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How long do you need to be back in Australia before you lose your US residency?

Hi guys, thought I'd say hello over here in the Aussie thread!

I'm an Aussie guy, my girl is American. She lives here in Aus with me now. We are getting married here in Australia soon, can't wait.

My girl's father is pretty aged though and she wants to live back in the US for some time because of this. I would be happy just getting a B visa if it lasted a couple of years, but I've heard it's tough to get in a country that offers the VWP like Australia does. Our main goal is to get me a visa that will let me live over there without having to separate while filing for it. So we figured after marriage I would just apply for a normal spouse CR visa and hopefully get a greencard so we can live over there. And that's why I ended up finding these forums, to ask questions and see what's possible! lol

I also read a bit about direct consular filing, but that they have stopped this from happening in Australia? For a while there it seemed like that was a solution for getting a visa while staying together.

Glad to see there's so many people going through similar things out there!

Tough situation to be in. I guess the only option is to pray about it. It's really harsh that your parents forced you into the illegal act of overstaying the visa at age 10. Also it would have been hard to leave at 17 on your own volition, before you turned 18. Pray about it and who knows? I've seen bigger miracles happen..

I'm Australian, just wondering what roads there are for staying with my USC partner after we get married.

Currently she has residency here in Australia and we're living here. In the long term, we would like to live between the two countries.

Anyway, we will be getting married here in Australia, but in the medium term we would like to live in the US.

Before she got her Australian residency, it was tough being apart. I'm sure all you guys have experienced it, prolonged months on the other side of the planet.. that's what we hope we don't have to go through again.

After we get married, I'm wondering if there will be any way for me to get US residency/Green Card without us having to separate. I figured perhaps we could travel to the US with me on the Visa Waiver Program as usual. Then we could file for the CR1 visa while over there. At the end of the VWP we could return to Australia, and stay together until the whole process is finished before moving to live in the US.

Another thing I noticed is that you need tax returns for multiple years? My girl doesn't have a tax return, and has never worked a job- after highschool she moved to Australia, where we have been for years now. I'm guessing this problem is simply solved by a USC co-sponsor? And what if you can't get a USC sponsor.. does your USC partner simply have to return home and get a job? Or can the beneficiary's assets/job history be sufficient?

Thanks for reading.