this year. In August, I met and fell in love with my German boyfriend. I was supposed to fly back to Los Angeles September 9th but moved in with my boyfriend in Germany instead (my Belgian visa is valid until February 2016) We went to the immigration office together in Germany and they said I can stay here for three months on a tourist visa and live with my boyfriend while I look for work, if in the three months I do not find work I can apply for a jobseekers visa for another six months to look for work. We are traveling to Los Angeles in November to visit my family for Thanksgiving for two weeks.

At this point, we want to marry and move to Los Angeles. The question I have is 1) Where should we get married Germany or the US? 2) Should we marry in the US when we are there for two weeks and then come back and apply for the CR-1 here in Germany with the Direct Consular Filing or would that not apply since I am here with a tourist visa/potentially the jobseekers visa? 3) Since I had been living in Belgium for more than six months should we do the direct consular filing in Belgium?

It's all very confusing so any help or direction is greatly appreciated. I am looking for work in Germany but since I do not speak German it has been rather difficult. That is why we wish to move to the United States.

[Ryan H 3,813]

DCF is not available in Belgium. While DCF is available in Germany, certain qualifications must be met in order to be eligible to file utilizing that method. The big ones are you must have been residing in the country for 6 months preceding the date of filing and you must have been doing so on a long-term stay visa or residence permit. Tourist visa extensions do not count and I'm not sure a jobseekers visa would qualify either.

[awaywego 28]

1) A marriage in either country will be recognized by the other.

2) Frankfurt requires six months of German residence, typically shown using the petitioner's Residence Permit (Aufenhaltserlaubnis). This was the only evidence accepted (for someone not stationed by the military or a US company), meaning a residence permit was required.

However, they recently changed the instructions paperwork, and it now states that the petitioner can also use the Residence Registration (Anmeldebestätigung) as evidence of German residence. I don't know whether this means that someone on visas might qualify – provided that person can even register – but it could be worth asking them if you want to go this path.

Another thing to think about: It sounds like you want to get to the States quickly. DCF is generally quickest, but that's when the petitioner already qualifies to file. In your position, it might be worthwhile to compare DCF for you (so including your time to qualification) to the "normal" CR-1 (spouse) process and the K-1 (fiance) process.