pbizzle12

Thanks all for the insightful and helpful responses. Apologies for the delay in responding as last couple of weeks have been hectic. This is what we have done for now. And will visit as often and for as long as I can on the ESTA. I see the point, but immigrant intent in the long term. With a house/mortgage, job and family to return to in UK I feel like I would have grounds to prove it is just temporary stay. To clarify, I have a mandatory 3 month notice period before either taking a career break or resigning from employment in UK, so my thought was to start the 6 months on B2 visitor visa after that, which would cover pregnancy and initial period after child birth. Thanks. I ineligible for self sponsored. Really focusing on getting a transfer through my current employer! Internal transfer with my current employer (L1A or L1B - have expressed I will take either at this stage, but I would likely be eligible for L1A based on my position) and applying for other similar roles in US for which immigration sponsorship may be offered (H1B or EB3). However, having spoken with a few specialised recruiters for my profession, visa sponsorship sounds like a remote chance currently. We are giving this serious thought as a fall back option. Challenge being that my partner is self employed and runs her own business in US, so moving would mean she would most likely lose all of her clients, so that would be tough for her. I note there is an option with the US Embassy and Consulates to request an expedited appointment under certain conditions. I will definitely try this for the K-1 visa if it gets to the interview stage in a reasonable time. Has anyone had experience of trying that?

I thought that would be the case, thanks for clarifying. ESTA permits 90 days at a time only and I would then likely not be able to return for at least another 90 days, which doesn't really work for me in this scenario. What would you advise?

Hi all I recently discovered this forum and have been reading avidly all of the great advice and guides. I am looking for some advice, based on the far greater knowledge of forum users here and perhaps past experiences, on the best and quickest way to proceed in my circumstances. Circumstances: My long term partner (US Citizen) and I (UK Citizen) have been together 7 years, during which time we have each visited UK and US, respectively multiple times per year. In my case, on an ESTA. We both have good jobs, plenty of savings and own houses etc I intend to relocate and work in the US on a permanent basis as soon as possible. I am exploring options for relocated through work with my current employer and obtaining visa sponsorship that way, but that is proving slow and frustrating. Due to a recent change in circumstances (partner is now pregnant and this will be our first child) I am planning to take a career break and spend as much time as possible (ideally the entire term of the pregnancy and child birth) in the US to support my partner. In an ideal world we would legally marry and got the CR-1 route, however, the 12-15 month processing time is clearly not going to work given timeline K-1 visa appears to be the more likely and slightly quicker option, but again, 6-12 month lead time would not work either - even with potential short visits to US whilst the K-1 application is pending. My current thinking is applying simultaneously for a B-2 and K-1 visa is my best bet for getting to US in the short term and being able to stay for 6 months (+ possible extension?). However, having read other forum posts it appears that the success rate on the B-2 applications is quite low? Other option I can see is to travel on ESTA with the intent to visit/support during pregnancy, get married and then apply for change in status, work authorisation and advance parole etc. This feels super risky though. Any and all thoughts welcomed and appreciated! 😀