Need advice on our situation. AOS from ESTA.

[Abi5000 2]

Hi all,

 

I came on ESTA from Australia on June 20 to meet my boyfriend from the USA for the first time. We have been friends for about 4 years but started dating more recently than that, but this was the first time we ever met in person. 

 

We planned a 3 week road trip which we did and it was awesome, but after that I changed my flight to stay the remainder of the 3 months on my ESTA. Anyway we then decided after that to get married and do AOS. We know it isnt a simple process or a light decision, and we are definitely not rushing our marriage, but when I arrived in the USA my country (Australia) recently locked down again due to covid (not allowing citizens back home) so that was a contributing factor to the case as well and why we decided now is the best time (who knows when we would see each other again if I went home, it would be too hard for both of us). 

 

I just have some questions about the whole process:

 

1) We are not married yet but we are wondering when would be the best time to do so? We are thinking about getting married close to the date of my ESTA expiry (september 17). When would be best?

 

2) We want to have a wedding/elopment with just the two of us first and then a bigger wedding later (when my family can come from Australia to visit too - it would be hard for me to do the wedding with none of my family or friends there) but we don't want that to look weird to USCIS? What do you think? 

 

3) Once we get married, what do I do then? I heard that I will need to file the i130 and another form at the same time? Is that correct? 

 

4) How long is AOS taking for people in our situation? And can someone walk me through the process? 

 

5) We want the AOS process to be as smooth as possible. We are already talking about opening a joint bank account together once we are married to help establish our marriage for USCIS, but we are worried its going to be hard because we are both young and we live with his parents, his brother, and our two dogs. This means we dont have any joint bills or joint lease agreements ect. What else can we be doing now to make the process easier later on? 

 

Thanks to whoever read this post and replied

if anyone is in or has been in a similar situation, please send me a message !

 

[Crazy Cat 41,981]

Read and study the guide below.

 

You can start the process after getting legally married.  Be aware that you will not be able to leave the US or work for 6-10 months after filing the I-485/I-130/I-765/I-131 packages..   Good luck.

 

 

[Lucky2Lucky 2,526]

Also be aware that he will need to be able to financially sponsor you and if he can’t would need a joint sponsor. He should review the income guidelines.