# Any suggestions? Work or spouse visa?



## timewilltell (Feb 23, 2009)

Hi all!
briefly: not married couple, parents of one ( two soon ); both working.
"Husband" offered two positions: one in WI and the other in FL. 
We are considering our best and feasable possibilities:
A) if he choses the one in WI, we'd have to get married (either before or in the US) for me to have a visa
But could I possibly get a job there in case I wanted to? 
B) if he choses the one in FL, I could be moved by my company which has branches there, so I'd have a working visa myself too and not need to get married. But: what if I decide to be a full time mom and leave my work once there? what would happen to me and the kids? would I have to leave the states, get married and reenter the states as a spouse? kids would be free of any problem anyway?
What is your suggestion?
Thanks a lot!


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

Hi and welcome to the forum.

In the long run, you're probably going to wind up getting married, no matter which job your partner gets.

Problem is that, generally the trailing spouse doesn't get the right to work. If your company moves you there, the minute you quit working, you have 30 days to leave the country. Also something to check - does your current employer have experience transferring people to their US branches? It isn't an automatic thing. The employer has to be enrolled in the system to offer an L visa on transfer, I think, and as with most immigration matters, it's not cheap to get authorization to make transfers on a regular basis.

For the kids it would depend on whose visa they were dependents on. Which raises issues of who has legal custody of the kids, which kind of makes things complicated.
Cheers,
Bev


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## Fatbrit (May 8, 2008)

timewilltell said:


> Hi all!
> briefly: not married couple, parents of one ( two soon ); both working.
> "Husband" offered two positions: one in WI and the other in FL.
> We are considering our best and feasable possibilities:
> ...


Too confusing at the moment.

Is your husband a US citizen?


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## timewilltell (Feb 23, 2009)

*thanks!*



Fatbrit said:


> Too confusing at the moment.
> 
> Is your husband a US citizen?


No actually, both Italian.
It is very complicated. My daughter is legally recognized by the father and appears on both our passport (the other is yet to be born ). I guess the easy thing would be getting the spouse visa and hope to never want to earn that extra money or get too bored without a job. 
My company moves people around the world no problem...so they say  
I don't know yet how busy will get me being a mom of two, but I can't see myself work full time in another country where for sure it will take me some time to get accustomed to a day-to-day routine...
Once you get a visa and establish a new life in the US, do you know if it is possible to change the visa type? I mean: if I get a working visa, then marry (my partner ) meanwhile in the US, will that get me the possibility to stop working if I wanted to, but remain in the country as a spouse?
Thanks to both!!


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## twostep (Apr 3, 2008)

It sounds like you want to have your cake and eat it. 
You may want to get your priorities figured out before the visa process gets started. You already say you do not want to work full time. Have you checked into infant/toddler day care prices and availability. Read up on US visas on USCIS. Your work based visa is tied to one specific job. You quite, you are fired - you leave within a specified number of days. Fatbrit - is it 10 or 30 days? I do not know if you will have to be out of country were you to marry and your spouse's employer adds you to his visa. If you can apply for work authorization depends on your spouse's visa


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## Fatbrit (May 8, 2008)

I'm no further ahead on this thread than when I started.

For an H1 visa, the spouse and the kids get an H4. An unmarried, cohabiting partner can apply for a B2. Neither the H4 nor the B2 allow work. 

For an L1 visa, the spouse and the kids get an L2. An unmarried, cohabiting partner can apply for a B2. The L2 allows the spouse (but not the kids) to apply for work authorization. The B2 does not allow work. 

For both the L1 and H1, the company can sponsor you and the whole family for green cards provided you are married . With a green card, you can live and work for anyone in the US.


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