US Immigration from New Zealand

I'm married to a USC and started the process to get naturalized.

I submitted my N400 online via USCIS, the portal told me I met the residency duration requirements (3 years), you can apply 3 months prior to the 3 year mark (they call it a grace period). The portal verifies this and blocks you from submitting if you don't meet this time requirement.

I attended my interview today and it went great, got all the civics questions right, breezed through all the questions. But hit a snag at the end of the interview. My filing date was too early by THREE days.

Turns out that its not 3 months, its 90 days, so for months with 31 days you have to wait a few days longer before you file. The USCIS website checks for MONTHS not DAYS, so it let me submit the N400 before I should have been able to.

I am over the 3 year mark now (it was back in June) but because my filing date was too early, my N400 was invalid. I was given the choice of withdraw my application or have it declined. Filing fee wasted, start again.

Not a good day. Now I need to wait for the withdrawal to be processed and then I can apply again. (and wait another 8 months)

Good evening

I am looking at my options for staying in the US in the future.

I am a teacher from New Zealand on a J1 visa. I have been here for 3 years (July 2018), I was granted an extension on the visa earlier this year to stay through June 2023. My visa states 2 year home rule does not apply. My visa is sponsored through a 3rd party company, not my school/employer.

I volunteer for a small nonprofit who would like to sponsor a visa for me once my current visa in up. They do not have experience in this and are still looking at possibilities.

My employer (school) approached me the other day to offer sponsoring a green card. When I asked about what that looks like long term they were unsure exactly what that means in terms of contractual obligations. I have a few questions I hope somebody will be able to answer for me.

1. Is it possible to go straight from a J1 visa to a green card? Or is there another visa step in-between.
2. Is there a length of time I need to stay with the employer? If so, is that decided by my employer, or is there a legal length of time required.
3. If I were to leave the contract early, what does that mean? Would I need to pay my employer back? Am I legally obligated to stay? (If I decided to back to New Zealand?)
4. How long does the process take?
5. Am I able to work in a different field after getting the green card, or does I need to stay in education?

Any other suggestions or advise would be appreciated.

Hi all,

Not my case but asking for a family member.

They have been together a year.
She has been on a 10yr B-1 tourist visa in America for almost 6 months, which is the time allocated to her, her 6 months will expire in October and they plan to marry end of September and file for the marriage CR-1 marriage visa.

She does not want to return to Thailand at the moment due to Covid lockdowns.

The question is, can she stay in the USA while her application is pending.

Hi all!

We just sent our I-129F petition yesterday, and I was wondering how long I should expect to wait to get the NOA1? I'm thinking it'll take about a month. Also how do you get notified? Via the email that was put on the G-1145?

Let me know!

Hi everyone. My wife and I are just starting the application process and very happy to have found this community. I've done a fair amount of searching through the forums, so apologise if these are answered in other places.

Background:

• I was previously working in the US on an H-1B from 2012 - 2017 as a software developer.
• My wife's a US Citizen by birth. We met in the US in 2013.
• We moved to NZ (I was a sponsor for her partner permanent resident visa) and got married in Jan 2019 (2 years, 8 months ago).
• We have one dependent who's 5 months old. Neither of us have been married previously.
• We're keen to return to the US to be near family, and about to start the Green Card application process.
• Neither of us have US income but should have sufficient assets. If not, our family in the US have offered to be a joint sponsor.

I have a few questions:

1. We were just about to buy a house in NZ before deciding to return to the US. If we went through with this (approx. March, when my wife's maternity leave ends) would it have any impact on proving intent to establish domicile? My wife's continued to vote, kept a bank account and credit card open. We both have 401k accounts in the US.
2. Are there any other gotchas around having been previously in the US on an H-1B, then leaving, then applying to return?
3. One option would be to apply for a role with a US company with a NZ office, then transfer internally. I feel like this could be a slower approach, and relies on the company to be willing to do this. It could have the advantage of them covering visa and relo costs. Is this is a common path worth pursuing, or better to go with a more solid plan of sorting out the green card ourselves?
4. Is our case sufficiently simple that we should be able to figure it out ourselves, or should we get in touch with an immigration lawyer?

Thanks for any advice you're willing to give