kevin74uk

Hi

I am trying to find out the difference between the L1A and L1B visas. I know L1A is for managers and executives and L1B is for people with specialised knowledge, but am not sure if there is any difference in status between the two. My fiance is American and so we dont have to spend 7-12 months apart waiting for a fiance visa to come through my firm have agreed to let me transfer. We want to get married in the US and apply for adjustment of status after but wanted to check if that is possible under both L1A and L1B visas or only L1A?

Thanks

Thanks. I managed to get a bit of free time with a lawyer in the end whilst asking about consultation fees and found out what I needed to know. My dilemna has been over which visa to apply for and if I move with work to the US, which visa my firm should apply for and whether this changes things and how.

It seems if I manage to get an L1 visa then I should get married in the US and file for change of status and if I get another visa like a B1 then there is not much of a difference between a fiance visa and spouse visa in terms of waiting times so may be best to go for a fiance visa and have time to plan a nice wedding.

Not sure if this advice helps anyone else, but thought I would post it anyway....

Thanks. We may well end up filing all the paperwork ourselves, but would like to sit down and speak to an expert before deciding what visa to file for, where and when, as a lot depends on what is happening with work and which visa they send me to the usa on. Hence any recommendations from anyone would be really helpful - especially if there is a free help line or advice line on this topic anywhere....

Hi

I was wondering if anyone has any recommendations on good immigration lawyers based in the UK (preferably in London) who specialise in fiance or spouse visas to the USA.

Weighing up which visa is the best to apply for, work complications and other things seems to be a bit of a minefield and it would be good to sit down and speak to an expert. I have tried seeing if there are any fee helplines and came up blank and phoned one law firm picked from google who sounded competent but as they wanted to charge £300 for a consultation (and not actually processing anything), wanted to make sure that if it really does cost this much to get good legal advice I go to a receommended law firm.

Many Thanks

If you can work from US & still get paid by the non US company, why not use VWP for temporary visit?

Next best thing you can do is email the consulate & see if your scenario will work. My opinion B-1 is usually for visit/training/meetings but not for regular employment.

Thanks...just saw there is another visa option an L1 visa for intra company transfer - not really sure what this entails but might be another option.

Hi

I am hoping someone can help with this query. My firm have agreed to let me work from the USA and I imagine the B-1 business visa is the easiest one to enter the US on. My company is a multi-national and have offices in the US, but I imagine the H1B visa will take longer to get and is a lot harder to get issued. My query is whether you can be working in the US on a B1 visa while at the same time filing for either a fiance or spouse visa?

We are not married yet, and wish to look at which option will be quickest and as we dont want to be apart for longer than necessary moving with work seems like a good option. We wish to do everything by the book and want to find out if it would be a problem working in the US on a B1 visa whilst at the same time filing for a K1 or spousal visa.

Thanks

Thanks, but is it possible to have both running in parallel? ie to get married and file for a spouse visa, but then also to apply for jobs or try to move with work and apply to be sponsored, so as to be in the US whilst waiting for the marriage visa to go through?

Yes you could do this.

Also consider going CR-1, it requires less paperwork I-130 only, and takes not much longer than K-3, CR-1 is work authorized.

Many who enter the USA on the K-3 discover that they cannot work, get SSN, or get driver's license until they have work permit, which takes 90 days or more to get.

Thanks, this is very helpful. With regards to what you were mentioning before about filing directly, does the fact she has been living here for 2 years mean we can do this? (as she does have a National Insurance number), or because she is now back in the US and can only return on a visitor visa does this make the process impossible?

Why are you considering K-1 or K-3?

If US citizen has been living and in the UK for more than 6 months, then they meet the residency requirement to file for a CR-1 visa by DCF (Filing the I-130 directly to London) CR-1 is an immigrant GREEN-CARD visa, it gets a green-card upon entry. Dose she have residency status?

Marry first and file the I-130 to the embassy, it is the quickest visa, AND the cheapest. the K-Visas require adjustment of status in the USA ($1010) and cannot work until having a work permit.

Considering the tremendous backlog at USCIS, it would be crazy to file for a K-Visa.

http://london.usembassy.gov/dhs/uscis/i130filing.html

That would be great, but my fiance was here on a student visa, extended her stay by being on a BUNAC work visa for 6 months, which has now expired. We were planning for her to extend her stay by her being sponsored by her company, but the BIA rejceted the work permit application, which means she is now back in the US and on a visitor visa if she returns to the UK.

Hi

My fiance is American and was originally applying for a UK work permit, having been living here for the past 2 years. Our plan was to get married and apply to move to the US later this year, ie spend our time working in the UK whilst waiting for the paperwork to go through.

Unfortunately, her work permit has been turned down, which means we will need to get things moving much faster than expected. We are wondering whether it makes sense to have a quick wedding in the US and apply for a spouse visa, or to apply for a fiance visa and get married in the US once it comes through.

We do not want to spend 6-9 months apart waiting for the visa to come through, but as we both need to work, not sure what options there are. I was wondering if I could move with my job to the US or take another job that involved sponsoring me, but am not sure if either of these two options would jeopardise my marriage or fiance application. Any thoughts, recommendations or mention of possible loop holes would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Kevin

If you could get an employer sponsored H1-b visa that would be the best of all alternatives.... You could avoid the "K" visas provcess altogether.....

Thanks, but is it possible to have both running in parallel? ie to get married and file for a spouse visa, but then also to apply for jobs or try to move with work and apply to be sponsored, so as to be in the US whilst waiting for the marriage visa to go through?

Hi

My fiance is American and was originally applying for a UK work permit, having been living here for the past 2 years. Our plan was to get married and apply to move to the US later this year, ie spend our time working in the UK whilst waiting for the paperwork to go through.

Unfortunately, her work permit has been turned down, which means we will need to get things moving much faster than expected. We are wondering whether it makes sense to have a quick wedding in the US and apply for a spouse visa, or to apply for a fiance visa and get married in the US once it comes through.

We do not want to spend 6-9 months apart waiting for the visa to come through, but as we both need to work, not sure what options there are. I was wondering if I could move with my job to the US or take another job that involved sponsoring me, but am not sure if either of these two options would jeopardise my marriage or fiance application. Any thoughts, recommendations or mention of possible loop holes would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Kevin

check out the guides from the tab above on the website here. It can explain all the different way to get married and get a visa

Thanks. As expected it is not a straightforward case of getting married and moving over. Are you allowed to work on a fiancee visa in the US? One of the reasons for wanting to get married before moving, was to avoid needing to get sponsored to work in the States.

Out of interest is it easier to enter on a fiancee visa and stay on in the USA or to apply for a CR-1 visa whilst in the UK? Not sure what the comparative timelines are like....

K-1 Can work with EAD, most employers will not hire a person unless they provide proof of work authorization, that is EAD stamp or card.

NOTE: K-1 is not a work visa, it is a fiancee visa for entry to the USA and marriage, K-1 is "Work Auth" primarily to be able to get the SSN, some states are strict in their interpretation of a federal law that requires persons applying for a "license" to have SSN, this can cause a problem with marriage license if only one person has SSN and the other (the K-1 holder) does not.

The K-1 tend to be a bit easier, but if work is your priority, then the CR-1 visa IS the way to go. CR-1 results in GREEN-CARD upon entry, the green-card IS work authorization, NO EAD card to file for, NO adjustment of status ($1010) to file for.

For UK CR-1 is not much longer to get than the K-Visa.

Thank you all. This has been really helpful advice. Seems we may be in the UK for longer than a few months after the wedding, but is good to know, as will need to find work - so the CR-1 route sounds the better option. No point moving on a K-1 visa and buying a house if we are not both able to work to pay the mortgage, so waiting for the CR-1 makes sense.

check out the guides from the tab above on the website here. It can explain all the different way to get married and get a visa

Thanks. As expected it is not a straightforward case of getting married and moving over. Are you allowed to work on a fiancee visa in the US? One of the reasons for wanting to get married before moving, was to avoid needing to get sponsored to work in the States.

Out of interest is it easier to enter on a fiancee visa and stay on in the USA or to apply for a CR-1 visa whilst in the UK? Not sure what the comparative timelines are like....

Hi

I was wondering if anyone could help with a query. I have been wading my way through the US immigration sites but seem to be finding millions of different forms and am not sure which ones apply. I am a UK citizen who is engaged to a US citizen. We are both living in the UK at the moment, but are planning to get married in the USA later this year, then a few months after the wedding move to the US permanently (though plan on living in the UK for a few months after the wedding).

Firstly, I was wondering if you need a special visa to get married in the USA and secondly once we are married what visa forms we would need to complete as we will both be in the UK. My fiancee is currently here on a work permit visa and is a full US citizen.

Many thanks for any help you can provide

Kevin