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After Marriage...What THEN???
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Posted by: Fur_Seal

I will marry my Ukrainian girlfriend in June or July. She is currently in the USA on a J-1 visa; she is an Au Pair, through Eur-Au Pair.

After the marriage, what do we have to do to make her permanent???

Please tell me and be specific. We live in the Albuquerque.

Thanks!!!

Posted by: Jill

Well, the first thing you need to do is check her J-1 visa. Some J-1 visas (not all) have a two year homestay requirement. You need to clarify that before you go any further.

Posted by: heatherlatyshev

First, congratulations on your engagement. Second, I hope you have better luck with your future wife's green card than my husband and I have had with his.....Best wishes, and all the hope for what is to come in your future....

Posted by: Fur_Seal

I will check to see if her J1 has a 2 year homestay requirment.

However, please if any knows what does a couple do once they are married. What forms to they file?

Heather, what happened? Did you follow the procedures carefully? What pitfalls can you help us avoid???

Posted by: Fur_Seal

Is there anyway out of the 2 year homestay requirment??? Can a lawyer help? Has anyone succesfully got around this requirment??

Posted by: heatherlatyshev

Well, Oleg and I file ourselves. You can find everything you need to file at www.BCIS.gov, unless the web address has changed again. Be sure you are at the federal sight, some other sights are similar and look federal, but charge for the forms they supply. Everything can be done yourselves, it's your decision whether to file with or with out an attorney's help. In my opinion, the only thing an attorney will do is make sure you put the right information in the right spaces on the forms. Alot of money paid for you to do all the work.

We filed ourselves, I spent so much time rechecking all of my work that I refused to pay an attorney $1500 to do the same thing.

There are also some people who will help do this for a small fee, usually no more than $500. This is mostly done for those who can't speak English and need interpretation done for them.

Any way, there really are no pitfalls, not that I found any way. We are just up to the loooong wait part of it. As are many other couples in this group. We have been waiting for the criminal background check to clear for over a year now. I think, this is my opinion as they did not tell us where the hang up is, that Russia is taking thier time getting back to the US with thier end of the check. Which is ridiculous, Oleg came to the US when he was 17, he didn't have a chance to get any kind of record in Russia, let alone criminal. Sorry, I hate that subject.

Anyway, it's a long arduous process. But, from my experience, if you live with in a decent range to the office you must file at, you are better off filing alone. We were required to file in Kansas City, MO, which is only 2.5 hours away from us. So we didn't need a liaison to go in and speak with the agents for us. We have done it ourselves every step of the way. If nothing else, it has taught us great patience. Oh, and we filed everything at once, since he was already here on a student visa we filed my petition and his forms at the same time, if you do it this way, it saves time when trying to set up an interview and gets many things out of the way all at once. In all actuality, if we wanted to, we could go ahead and file for his unconditional Permanent Residency and get is, probably sooner than the conditional we are still waiting for.

If you have any other questions, or wanna just chat one on one about it, feel free to check out my profile, it has the different messengers I use to chat....I would be happy to help you with any questions you have.

Posted by: Jill

Quote:

Is there anyway out of the 2 year homestay requirment??? Can a lawyer help? Has anyone succesfully got around this requirment??

I just responded to your other post. But I'll respond here as well. It is possible to get a waiver for the two year homestay. However, I do not personally know anyone who has been successful. Have your fiancee contact the Embassy where her visa was issued and see if they can provide any advice as to whether or not she is eligible for a waiver. If not, find a good lawyer. Or consider moving to Ukraine.

Remember, you can not begin filing until you resolve the issue of the homestay requirement. So you need to tackle this one first.

Posted by: Fur_Seal

I have good news. I looked at Vika's visa and it cleary states she is not under the 2 year foreign stay requirement. Also, her I94 form has checked the box that exempts her from this requirment.

I think all that is left to do is get married, file for a change of status, fill in the other forms required (demographic, sponsor, medical form), provide birth certificate and hope for the best.

I am certainly not an expert or an immigration lawyer, but we are now much more upbeat and hopeful!

I welcome any advice taking this new information into account.

Specifically, I am interested in anyone who has been married after coming to the US on a J1 visa, then marrying!!!

Thanks Chris (aka fur_seal)

Posted by: heatherlatyshev

I'm glad to hear you have the situation pretty much resolved. It sounds as if you can just go on in the way Oleg and I did. As I told you last night, since he was already in the US, we didn't get a fiance visa, we just married and filed the I485 package. It was fast and relatively painless. Although, after looking up the information with you the other day, I am upset to see that the fees have increased so dramatically since Oleg and I filed. I am so glad we don't have to do it again, don't know if I have the energy.

Great news and Best of Luck!!!

Posted by: tanya3475

The first time I came to the US was on a J-1 visa...as far as I know not every J-1 has a 2 year homestay requirement (at least not Camp America or Au Pair USA programms) because many people I know who came on these programms to stay here for a year, went back home, applied again and came second and third times...so, im sure your fiancee is ok...just get married and file adjustment of status right away and you should be just fine even if you have to wait here for awhile, you will wait together!!! don't let her go back to Russia now, just do everything from here...i wish you the best of luck with your paperwork