Getting married while on J1 visa

Background - I’m a US citizen, my fiance is a UK citizen. We’ve been living together in the UK for the past 6 years. We plan on getting married in September this year in the US. Fiance will be entering the US on a J1 for an internship (no 2 year residency requirement), and his internship finishes the week before the wedding. I will remain in the UK and fly to the US a few weeks before the wedding.

Is it acceptable to enter the US on a J1 with intent to get married while there? We will leave the US after the wedding to return to the UK.

On return to the UK, fiance will be finishing his PhD there. We would like to start applying for his US permanent residency while he is finishing his PhD so we can move to the US when it is finished. Does any of this intent to apply for a green card affect the previous point about entering the US on a J1? (Note: we will leave the US shortly after the wedding and return to the UK before applying for the green card).

Can we apply for his green card while we’re both living in the UK? How does the affidavit of support relate to that? (Does the US citizen need a job in the US?).

I thought I would reply in case anyone was interested in hearing the answers we got.

An immigration lawyer in California advised us that it would be fine for us to get married while my fiancé is in the US on a J-1 visa, provided we return to the UK and do not apply for adjustment of status for him.

Additionally, he said I should move back to the US and get a job about a year before my fiancé plans on immigrating. At the time of his green card application I need to provide evidence of means to support him (ie. having a job and place to live). If I don't have enough income to support him we'll need an additional sponsor who is a US citizen.

Hope this helps others.

I would recommend to use a different lawyer.
1. There are no restrictions on marriage in US (unlike UK, you do not need a special marriage visa or such)
2. You CAN adjust status in USA - the only formal requirement is that at the time of entry you were not planning to do AOS ( no "preconceived" intent to violate non-immigrant visa condition at time of entry). The burden of proof that you had such an intent is on USCIS if you apply for AOS more then 60 days after entering the country. Note that intent to marry is not the same as intent to stay (your circumstances may change).
3. You do not need to move back to US "one year before" your spouse. If you leave abroad, you can apply from abroad. The only issue is that you do have to file affidavit, where you have to show that you are able to maintain your spouse in US. You should submit your tax returns for recent years, and evidence that you will have income in USA, or you should have a co-sponsor with decent USA income or wealth.
A good source of information is the following US immigration forum, mainly populated by people bringing foreign spouses to USA:
http://www.visajourney.com
Hope that helps

obormot wrote:I would recommend to use a different lawyer.
...
2. You CAN adjust status in USA - the only formal requirement is that at the time of entry you were not planning to do AOS ( no "preconceived" intent to violate non-immigrant visa condition at time of entry). The burden of proof that you had such an intent is on USCIS if you apply for AOS more then 60 days after entering the country. Note that intent to marry is not the same as intent to stay (your circumstances may change).

Well said obormot. I did this - I came into the country and then changed status. I was as nervous as all heck, but my lawyer said it was okay, and it worked.

Get a better lawyer!