International couple

Re: International couple

• mizutamababy member

  

  June 2012

  DH and I are doing the opposite changing my work visa to a spouse visa in Japan right now...  It's a lot of work!
  
  A friend of mine just went through this process (in Japan) for his Japanese wife and little girl to move with him to the U.S.
  
  Have you started the visa application process yet?  If you're stuck somewhere maybe I can try to help.
  
  Your husband doesn't need a visa to marry in the U.S., though.  He just needs a valid passport in most cases, but make sure to check the laws of the state you want to get married in. He also needs to register as a temporary visitor awhile before he leaves on the U.S. immigration site.  Or at least DH had to do this for our trip to get married.  You can always file for the visa afterwards, and it might be easier as far as acceptance goes.

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• chaiteachick member

  

  May 2013

  We are just about to get started on this nightmare as well!!!! From what we've read, a fiance visa IS absolutely necessary, unless you want to risk spending your wedding or honeymoon in the slammer! 
  
  Maybe you and I can help each other through the process.... what state are you planning on getting married in? For me, it's MI, and he's an Israeli citizen. (I'm a temp. resident, in case it matters.)
  
  Anyway, I've heard that it can take up to 8 months or a year to get a fiance visa, so plan for a long engagement. Think about it this way: venues can often be booked up to a year in advance, anyway, so this will give you an opportunity to deal with that without stressing as much.  
  
  We have some friends who recently went through the same thing; if you want to keep touch, either here or on FB or somewhere else, I'd be happy to share any info I get. Of course, we always have to keep in mind that, most likely, it WILL vary based on the fiance's home country. 
  
  Best of luck! 

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• chaiteachick member

  

  May 2013

  Okay, so I asked our friends about this, since I'd been meaning to get started on it anyway, and they also said that they didn't do it with a fiance visa. However, they said that they did this because he came to the USA to visit her, without the intention of getting married, and then they changed their minds after several months, so for them, it was a different story. 
  
  They said that for us, since he will be going into the USA with the intent to get married, we need the fiance visa. They said to get a lawyer, and to make sure to check his references, as, apparently, there are quite a few quack "lawyers" who feed off of couples like us. 
  
  They said that, for them (and this will depend, based on your location, and probably his home country), the lawyer ran them about $1500.00. They're Cali-based. They said that the green card process costed around $2000.00. However, I'm not sure if, with a fiance visa, we're required to also ask for a green card. I read somewhere that, after getting married, they can't re-enter the USA on a tourist visa, and MUST apply for a green card, but I'm really not sure if that pertains to couples who are living outside the USA, and intend to stay outside the USA. We're going to have to ask that, once we find ourselves our lawyer. 

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