# Eu (French) citizen moving to the US



## castorsd (Oct 19, 2012)

Hello,

Quick scenario:
1.) We're JUST starting research, so if some of my questions can be answered as simply as me continuing to research, please feel free to ignore me. 
2.) I'm posting on behalf of my girlfriend mostly. I'm a US Citizen, she's French. She's accepting a position in the US teaching at a university.

The position she's accepting is for a language program in California. She's worked with the group in the past as an exchange student, but is now taking a job as a full time lecturer. They're helping her fill out the paperwork. We plan to enter the US in August, but classes don't start until Oct 2.

Questions:
1.) If the sponsor letter says Sept 15, is she allowed to travel into the US prior to that? Does she just file for an ESTA, or does she need something else? 

2.) Are there any awesome 1 stop shop sources other than this forum for a crash course? Our move is pretty short notice for us, and we're trying to get as much as possible together so we're not hitting a brick wall at the last minute.

Thank you all very very much!


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## Davis1 (Feb 20, 2009)

will she be getting an employment visa from the employer on going as the wife of a US citizen 
in which case you will need to file for a spousal visa ...to get a green card


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## twostep (Apr 3, 2008)

Helping to fill out the paperwork? What visa will she be on?


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## castorsd (Oct 19, 2012)

*Updates: More useful info from me, sorry!*

Initially the expectation is that her employer will sponsor her. It sounds like they intend to use the J-1 visa for her. 

Our plans would ideally look something like this:
1.) Have her accept the position
2.) Look for other future employment elsewhere (the location of the current job isn't awesome)
3.) Save the marriage angle for an actual romantic decision once we're through the stressful parts of starting immigration.

Granted that's all the ideal options...I'm aware we may need to adjust some of those plans.


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## twostep (Apr 3, 2008)

J1 transfers can be iffy. J1 to H1B can be very iffy. AoS can be very very iffy.
What are your real plans? There is no test-drive relationship visa:>)


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## Crawford (Jan 23, 2011)

castorsd said:


> Initially the expectation is that her employer will sponsor her. It sounds like they intend to use the J-1 visa for her.
> 
> 
> The "expectation" ? Unless the education establishment does not sponsor her she will not be moving to the US.
> ...


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## castorsd (Oct 19, 2012)

HA, yeah. I hear ya. Basically things are pretty serious but with a fianceé visa it would be a nightmare. I've lived in Paris for a bit over a year with her and it's all awesome. So why not just go for it?
-This whole relocation literally *just* came up from my work and her potential employer within the last week
-Today I have family visiting for 3 weeks
-I have to be in the US for all of July for work stuff
-We're have travel plans already booked for August
-Her job starts in Sept
-We have to find housing, and at least 1 vehicle as part of the move
-My job keeps me working about 8-12 hours/day, and she's on the final grind to finish her masters degree. 

...soooo tacking wedding planning onto that, which has to be done before and finalized within 90 days of arriving in the US (August 3rd is the planned flight to the August plans)


.....so yeah... We're not really *above* a rush off to Vegas to just make it all much easier....I think we just wanted to find a way to do it as a legit wedding for the sake of marriage. I suppose worst case scenario we can just approach the Vegas option for paper work's sake, and do an actual ceremony later. Gah, the tragedy of being a purist.


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## twostep (Apr 3, 2008)

castorsd said:


> HA, yeah. I hear ya. Basically things are pretty serious but with a fianceé visa it would be a nightmare. I've lived in Paris for a bit over a year with her and it's all awesome. So why not just go for it?
> -This whole relocation literally *just* came up from my work and her potential employer within the last week
> -Today I have family visiting for 3 weeks
> -I have to be in the US for all of July for work stuff
> ...


I do not understand your problems. Most of us work full time jobs or go to school. It does not take a day to buy a vehicle and find an apartment in the US, family is family. 

The 90 day span is AFTER approved K1. There is no way you will have that in hand by August. Of course you can try the AoS route after a US marriage.


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## castorsd (Oct 19, 2012)

Ok lemme phrase it differently. For various reasons the fiancee approach isn't the top of our list at this exact more. I need to move back to the US for work, and she wants to move to the US also. She has an open offer from an employer. She would like to immigrate the US (so a J1 seems non-ideal?)

Timelines:
-I need to be in the US August 3
-She needs to be in the US August 3-15, and again Sept 15 onward (Till July 2015)


From what I understand our options are:
-Diversity Lottery
-J-1 as the program is presently suggesting, and try to transition (AoS) to K1 or other (E class), potentially with a J-1 waiver to remove the 2 year residence requirement
-H1B or H2B with a future AoS to E class or K1
-E class visa (If her employer will support it) so that she can go directly into an immigration track. As a native language speaker for a French as a foreign language I assume she has limited "special abilities" at best according to the preference categorization?
---She does have a previous history with this employer; they are explicitly head hunting her as a direct result of her previous reviews and performance evaluations.
-From what I've read the K-1 process is quite slow (6-8 months), which means we can't start with that anyway, to achieve the Sept 15 timeline of her getting to the US in time for the job. Is this wrong?
--Is there something to be done to allow her to enter the US while it's being processed that won't conflict with her ability to work?
--Alternatively I guess we could marry here (France), and the file for a spouse visa instead?


It also looks like there's a means of filing a "Dual intent" declaration to fully disclose your plans to pursue immigration when a legitimate track opens, but I haven't been able to figure out how this works, or if it applies.


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## BBCWatcher (Dec 28, 2012)

castorsd said:


> From what I understand our options are:
> -Diversity Lottery


No. The next lottery will open in October, and that puts the successful applicant on a path to emigrate to the U.S. in 2016, typically. That doesn't help for 2014.



> -J-1 as the program is presently suggesting, and try to transition (AoS) to K1 or other (E class), potentially with a J-1 waiver to remove the 2 year residence requirement


The J-1 may work, and her employer needs to sponsor her for that. That process is not related to you and proceeds (or doesn't proceed) on its own timeline. The adjustment is she marries you. (Forget the K-1. She's already in the U.S. on a J-1.)



> -H1B or H2B with a future AoS to E class or K1


Let the university figure out which visa path they wish to pursue, but J-1 sounds fine to me. Same comment as above about adjustment.



> -E class visa (If her employer will support it) so that she can go directly into an immigration track. As a native language speaker for a French as a foreign language I assume she has limited "special abilities" at best according to the preference categorization?


Up to her employer and her, as you say.



> -From what I've read the K-1 process is quite slow (6-8 months), which means we can't start with that anyway, to achieve the Sept 15 timeline of her getting to the US in time for the job. Is this wrong?


Not wrong.



> --Is there something to be done to allow her to enter the US while it's being processed that won't conflict with her ability to work?


I don't think so.



> --Alternatively I guess we could marry here (France), and the file for a spouse visa instead?


You could, but that will not help her move to the U.S. in August, 2014.


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