JCUSN

I dont think youre getting it quite yet based on that question...

She filed. Paid her fee. The ball is now rolling. No ones using words like withdraw and pay again. We are talking - convert to a waiver on an application already paid for in progress. Its done quite often.

FYI there are tons of threads in this forum with similar titles. Your situation is not as unique as you think it is. Youll find different advice in each one because everyone is at different steps and the questions are being posed by different people. (immigrant/USC) Usually its not in the immigrants best interest to continue with a joint petition if the marriage is on the rocks and have the USC come to the interview because they can sabotage it. So many switch to waiver and divorce. Some dont. Only you and she truly know the status of the relationship- the level of trust and how close to divorce or reconciliation you are.

(dont take it too personally if she chooses a waiver and divorce to protect herself immigration wise. Something caused the breakdown and her moving out. She would be placing a huge amount of trust in you in letting you attend the joint interview)

So at this point she needs to just let the petition be. IF it gets approved- fine. You did nothing wrong.

IF an interview is scheduled a decision needs to be made. Are you going joint or is she switching and you guys are divorcing? She can notify them in the interview she will be switching to a waiver OR she can notify them NOW via a letter of her intent to switch if you file divorce papers. She can do this before an interview is scheduled.

OR if you choose you can write a letter withdrawing support from the joint application which will force them to convert her to a waiver filing.

Bottom line -There are no more fees. A 'waiver' is not an official form you can download- in this case its just a request in the form of a letter (if youre submitting it in writing, or a verbal statement in the interview statement under oath asking to change the tic box on the form you already submitted from joint petition to 'waiver petition'. Its not that complicated. Dont over think it.

Here is the memo. As usual with USCIS its wordy. If theres part you dont understand or how it applies to your specific scenario dont be afraid to post back. Encourage your wife to join the forums as well- as this effects her more then you.

http://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Laws/Memoranda/Static_Files_Memoranda/2009/i-751_Filed_%20Prior_Termination_3apr09.pdf

This REALLY cleared everything up for me. Thank you SOOOOOO MUCH!

There are many topics on this. There is also a USCIS memo regarding this issue. I can try to find it if you cant locate it in the forums.

First, you keep saying 'we' alot. Its cute, but its really her application.

Since she filed jointly if she gets an interview YOU BOTH HAVE TO ATTEND or she will be denied. So thats number one. Number 2, you are quite certain her interview will be coming up shortly. Are you psychic? Not a joke. Depending on where you are it can be a loooong wait. People in the CA area have been waiting for 2-3 YEARS now due to lets say...mmm other current immigration issues that have taken priority. Meanwhile other parts of the country are running smoothly and ROCs are getting processed in a timely fashion.

Your profile does not say where you are- so lets hope youre in a good location.

So going back- joint application- joint interview. You both attend. Its fine if you go and tell the truth that you are not having the best of time right now. As long as you have not LEGALLY separated (filed forms ie separation agreement) started divorce proceedings and YOU the USC are not withdrawing support of the joint application they can still approve it.

As other have said its based on a bonafide marriage- that means REAL marriage- not a happy marriage- a real marriage and real marriages have ups and downs.

If YOU the USC choose to not attend or to attend and withdraw support the the MRS will be forced over to a waiver filing where she will need to submit the divorce decree. The officer will give her the option in the interview (or should give her that option) if she would like to continue with the joint petition or switch to her own. If divorce is not happening then she shouldnt switch. If she switches she needs a final divorce decree to get approved. Depending on your state it can take a while to obtain that.

A lawyer can not do anything for you as they can not speak for you in the interview. They can only file forms. So until you know what forms you want to file (ie switching to a waiver because you are going to divorce) you dont need one. Even then you dont need one. Well you may need one to get divorced lol. But then it becomes her form, her solo interview.

Is all that clear?

Thank you for this reply, and thank you everyone else as well!

Just a quick question on this...so if we divorce, she does NOT have to withdraw her application and totally submit a new one and pay all the fees again? She only has to submit a waiver?

Also, I PM'd you in regards to which memo you are referencing from USCIS.

Thanks again!

Hi, everyone. I posted this in the AOS forum, and someone recommended I post here. Sorry about that.

Anyway, my wife and I submitted paperwork for her 10-year green card back in December and we received notice back from the USCIS they received it. Since then, we had a HUGE falling out. She has moved out of our home and got her own place.

Here is the issue. We want to work on our marriage and we are going to attend marriage counseling together. If she gets called in for an interview, what is she supposed to say? She can't say we are living together still, because that's lying. Will they just automatically deny her and revoke her green card and work authorization here? She has a great job. Our paperwork has tons of pics, family pics (with my family), vacation pics, shared phone bills, shared credit cards, life insurance, etc.

The two of us have wondered if it would be better for us to divorce, and for her to then refile. But we don't want to divorce now, just for immigration, then get remarried later when we work things out (hopefully). Should we do that and just divorce now or is that a bit extreme?

Any guidance is sincerely appreciated. Thank you all!

My wife is convinced she needs an attorney for this matter, and I think it's crazy to drop $3000 for an attorney for this. That's a lot of money. Apparently, attorneys are telling her she will definitely need an attorney and they can help her.

Agree that it is very, very rare to interview for removing conditions.

hi

she won't have an interview unless they consider the marriage is a fraud, if not enough evidence was sent they can request additional evidence or directly request an interview for both of you

most of the time they send the card in the mail if everything is ok

try to make things work, if not, and you divorce, she will have to reflie as divorced

So then would all of you agree that it should be safe for she and I to just wait for the process to run its course, and she will more than likely receive her 10-year green card without the need for an interview? We sent plenty of pics together, family pics (her with my family), shared phone bills, shared credit cards, proof she's my beneficiary for my military life insurance (i'm active duty), and so on.

Also, if an interview IS requested...what are our options then? We don't want to lie to them, but we also don't want to risk her getting denied, and then she ends up getting sent back to England and we don't get the opportunity to save our marriage.

Thanks again for the replies!

Hi, everyone.

I'm in a weird situation here and need some help. My wife filed for her removal of conditions back in December, and received notice back from USCIS.

However, in January, we had a HUGE falling out and she has moved out and gotten her own place. She and I still speak, and we are working to rebuild our relationship through counseling.

Here's the issue...I'm sure it won't be much longer until she gets her appointment for the interview. When she goes in, she obviously can't say she and I are still together, because we are currently separated. If she says that, she'd be lying...and surely they would find out.

We don't know what to do. We have considered filing for a divorce, and then entirely refiling for removal of conditions, but we don't want to just divorce each other for immigration purposed, only to remarry later after we have worked things out through counseling (hopefully).

Can anyone give any guidance on what to do? :/

My wife received her green card back in February. The process went very nice and smooth, and everything happened quickly filing with our local office in Jacksonville:)

Now, her employment authorization card expires in January. Since she has her green card, does she need to apply for the employment authorization card again? Does her green card authorize her to work? Will she have to reapply for her employment authorization every year?

Thanks in advance for your help!

There is absolutely nothing to hide in our Facebooks. Actually, our lawyer has NEVER even seen our Facebook accounts. This is just something he recommends all his clients, he says. I thought it seemed a bit extreme.

My lawyer said that my wife and I should ENTIRELY delete Facebook. Not just deactivate our accounts or make them super-private, but entirely delete it. It seems our lawyer thinks the government will dig into our Facebook (even though they are deactivated and/or set to private), and use the information in our Facebook against us. We don't have anything incriminating in our Facebooks, however. Neither my wife, nor I, want to delete it entirely and lose all our connection to old friends. Do any of you really see this as necessary? We want to just make our profiles private, or deactivate our Facebook for a temporary period.

Thanks!

Thank you all SO MUCH for your replies. I've totally wasted thousands on this worthless attorney. I can't believe it.

Now I'm just worried about that "no appeal" thing. I can't imagine them saying no and forcing us to be apart from each other for our whole lives:/

The lawyer has not filed the documents yet, and I honestly do not know why. It blows my mind. It seems like there is SUCH a slow turn-around time with anything I email over to them, or call them about. No idea what I'm paying them for, to be honest.

I'm happy to hear that the attorney was not wrong, however. VERY happy to hear that. Will the fact that she is currently in overstay make her application be reviewed negatively?

Thanks for your replies!

My wife came to visit me from the UK back in June, on the visa waiver program. She was only my GIRLFRIEND when she came to visit.

As the time for her to leave came closer, I decided to ask her to marry me. She said yes:)

We called an immigration attorney because we didn't know about the immigration process for my new wife. The lawyer advised for her stay here in the US with me, as long as we were officially married before her 90 expiration. We were married a week before her 90-day expiration time.

Since then, we have been collecting countless documents, so that we can send her application in. I've got Vonage phone records, Skype messages/screenshots, pictures of she and I with my family, pictures from our wedding, certified copies of divorce decree from previous marriage, certified copies of previous marriage license, certified copies of my wife and I's marriage license, and countless other information validating the authenticity of our marriage. I've got letters from our roommate that lives with us, as well as letters from both sets of parents...and so on.

My lawyer seems to never reply to my emails, and when they do, it's to threaten us that they will start charging for time if we keep emailing or calling them. I've already paid them a couple thousand dollars. This is getting ridiculous. My wife is sitting here, still unable to work or even get a driver's license, and we just want to submit her paperwork to immigration and quit waiting around.

Should I just drop the attorney and submit everything myself? I feel this attorney is FANTASTIC at their job, but just isn't the best on the business side of things. Was my attorney wrong in saying to go ahead and get married, and have my wife stay and we can submit the paperwork ever after her 90-day expiration?

Please help...I'm just stressed about it all, and I want to get the ball rolling.

After telling her all of this, she's just sticking with the ESTA and 90 days.

Thanks a LOT for all your help, guys. I really appreciate it:)

If she has sufficient funds, that's definitely a good start. Her difficulty could be proving ties to the UK, since she won't have a job to return to, and no property. If she gets a leave of absence, I'd recommend having her employer write a letter stating that.

She can still legally use the VWP after a visa denial if ESTA is approved.

Is ESTA commonly approved after a Tourist Visa denial? I'd hate for her to be in a position where she can ONLY travel with a visa because her ESTA is denied.

I did not know that Uk banks offered their employees 5 months of paid vacation.....or maybe they don't....if she has been camping out in the US on the VWP for 2-3 months at a time, our border officials will wonder what sort of job she really has....after all, who gets to work 25% of the year for a full salary? (just our Congress!)...I suspect she will have a hard time explaining this plan with a straight face....

She's not getting 5 months of paid vacation at all. She's taking a leave of absence from her work, or she's also considering quitting entirely. She hasn't visited for 2-3 months at a time! She's only stayed for 8 days each time she's been here. She's visited 3 times.

She's planning on staying longer than 90 days. She plans on staying 4-5 months. She has plenty of money to cover the costs of the trip, and she'll just be staying with me for her lodging. Will I need to write a letter on her behalf stating that, or would that look bad?

Is the fact that all her friends and family are in the UK good enough? She doesn't own any property.

Wow...so because she asks to stay in the USA for longer, and is denied, she can't just return for visits like she previously and legally did on her ESTA?

A close friend of mine is wanting to come visit me in the US for several months. She's been here to the USA 3 times before, but this time she wants to stay and see a load of sights instead of traveling back and forth.

She works for the Royal Bank of Scotland, she's 24, still lives at home, and has visited the USA 3 times already. She has no criminal past or anything remotely close to that at all.

Will this be really challenging to be approved? Will she need a detailed itinerary of all the places we're going to go?

Also, if she is denied the visitor visa...will she still be able to visit with her ESTA under the VWP?

Thanks in advance for your help, everyone! Cheers!

Ah, that explains some things then.

You are doing the same thing I did when I first fell for a "furriner" . That is trying to figure out how to be together without tying the knot. Unfortunately, there really is no such thing as far as US immigration goes.

Sounds like she has a really good job over there. It's possible she could find an employer over here to sponsor her so that's something the two of you can investigate. The US isn't short though of finance people without work. So check it out, but be realistic.

I don't know how much more time you have before you get out, but it sounds to me like the two of you should just tough it out and get through the LDR until you are free of your obligations. You can both continue to travel back and forth in the meanwhile. Don't overlook the possibility of you moving over there, instead of her moving to the US. If she has an established career in the UK, you could have a very comfortable life over there. Because there really is life after the separation, a couple should carefully consider which country will give them the most fulfilling life. Not the quickest way to be together.

Rebecca...I appreciate your input. I really do. Thanks!

Another work possibility for her is tutoring and/or teaching. Her degree is in English (although she works in Finance), and she used to tutor for an agency in the UK. She did very well with the tutoring, and she's got great recommendations. That's another avenue we're exploring for her. I know that there are visas for teachers specifically...and even if not, she could always apply for work as a tutor/teacher and get a work permit that way.

Are you in the military and cannot move?

If you aren't, I can't understand why you wouldn't mind relocating 4 hours away. Since she's relocating from about 4000 miles away.

Yes, I am in the military, and moving is not an option for me:/

The obvious way is to get an internal transfer:

http://gbm.rbs.com/about-us/our-locations/americas/united-states

That would definitely be the best way, but there is no office close to where I'm currently stationed. The nearest one is Atlanta, and that's over 4 hours away:/

I didn't see anything exact saying that she could apply for work while on B1/2 visa. Is there anywhere that says that exactly?

I like the idea of her being able to come here, search for work, get a job offer...and then go back to file the correct paperwork/do interview. This is a reasonable way to go it about things, right?

Thanks again for everyone's replies and help!

There are no girlfriend visas so yes, if she wanted an employment visa, she'd need an employer to sponsor her. She can come over on the visa waiver program and go to job interviews, but she cannot work and for most work visas, would need to go back home to interview at the US embassy in LOndon.

So she could get a simple 6-month B1/2 tourist visa...come here and apply for jobs and interview, then that employer would have to put in for her work visa and she returns to England for an Embassy interview?

Any idea what sort of employer would for a work visa for a girl with her experience/expertise?

Hey everyone. First, let me say THANKS for even having a forum like this. This is great for those of us that are lost in figuring out this whole "visa thing".

My girlfriend lives in the UK, and she's a Finance Consultant for the Royal Bank of Scotland. She wants to come to America so she can be with me, but we have no idea where to begin. Would she actually have to be hired for a job BEFORE she could come to America? Could she come here on a tourist visa and then apply for a work permit to get for a job? It seems the only way to get a significant other here is to do a K1 or a K3 visa. Surely there must be another route.

Any input?

Thanks in advance!