Boylerz

Howdy all,

As some of you will know I have a L visa and am working in Portland, OR.
This is great as my girlfriend is living in Seattle so happy bays. The L
is for 3 years and can be renewed etc etc.

My question - Some time next year we are considering a move together to
Chicago and doing some South American and Asian travelling. The main
reason we think Chicago would make sense is that I could get direct
flights to Ireland to visit and she will be nearer her family. Now this
would obviously mean that we would have to quite our jobs and hence my
first Q - How long do you have in the country when you surrender an L1
visa? My guess is 3 months?

Now I get to the marriage part. It would make most sense to get married
while I have the L visa right? If I was to quite my job next August
approx when we be a good time to get hitched would you think? I want to
be ahead of the posse so that I have a marriage visa when I leave the
job (if we actually go ahead with our plan) so that we can relax and do
some travelling.

Any advice would be great!!!

Conor.

Noorah101

> Howdy all,
>
> As some of you will know I have a L visa and am working in Portland,
> OR. This is great as my girlfriend is living in Seattle so happy bays.
> The L is for 3 years and can be renewed etc etc.
>
> My question - Some time next year we are considering a move together
> to Chicago and doing some South American and Asian travelling. The
> main reason we think Chicago would make sense is that I could get
> direct flights to Ireland to visit and she will be nearer her family.
> Now this would obviously mean that we would have to quite our jobs and
> hence my first Q - How long do you have in the country when you
> surrender an L1 visa? My guess is 3 months?
>
> Now I get to the marriage part. It would make most sense to get
> married while I have the L visa right? If I was to quite my job next
> August approx when we be a good time to get hitched would you think? I
> want to be ahead of the posse so that I have a marriage visa when I
> leave the job (if we actually go ahead with our plan) so that we can
> relax and do some travelling.
>
> Any advice would be great!!!
>
> Conor.

If the L visa is a dual intent visa, yes.


It doesn't really matter when you get married...it matters when you file
the AOS paperwork. Look at www.uscis.gov, find the processing times,
and then find your local district office to see how long an I-485 takes
to process. That will give you some idea of how long it might take to
get your green card interview. When you apply for AOS, you should apply
for EAD and AP so you can work and travel while waiting for your GC
interview.


You won't be getting a marriage visa. You'll be applying for your
permanent resident status (green card). No visa involved. As I said
above, you can marry, file AOS (including AP for travel), and then when
your AP comes in (about 2 months after filing), you can relax and do
some traveling.

Best Wishes,
Rene

Austinman

"Boylerz" <member47768@british_expats.com> wrote in message
news:35$411525$4164378$...
>
> Howdy all,
>
> As some of you will know I have a L visa and am working in Portland, OR.
> This is great as my girlfriend is living in Seattle so happy bays. The L
> is for 3 years and can be renewed etc etc.
>
> My question - Some time next year we are considering a move together to
> Chicago and doing some South American and Asian travelling. The main
> reason we think Chicago would make sense is that I could get direct
> flights to Ireland to visit and she will be nearer her family. Now this
> would obviously mean that we would have to quite our jobs and hence my
> first Q - How long do you have in the country when you surrender an L1
> visa? My guess is 3 months?
>
> Now I get to the marriage part. It would make most sense to get married
> while I have the L visa right? If I was to quite my job next August
> approx when we be a good time to get hitched would you think? I want to
> be ahead of the posse so that I have a marriage visa when I leave the
> job (if we actually go ahead with our plan) so that we can relax and do
> some travelling.
>
> Any advice would be great!!!
>
> Conor.

Hi Conor,

It sounds like you will travel the same path I did, L visa, marriage, green
card. In my humble opinion if you and your girlfriend plan on getting
married anyway, then make wedding plans and tie the knot as soon as
possible. The sooner you are married the sooner you can apply for a
permanent residency. This removes a lot of complication from your life such
as, how long you can stay in the US if you stop working, traveling outside
the USA and not being able to come back in.

In summary, get married, sort the green card and then you can work and
travel without worrying if you are breaking the rules.

Hcj1440

> Howdy all,
>
> As some of you will know I have a L visa and am working in Portland,
> OR. This is great as my girlfriend is living in Seattle so happy bays.
> The L is for 3 years and can be renewed etc etc.
>
> My question - Some time next year we are considering a move together
> to Chicago and doing some South American and Asian travelling. The
> main reason we think Chicago would make sense is that I could get
> direct flights to Ireland to visit and she will be nearer her family.
> Now this would obviously mean that we would have to quite our jobs and
> hence my first Q - How long do you have in the country when you
> surrender an L1 visa? My guess is 3 months?
>
> Now I get to the marriage part. It would make most sense to get
> married while I have the L visa right? If I was to quite my job next
> August approx when we be a good time to get hitched would you think? I
> want to be ahead of the posse so that I have a marriage visa when I
> leave the job (if we actually go ahead with our plan) so that we can
> relax and do some travelling.
>
> Any advice would be great!!!
>
> Conor.

We did exactly this -- adjustment from L visa, traveling and all! We
took 8 months off after we got married and traveled all over Asia and
the US. It was the best thing we ever did.

Anyhoo -- re: the immigration stuff -- L is a dual-intent visa so no
problems there. You need either LPR (Lawful Permanent Resident, aka
"Green Card") status or something called an Advance Parole before you
can leave on your travels. Timeline goes something like this assuming
you are super organized:

-- start getting applications filled out and paperwork together
-- get married
-- get marriage certificate -- unless you make special arrangements,
this can take 2-3 weeks to arrive via mail
-- file I-130, I-485, I-765 and I-131 plus accompanying forms with USCIS
-- in theory, Advance Parole (AP) comes in about 90 days -- but there's
no telling what will happen, could take longer. EAD (work permit) is
also supposed to come within 90 days, again, it doesn't always.
-- depending on where you are living, you are assigned to a USCIS
district office for the interview. Different offices have different
processing times. Portland OR and Seattle are both reporting about a 6
month timeline. Chicago is reporting a slightly longer one, 6.5 months.
These are just estimated times, usually most people are called for
interview slightly ahead of the timing reported. BUT your case might be
an exception and get called after the timing reported, or they might
receive a whole bunch of applications and the timeline gets pushed out,
etc. So just remember everything is an estimate and the real answer is
that it happens when it happens and you have no control over it.

Oh and after you quit your job, your L visa is done immediately. You
have no grace period to be in the country afterwards, certainly not 3
months!!! Technically you have to leave the US that same day. And the
next time you will be back in lawful status is when USCIS accepts your
correct I-485 filing. My L visa husband waited to quit his job until we
had everything submitted and got a receipt back.

If you travel on AP be aware that you cannot be outside of the US for
that long or they might not let you back in. We were out for 87 days
and other people told us afterwards that we were lucky we got back in.
Also don't forget that you have to be back for the green card interview.

Another option is to go for an immigrant visa (IV) instead. IV has to
be interviewed for and picked up in the US consulate in your home
country. I think it takes around 8-10 months total. I didn't go this
route so I don't know that much about it, but basically you file I-130
with a USCIS service center, when approved it goes to the US consulate
in your home country, you are scheduled for an interview and given an
application packet, you go and do the interview, assuming you are
approved you will get your visa. Then you have 6 months to enter the
US with that visa, and when you do enter the US with it, you will be
entering as an LPR/"GC holder". This route might work better with
your travel plans if you are planning on being outside the US for a
long time.

Boylerz

> We did exactly this -- adjustment from L visa, traveling and all! We
> took 8 months off after we got married and traveled all over Asia and
> the US. It was the best thing we ever did.
>
> Anyhoo -- re: the immigration stuff -- L is a dual-intent visa so no
> problems there. You need either LPR (Lawful Permanent Resident, aka
> "Green Card") status or something called an Advance Parole before you
> can leave on your travels. Timeline goes something like this assuming
> you are super organized:
>
> -- start getting applications filled out and paperwork together
> -- get married
> -- get marriage certificate -- unless you make special arrangements,
> this can take 2-3 weeks to arrive via mail
> -- file I-130, I-485, I-765 and I-131 plus accompanying forms with
> USCIS
> -- in theory, Advance Parole (AP) comes in about 90 days -- but
> there's no telling what will happen, could take longer. EAD (work
> permit) is also supposed to come within 90 days, again, it doesn't
> always.
> -- depending on where you are living, you are assigned to a USCIS
> district office for the interview. Different offices have different
> processing times. Portland OR and Seattle are both reporting about a
> 6 month timeline. Chicago is reporting a slightly longer one, 6.5
> months. These are just estimated times, usually most people are
> called for interview slightly ahead of the timing reported. BUT your
> case might be an exception and get called after the timing reported,
> or they might receive a whole bunch of applications and the timeline
> gets pushed out, etc. So just remember everything is an estimate and
> the real answer is that it happens when it happens and you have no
> control over it.
>
> Oh and after you quit your job, your L visa is done immediately. You
> have no grace period to be in the country afterwards, certainly not 3
> months!!! Technically you have to leave the US that same day. And
> the next time you will be back in lawful status is when USCIS accepts
> your correct I-485 filing. My L visa husband waited to quit his job
> until we had everything submitted and got a receipt back.
>
> If you travel on AP be aware that you cannot be outside of the US for
> that long or they might not let you back in. We were out for 87 days
> and other people told us afterwards that we were lucky we got back in.
> Also don't forget that you have to be back for the green card
> interview.
>
> Another option is to go for an immigrant visa (IV) instead. IV has to
> be interviewed for and picked up in the US consulate in your home
> country. I think it takes around 8-10 months total. I didn't go this
> route so I don't know that much about it, but basically you file I-130
> with a USCIS service center, when approved it goes to the US consulate
> in your home country, you are scheduled for an interview and given an
> application packet, you go and do the interview, assuming you are
> approved you will get your visa. Then you have 6 months to enter the
> US with that visa, and when you do enter the US with it, you will be
> entering as an LPR/"GC holder". This route might work better with
> your travel plans if you are planning on being outside the US for a
> long time.

Thanks so much for the details. I have PM'd you!

Boylerz

> Thanks so much for the details. I have PM'd you!

Thanks for all the help guys! It seems like a long road!!

Meauxna

> Thanks for all the help guys! It seems like a long road!!

Not really. Our Portland office has the AOS cases turned over inside of
6 months.
Or is that long?

Boylerz

> Not really. Our Portland office has the AOS cases turned over inside
> of 6 months.
> Or is that long?

Really?? Did you go through the Portland office?

Meauxna

> Really?? Did you go through the Portland office?

Indeed. POO all the way!

Great workers!