Getting married in the US - help

[sraboni123]

Would be grateful for any advice:

- my fiance who is in the US with a H1B work permit and has applied for his greencard - he is now at the final stage waiting for the priority date to be current before he submits his application.

We want to get married in the US. The confusion is whats the best way:
- I am UK citizen - and because he is not a US citizen - I am assuming I do not need to apply for a fiance visa? is this correct. So I would have to go there on the visa waiver programme.
- After the marriage I am planning to settle in the us - but I intend to come back to uk first. Now what kind of application does he need to apply for me?
- If in the meantime his priority date becomes current - can he apply for me at the same time as his and do I need to be physically present in the US for him to do that or would our marriage certificate be sufficient (thats assuming we get married before it becomes current). Would I still be able to travel to US and back on the visa waiver programme after he applies for me with his I485?

sorry for asking so much - its just so complicated and everyone seems to have a different view on this...

your advice would be much appreciated
srab

[iamwhoever]

If you are able to marry in the US before he becomes a permanent resident, you are correct that you do not need a fiance visa. That is only required for non-US citizens marrying a US citzizen who plan to take up permanent residency. So, since you don't fall into that category, you would travel to the US via the VWP to get married.

I don't see anything about marying in the US prior to your fiance receiving his Green Card. So, in regards to marrying him in the US prior to him receiving permanent residency, maybe someone else can answer that. I would assume it is allowed, but I couldn't be sure. There is some info on being married prior to becoming a permanent resident, and you may qualify for "following-to-join benefits." However, it states that you were married prior and your spouse didn't "physically accompany you" there. How they define this, I'm not sure. But, I would assume that if you tried applying this way, then you could not get married in the US, but that you would have to marry in the UK.

The other thing to note is that you may want to be sure to ask about your residency during the appplication process. Immigration usually wants you to remain in one spot because of posting the documents and contacted you. Also, I'm not sure if you could go to the US and wait, so you may have to remain in the UK.

Anyway, here are some links that may help:

USCIS website: http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/ ... f3d6a1RCRD

Marriage in US: http://www.foreignborn.com/visas_imm/im ... htm#lawful

Bring Spouse to US (This site contains the info on being married before Permanent Residency with the qualification of "following-to-join benefits."): http://www.foreignborn.com/visas_imm/im ... spouse.htm

Good Luck! Cheers!

[Christophe]

Thanks, iamwhoever!

[sraboni123]

Thanks Iamwhoever......