Newhawaiki

I was overseas in Australia all of 2020 with the my Aussie fiance. Now we are married and going through the AOS paperwork.

It says that I have to submit my most recent tax return for the last tax year, but I didn't make any income so I am wondering how I should go about this?

Do I understand this correctly and is this what we think it is? That they’re forwarding our case to the Sydney Consulate?

Congratulations, @mongen27! Keep us updated with what happens next.

@Tacos I wonder if it's for the whole NVC or for the specific consulate that they would send the visa to that could be processing visas or could still be closed? In simpler terms, will the consulate request the case from the NVC or not? We're going to be going through the Australian consulate and it seems like they've been accepted expedite requests. 

@APA that's so exciting! Good luck on the next step and I hope you can both be in the U.S. together soon! We're also March filers and everything I read said that the case needs an expedite in order to get it out of NVC, so this is encouraging.

@Gii That's amazing you were able to make it into the U.S. to see your fiance! I have a few questions if you don't mind, how far along are you with your K1 and how long are you planning on being in the U.S.? Do you have to quarantine when you get back to Aus.? What evidence did you provide for your exemption to leave Aus.? 

@APA do you feel ready for the next steps and the big move or do you wish you had more time to prepare?

Congratulations for reaching this next step Marchers! 

Hopefully the most challenging part of the process is behind us and we can work together to move forward.

Our NOA1: March 9

Our NOA2: Oct. 20

Our consulate: Sydney, Australia 

@KLL do you have any updates that you are willing to share?

This issue is terribly interesting, my fiance and I are here in Australia where I filed an I-129F for her in March. When things took a massive delay due to COVID we began looking at doing an Australian partner visa for me to stay in Australia. We hired an immigration lawyer who advised us to register our relationship ASAP, which we did in Queensland. In Queensland they call it a "civil partnership". We had to read a law statement concerning the legal effects of a civil partnership which said that a civil partnership IS NOT a marriage, and that "a person who is already married or in a civil union is not allowed to enter a civil union but someone in a civil union is allowed to be married." On that legal statement is says that marriage terminates a civil partnership.

We left the I-129F alone to see what would happen and we should be getting a response any day now. We were both on board with me staying here but then my fiance had a change of heart a week ago and wants to go to the U.S. on the I-129F, after reading your story I'm biting my teeth! 

Our difference to your story is that we didn't include any paperwork of our registered relationship in our packet because we did that way after we filed our I-129F. I can comprehend your scenario and I am compassionate with your issue: do you terminate the civill partnership and thus prove USCIS' point or do you risk leaving it alone but get rejected? Just wow, that is so unreal and mind boggling. 

@MissOphelia Congratulations! That is absolutely incredible, good on ya for taking the leap of faith! Happy journeys 

Thank you for sharing your estimations! It really is all up in the air right now and so much of it is outside of our control. My concern is that we'll be held up each step of the way due to backlogs at the NVC then at the consulates. I'm blessed to have been able to be with my fiance in Australia this whole time but with my visa expiring in mid November we're in a bit of a quandary of how to move forward. Do we pay ~$8000 AUD for an Australian partner visa so we can stay together (what if the K1 train moves quickly?) or do we take the leap of faith with me going home and with my fiance waiting for an unknown amount of time?

 Like @SydneyfMaghrib wrote we're trying to take the unexpected into account which could potentially be a really long wait. All we can do is keep March-ing forward and do what @Greenbaum has been wisely guiding us to do, which is to lower our expectations and strive to "go with the flow" the best we can with all of our unique and challenging situations. Hope for the best but plan for the worst! 

Hello fellow Marchers, I'm on the cusp of activity (Monday March 9th) according to the chart @LoveJonLovell has so graciously compiled! I filed a USCIS Service Request because I slid out of the "due date" estimation which says that I'll expect a reply by 10/29/20.

My question to you Marchers is (based on your own research, intuition, and respective consulates) when are you all expecting your fiance to be with you on U.S. soil?

I'm thinking we still have another 6-8 months should we receive our NOA2. 

On 9/22/2020 at 9:07 AM, Gomast said:

EAD wait time of up to 37 months. I’ve been waiting since September 2019...

@Gomast Oh my goodness 37 months is incomprehensible to think about!

Even from September 2019 is a such a long time to be waiting. You would hope that (if everything went smoothly) you would at least AOS and get full work rights by then?

14 hours ago, Jem.G said:

No worries!

They are booking K1's I can tell you that much. It's such a hard time with all of this we waited 6 months after our case was recieved by Sydney due to them stoping but they are slowly getting back to normal, hopefully things will be back on track soon.

Whatever you choose to do good luck and don't forget we are all here to help if we can.

@Jem.G WOW six months!? That is a long haul! I cannot imagine what it would be like to have the excitement of your case reaching the Sydney Consulate to then have to wait and wait and wait. It makes your victory that much more remarkable and I hope the joy of getting everything sorted makes up for that time of waiting.

38 minutes ago, Jem.G said:

I had my K1 interview in Sydney on the 15th, I did request and expedited appointment though. The day I had my interview most of the people there were also K1 applicants.

I can see on your timeline you have not recieved your NOA2 yet, so just hang in there.

Cheers for that @Jem.G! Congratulations on the success of the expedited appointment which led to the interview! That's a huge victory, especially with all the COVID craziness.

Our date is literally right on the cusp of activity according to the March timeline, I was blessed to be able to stay in Australia with my fiance this whole time and with my tourist visa expiring in November we're looking at different plans (like me staying with an Aus. partner visa vs. waiting for the K1)  with how realistic those timeframes are, so thank you for giving us some hope in that direction. We were just wondering if they were even doing interviews at the Sydney Consulate. 

I still feel like the K1 is still many months away should we be successful in that journey though 

Anyone have an idea on if/when the Sydney Consulate will be doing K1 interviews? Does anyone have a K1 interview scheduled?

I know it's these are magic crystal ball questions, but any ideas on how long the backlog will be?

7 minutes ago, Lil bear said:

One problem with #3 .. marrying in HI and returning to Australia to wait out the CR1...   
Currently Australian citizens and permanent residents are not being granted exit permits to leave Australia .. I do not see that changing for at least 12 months ..  I doubt the reason ( going overseas to get married and then returning ) will meet the Dept of Homeland  Security(Aust) exemption clauses. You can leave as a USC .. but you then have a mandatory 14 day isolation in Australian POE on re entry .  The only reason you would be allowed to reenter would be as the spouse of an Australian citizen 

Thank you for this added level of clarification! We were wondering about the details of her leaving, even if was on a K1 leaving Aus. for good and if that would meet the exemption (leaving with my fiance to relocate to Hawaii and get married, not coming back to Aus.). 

To add more info to this plan we wouldn't get married in Hawaii till way down the track, as in a year or more and after my Aus. partner visa would be decided so we could go back to Aus. with no issues and from there I would file a CR1 for her.   

@Timona @Orangesapples this is the merry-go-round of plans we currently are on, since the wedding is proving to be a source of consternation for my fiance, her family, and I (and you both are very wise, and may add an insight unknown to us but don't feel obliged to reply to this soap opera):

1. (Before Covid) Get married in Hawaii on K1, AOS, stay in Hawaii.

2. (After Covid) Maybe it would be better for us to do Aus. Partner Visa since I'm here in Aus and the possibility of travel is unknown. Partner and I felt good about this, and so did her family. Parents said we should do courthouse wedding and do a big one in Hawaii later. We all agree, courthouse marriages are closed due to Covid. I thought we can have a tasteful small wedding at the beach since that was one of the only wedding services still operating. I start planning the wedding and paid the celebrant. Celebrant and I start communicating about the details (who, what, when, where, how). I'm 100% ready to get married here. Fiance gets cold about the idea. Parents then say that "running off to elope is sleazy, what's the point of two weddings, you can only have one, you can't have a wedding in Hawaii anymore due to the state of the world" and "where is the guest list."  

3. (As of now) I talk to a lawyer about the Aus. Partner Visa. He says we don't have to get married to lodge one (we can register our relationship and since it will be a year we can put in De Facto partner status). Fiance and I go away for the weekend to think and have clarity. (After a few wines) She says that she feels relived that we don't have to get married to do Aus. Partner Visa and only wants to get married in Hawaii. She says let's just do K1 since I lodged it already. We sleep on it. Next day I ask her what would wisdom do(esp. since she has car payments and wants to save more), and agree that CR1 is the wisest but hardest pill to swallow emotionally (hence the idea of getting married in Hawaii on a tourist visa and then coming back to Aus. to wait out a CR1, I'm trying to find a middle ground for everyone). 

The only certainty we have is that we both ultimately want to be in Hawaii, it's just the span of time for when and how that happens.     

3 hours ago, Orangesapples said:

I don't know how immigration laws in Australia work but in the US you can get citizenship after 3 years as a permanent resident married to a US citizen. One thing you may not have considered - if at the time when your green card is issued you're married for less than 2 years, you get a conditionals green card card and you have to remove conditions in two years. It's usually not a big concern if you don't have any plans to leave the US but it's annoying to deal with and can lead to delays with you getting your citizenship depending on your local office. If you use a CR1 you are considered a permanent resident at the time you enter the US with the visa. That's when it matters how long you've been married. A CR1 is valid for 6 months usually. So if you time it right, she can get an unconditional green card upon entry, live in the US for 3 years, apply for citizenship, then get citizenship. If she has a conditional card, this timeline is also possible, just more annoying and less certain. 

 

A K1 is a terrible choice. You will have to wait for a year on average after entry before she gets a green card. Really not good for your situation. 

Thank you for this high level of clarification @Orangesapples! Just the sheer level of complexity is enough to make it untenable, and what sounds good now may not be so in reality. A year on paper is different then actually living that whole year in that situation.

7 hours ago, Timona said:

Add that to the fact that you are currently in Australia for a good amount of time. 

 

Go to the local courthouse or get married tomorrow, wherever. You don't need a fancy wedding. A $2 wedding will just as much do as a $100K one. File a CR-1, forget it and enjoy your time in Australia. When it's time reaches, get your interview and you've avoided a tonne of headaches. Trust me, you won't want the AOS headache 

@TimonaThat is a wonderful plan, it's about delayed gratification, going to Hawaii is delayed but when that time comes what will make it a better experience.

Forgetting the visa woes for a while and enjoying some workable stability in a single place sounds like heaven to me and is enough to cherish that plan! But it's doing the dance with everyone else. I'm also practicality minded which leads me to... 

The wedding idea is been a bit of a Pandora's Box for us at the moment! (we were in the process of planning a little wedding here in Aus. but my fiance's parent's severely disagree and want a big one in Aus; my fiance doesn't want one here and is set on having the small one in Hawaii... another story altogether that I will save you the reading of!)

4 hours ago, Luckycuds said:

Haha yes. And I am a bit jealous; I love Australia and Hawai’i you guys are lucky you literally have the best of both worlds to me 😀

Yes @Luckycuds I feel very blessed and lucky! I always tell my partner I don't know what I did to deserve her and such a situation, especially coming from Hawaii where people can feel trapped and stuck. It's humbling.  

Thank for taking the time to respond @Timona , I appreciate the feedback and can always use advice! It is a wild scenario!

The CR-1 certainly seems like the simplest of routes available. She's afraid of not being able to work right off the bat in Hawaii but really wants to be in Hawaii ASAP and isn't sure which voice to listen to. 

18 minutes ago, Luckycuds said:

You guys need to think of where you want to live- everything else comes next.

Thank you @Luckycuds! This is the bottom line. I also think when it comes to immigration to do what Thoreau advises... "Simplify, simplify, simplify." And the situation I just outlined is anything but that! 

Hello VJ-ers, I wanted some thoughts about an outside of the box hypothetical situation my partner and I thought of that I haven't seen anywhere (in my own research, and most likely because it's simply not possible):

I submitted my fiance's I-129F in March with me being here in Australia with her, I'm still here with her and we're looking at various plans and pathways. 

We have been looking into doing an Australian partner visa for me and perhaps cancelling the I-129F petition.

We were thinking about getting married here in Australia and then me lodging a CR1 visa for her.

Yesterday we had a consultation with an immigration lawyer who informed us that we don't have to get married in order to lodge an Australian partner visa, that we will meet the de facto requirement (which I didn't think we would meet) and we should formally register our relationship and get a registered relationship certificate from the Australian government.

After the consultation my fiance had a lightbulb moment and asked if we could keep the I-129F going for her (since she feels bad with me cancelling because of the work I put into it) while we submit an Australian partner visa for me (having our cake and eating it too?). We would both rather get married in Hawaii where I'm from anyway. We sketched out the scenario on the whiteboard and wonder if there's a way where this is somehow possible? 

The areas of concern we saw would be in the area of establishing domicile which would be in relation to the scenario of if she had to be in Hawaii on the K1 without me there while I stay in Australia awaiting my Australian partner visa decision (you can travel in and out, but have to be in Australia when the decision on the visa is made). I personally think even if it were somehow remotely possible, it would be a huge red flag for an adjudicator with either of us not being in the same country together while they're processing.

Long story short:

We both would like to have dual citizenship and always saw it as playing the game for one "citizenship/PR" at a time, as in:

1)the American greencard for her first, and then once she gets a U.S. greencard for me to get Australian permanent residency and/or citizenship

2)or vice versa with doing the Australian PR for me first then her American greencard through a CR1 with us still getting married in Hawaii but for my fiance to be on a tourist visa with us going back to Australia after the wedding and waiting for her CR1.     

but now an unlikely but altogether interesting scenario 3) which is somehow doing both at the same time through a K1 for her in Hawaii (with her staying with my family) and an Australian partner visa for me here in Australia.

*P.S. I'm aware that citizenship involves spending a certain amount of time in each country 

Thank you  for your wisdom and words of encouragement, @Lucky Cat! It's seems like doing a CR-1 visa leverages the uncertainty of the time better, our ultimate goal is to be together and we're looking to do whatever way makes that happen in the most sensible way, especially now with not just ours' but everyone's plans going astray.

I appreciate your response @payxibka! It makes sense that spousal visas would be backlogged as well, we're looking at the most fruitful way of utilizing the backlog time.