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5 hours ago, Redro said:

I-130 takes about 1 year to approve.

Then you will move to NVC which can take 2-3 weeks to 3 months (more if NVC requests additional documentation).

But, if you want to move the interview from London to Sydney that would extend your time at NVC.

Once documents are accepted you will wait for interview. 

In London, interviews happen about a month or two after DQ...

Sydney... see this post

You might be waiting an additional 5 months... 

So, plan on the process taking 2 years or more. 

Be aware, you can keep the interview location in London and just "pause" the process at the NVC stage. 

One of our members has put his move to the US on pause for various reasons.

The great thing about the CR1/IR1 visa is that you can "slow down" the process if you want...

 

 

Hi Pedro, this is all great stuff thank you for explaining it so well. My partner and I are at peace with time apart and if that is me staying in Australia or moving back to the U.K. then so be it. Do you think the following would be realistic:

-File I-130 from within the U.K. March/April 2025

-Emigrate to Australia August 2025

-Expectation of I-130 approval around March-June 2025

-Start NVC process from Australia*

Of course you don't have full story for wait times but would that be a reasonable outline?

*Do you know if it's only the Sydney consulate that deals with NVC or if Melbourne does too? Thanks. 

1 minute ago, appleblossom said:

 

Just to be clear, you'd be returning to the UK in August 2026 to wait for your visa to be issued? You may find that you end up interviewing and finishing the process in London anyway then if that's the case so spending time in Australia in the interim wouldn't have much of an impact. 

I would like to stay in Australia for as long as possible, probably via visa extension, until NVC stage is complete and I could join my partner in the US. Do you know if it's an option to undertake the latter stages i.e. the interview in Australia if the I-130 was initially applied to from within the U.K.?

28 minutes ago, Lil bear said:

Exactly 

Lots of great replies here, thank you. I would be on a working holiday visa (subclass 417) and my partner would be on the Work and Holiday visa (subclass 462) - These visas are very easy and quick for us both to get as we are already in touch with recruiters; we both have in demand job roles. We would aim to spend one year in Australia before moving to the US.

My partner (US Citizen) and I (U.K. Citizen) currently living in the U.K. and are unmarried. Our long term goal is to move to the USA; however, we are considering a move to Australia after filing the I-130 document post marriage. The plan is to marry in the U.K. and then move to Australia in August 2025 and stay for one year, leaving August 2026.

Can the I-130 be filed in the U.K. in say, March 2025, and the application continued after emigrating to Australia? Additionally, how long can we wait after the I-130 is approved before starting the I-485 petition? The reason for this would be that we want to have a full year in Australia and are trying to determine a rough timeline. 

Would that result in any time apart or would that mean no time apart?

Hello - I'm currently an unmarried U.K. citizen with a US girlfriend that lives with me in the U.K. and has done for 18 months. She works here on a skilled worker visa but we are making plans to move to the states. We are trying to figure out which way would be best to do this as we plan to get married soon but would do whatever is best for the visa situation. The main query we have at the moment is in the case of the CR-1, does my partner (US citizen) need to be in the US and then petition for me to travel over? We don't want to spend any time apart and the processing times seem to be up to 2 years which we aren't prepared to be apart for.