Marriage based green card application times and port of entry restrictions

[Jackie79 1]

Hi,

I'm planning on moving to the USA with my spouse (American Citizen) in April 2018 approx. We would like to know more about the process of filing and being granted my greencard. We've been married for 5 years and both live and work in the UK (I'm a UK citizen).

On a timeline of wanting to leave in April 2018 we have a number of questions:

When should we file the application?

Is there a time limit on entering the US once I've received my card in the UK (I think some of them have a 6 month expiry date on them K1 for example)

Many Thanks,

Claire

[NewBrunswicker 19]

From what I have learned, you would want to apply for an IR-1 visa which would be valid for 10 years since you guys have been married for more than 2 years. Once a visa is issued, you should have up to six months to use it (someone could confirm that it is the same as for CR-1). So to be clear, when you are granted the IR-1 visa, on your very next visit to the US you will use your visa. Timeline wise, if you want to move to the US in April 2018, you should give yourself about a year for the immigration process. However, I recommend being flexible on the month you want to move because it could a little longer.

Good luck

[LionessDeon 2,060]

Have you started reading the guides. They contain quite a bit of info

http://www.visajourney.com/content/compare This one give alot of info in the chart and if you scroll down to "Spousal Visa (1IR/CR1)" and DCF

http://www.visajourney.com/content/i130guide1

http://www.visajourney.com/content/guides

You can review processing times here:

http://www.visajourney.com/content/times

You both live in UK now, DCF may be an option:

http://www.visajourney.com/content/dcf

Edited August 19, 2016 by LionessDeon

[Marrienne 113]

Since you are married for over 2 years you will be getting the IR-1 visa which will give you a 10 year green card.
The visa is valid for 6 months which means you must get in the country within 6 months (there is an expiry date on it)

Now, since you are in the UK and your USC husband is there legally, you can do DCF (Direct Consular Filing). My DCF in Athens, Greece took 5 months 1 day from turning in the first paper to getting the Visas in hand.
It would have taken 2 months had we not have gotten two RFEs.

That said I have read here that London DCF is pretty fast too.
What you can is, start the process of the I-130 which is the first step, then after approval, see what the approximate timeframe for you guys is, and pause it, you have 1 year before you need to start again.
If it takes too long, then resume, if it seems to go really fast, take your time.

Since it is the end of August already, and your visa would be valid for six months, I think you are ok to start.
There is a regional forum full of Londoners who have gone through this so you can get help there too with timeframes!
Best of luck!!

[Jackie79 1]

Hi everyone,

Thank you so much for the detailed information.

Much appreciated.

Have a great weekend

Claire