Cadence

https://www.uscis.gov/green-card/after-green-card-granted/international-travel-permanent-resident#abroad

Forms-wise it looks like you need an approved I-131, and then when you're overseas, apply for SB-1 (returning resident visa) at a US embassy or consulate. You file n-470 if you want to not "lose" residency time for the purposes of obtaining citizenship, but it's not what you need to be able to re-enter the country. 

How soon does your company want you to leave? Can it wait for your biometrics appointment? Is your spouse planning on keeping track of your appointment notices from USCIS? What if you get an interview, will you be prepared to travel back to the US on time for that?

No, K-1s would send an I-129 (a petition for the same purpose of I-130, but establishing intent to get married as fiance and ongoing relationship instead of marriage and ongoing marriage) and for people who've never filed anything with USCIS before would not have an A number. That's fine. 

The I-485 means nothing unless there is an immigrant petition (such as I-130 for a family member) establishing eligibility to receive a green card. It's like saying, why is she applying to be a green card holder when she hasn't established proof of why she's eligible to do so? What makes her eligible is the I-130 proving her relationship to you as a married couple. That's why you need to either send the I-130 first, or file them together as most people do. 

If she doesn't have a SSN or A-number, that's fine to leave it blank. She'll get an A-number when they process her case. 

It can take an average of 6-8 months to complete. There have been cases here where it takes as short as 2-3 months, and some where it's still pending after 2 years. If you file i-130 and I-485 concurrently (you don't have to file I-130 and I-485 separately) and USCIS receives the case, she enters a period of authorized stay until her case is either accepted or denied.

Reprint and resend with new fees.

http://www.visajourney.com/content/times/

Check out the data there. You can also read people's timeline to see what's been going on with them in their signatures. 

Was schooling the reason why you guys lived apart? Do you guys live together now?

How about your bona fide evidence such as joint documents? Did you have a lot of those?

I hope you get an update soon. Why didn't you guys prepare as well as you guys could have? Even without the preparation, some of the questions such as what your degree is and what you're volunteering in seem to be information that would have been talked about in your day-to-day lives as a couple in some form or another. What went wrong?

Hey VJers,

My sister is looking for clarification and hoping you could help her. She has a job offer and is looking to apply for a green card through it. She is currently in the U.S. She is unsure of where to start and is getting very confused about H1b, visas, and priority dates. 

From what I can understand based on this page: https://www.uscis.gov/green-card/green-card-through-job/green-card-through-job-offer , she just needs:

1. Approved I-140 filed by employer

2. Priority date to become "current" for a visa from the visa bulletin

3. Apply for i-485 on the basis of approved i-140 and current priority date making a visa available to her

I told her she doesn't need to worry about H1b because that's for people outside the U.S. wanting to enter the country for work and she's already in the country. 

Would someone please verify if I'm understanding the process correctly and am telling the correct information to her?

When you choose to file and get married don't matter, don't worry about that part.

I'm not 100% sure what you'll need to show to prove it either, to be honest with you. All that you can gather of bona fide between you and your current fiance is a given of course, no matter how small or ridiculous. Every single documentation you have with both your names on it, grab. Since you're here on a VWP, you might not have planned to be on a lease. Get on that ASAP. Health insurance, car insurance, bills. No, you don't have to show them your explicit pictures, you can exclude those. Affidavits from friends? Family? Pictures with his family members from holidays? Trips together?  You don't have to authorize them to interview your former husband, but an affidavit from him perhaps explaining the relationship between you two might be helpful? You could do everything right and submit every possible evidence you can and still not be able to convince the officer. 

I'm not a lawyer, so take my suggestions with a grain of salt. It might actually turn out to be helpful or not helpful. It's all in the hands of whoever receives your case. 

No one said you're lying. What I said was that you didn't initially give a full time line of events, so it would have been very easy to assume things many things about your relationships. 

The fact that you had a child with another man while still married to your ex-husband is concerning. I assume that after meeting your fiance in august 2016, you were officially dating him? All while still legally married to the USC? It matters very little that you both mutually agreed that seeing other people was OK because one could argue, "well why the heck didn't you divorce then?" The fact that you chose not to divorce doesn't excuse you from it, does that make sense? And then you started divorce proceedings after being with your fiance a relatively short time when before you were seemingly fine with not getting a divorce to the man you no longer loved (one could even argue, no longer loved enough to go have a child with a completely different man) for many years. 

See where I'm going with this? You can profess to how much you love your fiance and how real your relationship is - I have no reason to doubt it and it does not matter much to me whether or not I believe it. But you have to be able to see that someone else with a less noble intentions than you in your shoes could very well be faking a relationship/love and trick a USC into marrying them for immigration benefits. Does that make sense? USCIS is not going to assume you are a noble human being who would never abuse or mislead someone with marriage. The burden is on you to prove that you are not one of those people. 

I asked you before and you didn't answer. It would help to know the exact timeline of your two relationships. So far we only have little snippets of information you tell about your relationships and they either don't make sense out of context or questionable. 

For example:

Met ex-husband in March 2000

Married ex-husband May 2000

Had child with a man December 2003

Met current fiance July 2004

Engaged July 2004

Started divorce proceedings with ex-husband August 2004

Divorce granted October 2005

There is no such thing as a good will credit for not applying when you could have. The burden is on you to prove that your marriage/relationship is bona fide and it helps to see what you're up against if you think about it from a 3rd party's perspective. What are the dates of your previous marriage and divorce? How does this timeline coincide with you meeting, dating, and marrying your current fiance? How much does your current fiance know about your previous marriage? Any overlap between the two relationships could be seen as you husband shopping to find a way to immigrate, no matter what your personal intentions (or lack of) were. Overstay wouldn't necessarily hurt you since you're married to a USC. What you have to focus on rather is the bona fide stuff. 

I can't say for sure because it's at the discretion of the CBP. All you can do is arm yourself with enough ties/evidence that you'll return to the UK and follow proper legal procedures. Showing them of your previous entries/exits that were on time, lease/bills/work etc can help, but ultimately no guarantees. 

1 minute ago, alexndillon2125 said:

Nope. I told them my reasoning was divorce, which was the truth. They didn't have a problem with it.  

That's my point. That time you entered with supposedly no immigrant intent as determined by the CBP. The next time you enter presumably you do have intent as you have said so yourself - to enter with the intention of settling in the US (with no immigrant visa or GC) and you tell them the truth, they'll turn you away. AKA, do yourself a favor and file for i-360/green card outside of the U.S. 

7 minutes ago, alexndillon2125 said:

Might I add, that I just got back from the States 3 days ago after entering on the Visa Waiver Program. I didn't have a problem entering on it

Did you tell the CBP that you were planning to move there permanently when you entered?

Like I said above, I don't see how you can legally move to the US to set up a good environment for your son PRIOR to receiving a green card. You'd need to file for I-360 and once that is approved you can then apply for a gc. After that you can immigrate. You can't come to the US without the proper immigrant visa since you intend to immigrate and adjust status.

Since you surrendered your green card and you have the intention to immigrate to the US, I would think that you have no legal way to enter the US with a non-immigrant visa such as VWP or student visa etc. You have to essentially start your process of obtaining a green card all over again from outside the US by successfully having an approved I-360 as far as I'm aware.

I'm not a lawyer, but I think this may be what you're looking for.

https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/battered-spouse-children-parents#eligible

Give that page a read. Sections that are applicable to you are: those eligible to file, eligibility requirements for a spouse, and filing process. Looks like you'll need to submit an I-360. Once that is approved you'll be able to then file for a green card for yourself. 

USCIS also recommends reading this: http://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Humanitarian/Battered Spouse, Children & Parents/Immigration Options for Victims of Crimes.pdf

Quote

Cheating does not remove the sponsor's obligation under the Affadavit of Support; the only things that do are death, gaining US citizenship, or loosing the greencard..

That's what Penguin wrote. 

I think it absolutely helps OP to know that fighting to retract his affidavit of support given what he has told us about his situation will be wasted time and energy. That is unless the relationship really wasn't bona fide in the first place. 

No, Penguin is still right. Why do you think her ROC will be discussed in a "certain setting"? Unless a specific set of circumstances occur, it'll be the same as any other ROC with a divorce waiver - in front of an adjudicating officer. 

I hope it gets worked out ASAP. My fingers are crossed for you.

I understand your frustration since losing your job over something you can't control 100% is no laughing matter, but what Hypnos said it's true and you shouldn't lash out like that. You had the responsibility and option to file as soon as you could to renew your documents, interview or no interview. The first part of Hypnos's advice is also true - go for an expedite based on financial hardship at the prospect of losing your job if your EAD is not renewed on time.