J-1 visa when already married to US citizen

[DDTD 0]

Hi all,

 

I am from Belgium and married to a US citizen. Recently, I got offered a job in a tech company in California. One option would be to apply for a K-3 visa through my partner. However the processing times are much too long. Another option would be to apply for a J-1 visa. One concern that was raised by someone is that the J-1 visa could be refused since it does not allow for dual intent, and being married to a US citizen might give the impression that I  want to move permanently. Is this a genuine concern, and is there any risk in getting a visa refused it when it comes to future visa applications?

 

All other suggestions to be able to start work as soon as possible are of course also welcome!

[britishandusa 446]

They do not give out K-3 visas anymore. It is obsolete. It is fraud to use a J-1 visa to come to US and adjust since that is not its original intent. Do you want to move to the US? If that is the case, then your spouse must apply for a CR-1 visa which takes 13-15 months to process. 

 

You can ask the employer to sponsor your visa but I don't know anything about that. If you do have a visa denial, you will have to update your ESTA (if you qualify, of course) and you might not be able to use ESTA for a little bit. 

Edited October 11, 2018 by britishandusa

[DDTD 0]

19 minutes ago, britishandusa said:

They do not give out K-3 visas anymore. It is obsolete. It is fraud to use a J-1 visa to come to US and adjust since that is not its original intent. Do you want to move to the US? If that is the case, then your spouse must apply for a CR-1 visa which takes 13-15 months to process. 

 

You can ask the employer to sponsor your visa but I don't know anything about that. If you do have a visa denial, you will have to update your ESTA (if you qualify, of course) and you might not be able to use ESTA for a little bit. 

The intent is not to move to the US permanently.

[geowrian 22,335]

As noted, K-3 is not a viable option anymore.

 

You can use another visa for its intended purpose fine. That said, most NIVs require non-immigrant intent, and being married to a USC is going to make showing non-immigrant intent difficult.

A refused visa in itself is not an issue for another visa, although if you have or apply for an ESTA, it could result in a denial of ESTA privileges for a time.

 

Your best best - if you qualify - may be to try for an H-1B visa. This is a dual-intent visa so being married to a USC won't negatively impact your application. L-1 (intra-compoany transfer) may be possible as well, and is also dual-intent.

Edited October 12, 2018 by geowrian

[SusieQQQ 11,584]

15 hours ago, DDTD said:

The intent is not to move to the US permanently.

Then you shouldn’t be considering a K type visa. Is the job specialized enough for an O visa? I know a few people (including a few Belgians!) here on O visas in tech and they seem to process pretty fast. Might be best in your circumstances, though i don’t know a lot about J visas admittedly. H1Bs are allocated annually via lottery and won’t be either certain or fast.

all that said...the company’s immigration lawyer should actually be the people advising you on this and they will be doing the application. 

Edited October 12, 2018 by SusieQQQ

[DDTD 0]

2 hours ago, SusieQQQ said:

Then you shouldn’t be considering a K type visa. Is the job specialized enough for an O visa? I know a few people (including a few Belgians!) here on O visas in tech and they seem to process pretty fast. Might be best in your circumstances, though i don’t know a lot about J visas admittedly. H1Bs are allocated annually via lottery and won’t be either certain or fast.

all that said...the company’s immigration lawyer should actually be the people advising you on this and they will be doing the application. 

O-1 is indeed another option. I find it hard though to judge if I have a strong enough profile to get one, the job is quite specialized though, I am just finishing my PhD and my publication record is not bad, including some grants and prizes, high grades, etc. There will indeed be an attorney looking into the issue soon but I was curious as to what the options are.

 

[SusieQQQ 11,584]

57 minutes ago, DDTD said:

O-1 is indeed another option. I find it hard though to judge if I have a strong enough profile to get one, the job is quite specialized though, I am just finishing my PhD and my publication record is not bad, including some grants and prizes, high grades, etc. There will indeed be an attorney looking into the issue soon but I was curious as to what the options are.

 

A good attorney should be able to turn that into an O I think - and there is expedited processing available, one of my Belgian friends got his O in something like 3 weeks. Good luck!