paul.

April (end) filer and without a touch. Here is to praying every night that I might spend Christmas with my family...it's so awful, I always feel as if I may have made a mistake and didn't realize, or what not.

It's not great, I have to do the same in the USA when I finally get there (until I start my new job).

Until then I am a 28 year old living back with his Father in Somerset, England after 10 years in the Army. I moved away from home when I was 12, so this is a very weird situation, but luckily my Father is great and the in-laws are great too. When in the USA, I also live with my Grandma-in-law, as she is too old to live on her own and my in-law family look after her. These are interesting times, but it will all be worth it in the long run.

I guess we do what we need to to get by in life, some things are not great, others are great. My biggest problem right now is trying to keep a job, when I know I will be leaving for the USA in March 09 (estimated if all goes well). I just wish I could visit the US in the mean time, but I am scared that I will have to go through the FBI background check again, taking me back to square one. (any info on that, please PM).

Good luck with your situation, just remember your friends here at VJ, a lot of us are in the same boat and we'll keep each other smiling!

Guys and Gals,

With the current USCIS processing times, it looks like, if all goes well, my NOA2 may come through in mid to late December.

I am hoping to go to my new home for Christmas as I've been away from the USA since June 15th 2008. I plan to travel from the 15th December 2008 to 15th January 2009, so that when I Arrive back I can get cracking with the NVC deal.

I know that getting in to the USA could be difficult, I am prepared to be sent back. I have no ties in the UK, other than an agency job I am keeping on, so I can move quickly when I get the visa (I am anxious as I have a job ready and waiting for me in the US).

Can anyone advise me if this is a bad idea, or indeed illegal? I don't think it is (obviously), but my wife is worried I will get caught out and be denied a visa. Is this a possibility? Has anyone else done this recently?

Thanks, Paul.

No, the guy told me that they were currently processing people who submitted in November 2007, so as I submitted in late April this year it would be awhile before I could expect to see my wife again.

I personally think he was being overly cautious in today's litigious society, going off the figure on the official website (which I believe is updated to show there last straggler). If I go off the average time between NOA1 and NOA2 over the last 360 days as reported here, it is 135 days and we have been waiting 141 days....so I'm quietly optimistic.

edit: saying that, my own timeline here on VJ tells me March 09 before the I-130 is processed...link.

I wish...

Just got off the phone with my local senators office in OKC. His representative told me not to expect to set foot on US soil before June 09, even though we filed April 25th 2008 and got our NOA1 on May 5th 2008. I'm a retired British veteran of Iraq, so I was ever so slightly hoping that would be looked on in favor, as I served both our nations...but until they actually touch the file, I guess that won't help either.

We can just hang tough, together, here.

Thanks you for helping us!

Hi all,

my wife (USC) is about to submit an I-130 (for a CR-1) for myself, a UK citizen, to Chicago and has a few questions that we'd like to see if anyone can clear up for us before we send it off. Last thing we want is to screw up so early on!

First of all, I am currently in the USA on a VWP and am departing the US on June 11th. So no intent to remain, but still filing I-130 while I am here so I am can spend some of the processing time with my wife in my parent-in-law's home. I have just retired from the British Army (one month ago) and came straight here, so I do not have a job - but I am on the books of a driving agency I worked for to get spare cash over my leave periods when I was in the service.

Questions:

1. regarding question 14 of I-130 (if your relative is currently in the USA, complete the following:)

   Will it harm our application if I am still here until June 11th? Is it better to just depart shores as we send it off?

2. regarding question 15 of I-130 (Name and address of current employer)

   Will it harm my application to say I am unemployed, or would it be better to put the details of the driving agency down - knowing I last worked there in dec 07, but am able to get a job any day of any week when I am in the UK...so technically, I feel employed.

3. Thirdly, regarding paperwork we send in with the I-130 - do things like birth, divorce and marriage certificates need to certified copies or can they be just plain photocopies. My brain says certified copies, but the paperwork only asks for copies....maybe a cultural difference in wording, but that confused me.

Thank you all so much for any help you may give me in advance.

Yeah, I have already said I have nothing back home, so I know they won't be happy with me saying I didn't intend to stay - I have nothing to prove otherwise, other than a bank account and loan to pay off, which could easily be done state-side.

My lawyer was this guy, btw:

http://64.19.61.150:81/the_av_network/list...ingham/info.htm

Thanks guys, I am quite annoyed with the attorney that would make me risk so much. A ten year ban is something I could not live with, as I have literally given up a great job, a house and a car to be free of ties when the CR-1 visa eventually came through (which is as I had originally planned it), because as I mentioned I will be staying in Holland after my I-94 expires.

I have decided to go down the route of the CR-1 anyway, I do not think I have sufficient background to pass the "sufficient ties back home to prove no intent to stay", so will have to live with what we were going to do anyway. I was just given a little glimmer of an easier way by the attorney and I can not believe he would say that to me, knowing I gave him all the info I have in this thread....anyway, what's done is done and I am glad I managed to get some advice from you all. I thank you all dearly, I do know risk management and this is a time to not risk anything at all and to do it all the long way. It will pay off in the end, I'm certain.

Our wedding was fun, we had a blast and we are very happy.

I will surely have more questions for you guys in coming days as we try to get through the I-130 deal with an affidavit of support from my in-laws (my wife is studying at University, so can't support me). One question I have right now is if I depart after 85 days on the I-94, when could I get back in to the USA for another 85 day stay? We don't have a lot of money, but I have enough to visit 90 days in country, 90 days out of country so would like to so that while the I-130/CR-1 is processing if it really is 200 days (and is that 200 days for the I-130 or for both I-130 and CR-1?).

Thanks a bunch again, folks.

Wow, so many responses already. Thank you so much!

I can assure you that Mags and pushbrk are correct in their opinion. The reason I have vacated everything back in England is because my family is actually from The Netherlands and I will be returning there once my 90 days is up - my return ticket is to Amsterdam, June 11th 2008 - 85 days after entry, so I was sure not to overrun even if we hit a touch of bad weather, that's how careful I have been!

The reason I asked here was because I did have my suspicions that the information could lead to a ban, based on readings over at another via forum (http://britishexpats.com/forum/). Anyway, now you guys have confirmed my fears and my fiancee is back from work, we have decided to go ahead and continue the wedding tomorrow and now we know she can file the I-130 with me still here (thanks pushbrk), we still have 2 months together before I go back. Regarding your advice though, if I were to go on a honeymoon to Mexico (sounds great!) and come back with a fresh I-94, wouldn't that raise suspicions, or be allowed at all? Because I heard you should leave the USA for as long as you've been in it, as a rule of thumb to not annoy the POE USCIS.

Furthermore, could someone please advise me on the duration of the I-130 petition and the CR-1 visa (which was our original plan anyway), because I heard that anywhere between 5-11 months is about right (as of december 07, when i was told that), but with your very nice graphs, I know see two stages to the I-130, the NOA1 and NOA2....I am not sure what that is and that raised hairs as some of those waits are long indeed (London average wait 337 days?!!).

Brain is now fried with numbers, so I might take a chill pill for the evening and get back to studying visa stuff in a few days, so I will be back here to check any replies - thank you so much again for your hospitality, it's greatly appreciated.

Hi all,

first of all, I apologize if this is in the wrong area - I just joined and my question is a little strange maybe.

I am a UK citizen, I just left the Army after 10 years service and during my travels met a beautiful American woman. She traveled to the UK and we lived together for a year before she had to go back home in Dec. 07. In that year, we knew we were absolutely right for each other and I decided to leave the service and travel to America to get married. It took me three months after she left to manage to get to the USA and I arrived on a VWP 2 weeks ago with the intention to get married, for her to submit an I-130 and then for me to travel back at the end of the 90 days and await a call forward to the Embassy in London.

Now I kind of figured it would be a good idea to talk to an attorney to get any lowdown on possible other routes (to shorten our time apart, as every couple probably wants) and called americanvisas.com. After speaking to a guy who is, apparently, in the top 10 of immigration attorneys in the USA, he mentioned to me that it would not hurt to just try and adjust my status to PR based on our marriage while I am here on the VWP. This is because I got rid of everything in my life in the UK - house, car, job, etc. and my family actually live in The Netherlands, so I have nowhere to stay in England.

The problem is, I heard that this is frowned upon by USCIS (or called lying on entry - but I had intentions to return when I turned up, but just have now been advised by a professional otherwise) and although the guy said it was a 50/50 chance and the only "punishment" is losing the $1010 and getting sent home (which to be honest, is not that bad as I'll only be where I am now - starting the I-130, and we won't have been apart), I am just worried to death that it will have repercussions. I am getting married tomorrow morning and am over the moon about that, but am just so worried as this all seems to be murky water.

I would love to have some advice from you guys, thank you for your time.