Best course of action? Aus to USA with different options

[BigBag 0]

Hello, I am a US citizen who is planning on being engaged to an Aus citizen and we are considering multiple options for her to get a US VISA and come over here permanently. I am looking for some advice as to what our best course of action might be. Considering the following options: 

 

1. She comes under an ETSA and we get married and apply for a spousal visa

2. I go over to Australia on a working/tourist visa and we get married and apply for the spousal visa (but I may have to wait there while this is done)

3. She comes here under a student visa (she's already enrolled in an American University and is taking her courses online at the moment)

4. We apply for a K1 (I do not think they are processing them in Australia right now)

5. We wait for interviews to hopefully resume for the 2020 Diversity visa (she got it and has submitted her DS206 in May)

 

Thanks for your help, also is a lawyer necessary? I have read mixed things.

[Boiler 45,663]

1 or 2 mind you I though they were processing 5 as there is a cut off?

[HRQX 4,145]

1 hour ago, BigBag said:

She comes under an ETSA and we get married and apply for a spousal visa

This option is pretty straightforward. But she would need a reason to leave Australia. Some have used the Compassionate and Compelling category:

 

1 hour ago, BigBag said:

We wait for interviews to hopefully resume for the 2020 Diversity visa (she got it and has submitted her DS206 in May)

2020 DV? Fiscal Year 2020 already ended on Sept. 30; so she missed the cut off. DOS has been issuing DV visas since Sept. 4 in order to comply with Court Order. https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-archive-courts-immigration-3c8311f70ec56f9df542d1e8ecbaf118

[BigBag 0]

17 minutes ago, HRQX said:

This option is pretty straightforward. But she would need a reason to leave Australia. Some have used the Compassionate and Compelling category:

 

2020 DV? Fiscal Year 2020 already ended on Sept. 30; so she missed the cut off. DOS has been issuing DV visas since Sept. 4 in order to comply with Court Order. https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-archive-courts-immigration-3c8311f70ec56f9df542d1e8ecbaf118

Sorry I meant 2021. I will edit that.
Yeah we plan on trying for a compassionate and compelling exemption, and that she will have to return to the US to be there for when classes resume for in person. 

[SalishSea 17,928]

1 hour ago, BigBag said:

Hello, I am a US citizen who is planning on being engaged to an Aus citizen and we are considering multiple options for her to get a US VISA and come over here permanently. I am looking for some advice as to what our best course of action might be. Considering the following options: 

 

1. She comes under an ETSA and we get married and apply for a spousal visa

2. I go over to Australia on a working/tourist visa and we get married and apply for the spousal visa (but I may have to wait there while this is done)

3. She comes here under a student visa (she's already enrolled in an American University and is taking her courses online at the moment)

4. We apply for a K1 (I do not think they are processing them in Australia right now)

5. We wait for interviews to hopefully resume for the 2020 Diversity visa (she got it and has submitted her DS206 in May)

 

Thanks for your help, also is a lawyer necessary? I have read mixed things.

Whatever option you choose, she cannot come over as a non-immigrant (ESTA/student) with the intention of marrying and staying to adjust status.  That is immigration fraud.

[HRQX 4,145]

3 hours ago, BigBag said:

and apply for a spousal visa

Just a quick note that you can also start the CR-1 process during her US visit; on I-130 you would select "The beneficiary will not apply for adjustment of status in the United States, but he or she will apply for an immigrant visa abroad at the U.S. Embassy or U.S. Consulate in"

[Ryan H 3,813]

Moved from K1 Process & Procedures to What Visa Do I Need - Family Based Immigration forum.

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

DV will be easiest and cheapest, and quite possibly the fastest to a green card out of all those options too. It won’t require reams of proof of relationship, won’t require an i864, no form filing fees (just the $330 interview fee plus green card fee) and she gets an unconditional green card immediately vs the conditional green card of a new marriage that requires removal of conditions in two years. How high is her case number? 

Edited November 17, 2020 by SusieQQQ

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

On 11/15/2020 at 5:25 PM, Boiler said:

I though they were processing 5 as there is a cut off?

DV is included under the banned visas in the presidential proclamation. Applicants already in the US are able to adjust though. There will likely be bottlenecks when they restart visa interviews at consulates so having a high case number may be a problem (hence why I asked about case number).

[BigBag 0]

19 hours ago, SusieQQQ said:

DV will be easiest and cheapest, and quite possibly the fastest to a green card out of all those options too. It won’t require reams of proof of relationship, won’t require an i864, no form filing fees (just the $330 interview fee plus green card fee) and she gets an unconditional green card immediately vs the conditional green card of a new marriage that requires removal of conditions in two years. How high is her case number? 

30xx. Is that good/bad? Have you heard of any cases where someone's case number was pushed forward?

Edited November 18, 2020 by Ryan H
Reason for edit: to remove personal information

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

^ please edit the last two numbers out (so it’s shown as 30xx), for privacy. That is a pretty high number for OC region* so hmm, it could be risky, unfortunately. There is really no way to know for sure until interviews restart and we can see the pace of them. And no, no-one is pushed forward, there is a monthly cut off for case numbers published each month and you either meet it, or not. 
 

(* just confirming she was also born in Australia and this number is not from a different region?)

Edited November 17, 2020 by SusieQQQ