American Girlfriend And Argentinian Boyfriend

[el_expatriado]

My wife is Argentine, so let me tell you the quickest way to get things done. We looked into all of this before we got married. This is assuming you both want to be together as quick as possible in the USA and do everything legal.

1. Get the fiancée visa in Argentina. You can do it without a lawyer. Takes 90 days.
2. Move to the USA and get married in the USA within 90 days of arriving.
3. Apply to change your visa status after getting married (no lawyer needed). At this point you don't care how long it takes because you are already in the USA with your wife.

Yes, using a lawyer will speed things up and might help you avoid mistakes, but lawyers in the USA are expensive. As long as you can read and follow directions and organize the paperwork yourself, you can do it.

 

[StuckLikeGlue]

Hi, congratulations on the engagement! I am from the US and my fiance is Argentine. We are currently in the middle of all of this, so I think I have some insight.

Despite what I am seeing here, I can say for a fact that the K1 visa takes around 10 months from sending the first application to having the visa in hand (and possibly more, if they request more information or any problems arise). Believe me, we applied a month ago and were told we won't hear anything back until at least September.

If you get married in Argentina, immigrations will still tell you to apply for a spousal visa to the US. It is not easy (or cheap) to get married here, then simply go to the US and change your status... they will either 1) tell you that you have to wait in Argentina until your spousal visa has been approved or 2) you will need an immigration lawyer to defend your decision to skip the waiting period and enter the US with the intention of staying, even though you don't have a proper visa yet. Being married to a US citizen does not mean you will automatically receive residency, you will still have to do all the paperwork and interview with immigrations, at some point.

We chose to go with the K1 Fiance visa because an immigration lawyer advised us that if we can handle waiting a few more months, it is a relatively simple process. Whereas entering the US with the intention of staying, but without having already been approved for a permanent visa, carries a higher risk and can take much longer in the end.

Feel free to PM me if you have any more questions

 

[freiheit.1991]

Thank you to everyone for the wonderful answers, let me give you more details, I am currently a college student (1º year out of 4 to complete the degree), I have a little job which doesn't give me almost any money so I am trying to get a full time job to begin saving money for this process; which I know from what I just read about other experiences. On the other hand my girlfriend is currently studying to get a bachelor degree in the US (just 1 year more so far), she has an associate degree already, and she plans in getting a full time job after graduation.

So my dilema is what do I do?. Stay here in Argentina for 4 or maybe 5 years more to finish my degree which is not a bachelor degree but an associate one and work a part time job, or look for a full time job to get money faster; my logic and heart says "stop loosing your time and get a job to leave this country as quick as you can" but then the reality appears saying, what will I do in the US with just a high school degree, and some extra knowledge I got studying several things without finishing it.

Everyone is right, we really want to be together, since the last moment we spent together in that painful airport we've been missing each other so much

Thank you for the advices, any other advice will always be welcome!

 

[lauBA]

I am also in process of applying for a K1 visa - it takes about 6 - 8 months from the time you submit the first paperwork.
Since we wanted to get married in the US, we decided to go forth with the K1 visa and didn't research much about the process of getting married in Arg and then applying for a spousal visa (K2, I think), but I think it is very similar to the K1. My fiance has a Spanish passport so technically we could have got married in the US without a visa, but decided to go the K1 visa route to avoid any fines and problems in the future.

We are applying without a lawyer. It is not too difficult, just takes some time to get all the paperwork and documentation together.
We found visajourney.com very helpful. Make an account and ask all the questions you want, people are pretty helpful!

Let me know if you have any questions. Felicidades!!

 

[ajoknoblauch]

Those wonderful days of the Reagan Administration !! You are correct , not so easy now. As advised above get a good immigration lawyer. Remember , if you marry in the US , or apply for a green card after marrying here , YOU cannot leave the US until the process of getting your green card is complete. SO plan accordingly.

I can describe the Reagan years in many different terms, but "wonderful" is not one of them. The most complimentary I can come up with is "not quite so bad as the years of the Cheney regency."

 

[Quaho]

you dont need a degree to cut lawn, just follow you heart young man

 

[ajoknoblauch]

Thank you to everyone for the wonderful answers, let me give you more details, I am currently a college student (1º year out of 4 to complete the degree), I have a little job which doesn't give me almost any money so I am trying to get a full time job to begin saving money for this process; which I know from what I just read about other experiences. On the other hand my girlfriend is currently studying to get a bachelor degree in the US (just 1 year more so far), she has an associate degree already, and she plans in getting a full time job after graduation.

So my dilema is what do I do?. Stay here in Argentina for 4 or maybe 5 years more to finish my degree which is not a bachelor degree but an associate one and work a part time job, or look for a full time job to get money faster; my logic and heart says "stop loosing your time and get a job to leave this country as quick as you can" but then the reality appears saying, what will I do in the US with just a high school degree, and some extra knowledge I got studying several things without finishing it.

Everyone is right, we really want to be together, since the last moment we spent together in that painful airport we've been missing each other so much

Thank you for the advices, any other advice will always be welcome!

My wife came to the US and got her degrees here. From the little I read, your English is at least good enough to start at a community college in the States, and that would be to your advantage.

 

[Jaredberryman]

There's no need to use a lawyer. It's really not that difficult to do. It would cost $3000 for the lawyer to do it, most likely.

 

[Jaredberryman]

Hi, congratulations on the engagement! I am from the US and my fiance is Argentine. We are currently in the middle of all of this, so I think I have some insight.

Despite what I am seeing here, I can say for a fact that the K1 visa takes around 10 months from sending the first application to having the visa in hand (and possibly more, if they request more information or any problems arise). Believe me, we applied a month ago and were told we won't hear anything back until at least September.

If you get married in Argentina, immigrations will still tell you to apply for a spousal visa to the US. It is not easy (or cheap) to get married here, then simply go to the US and change your status... they will either 1) tell you that you have to wait in Argentina until your spousal visa has been approved or 2) you will need an immigration lawyer to defend your decision to skip the waiting period and enter the US with the intention of staying, even though you don't have a proper visa yet. Being married to a US citizen does not mean you will automatically receive residency, you will still have to do all the paperwork and interview with immigrations, at some point.

We chose to go with the K1 Fiance visa because an immigration lawyer advised us that if we can handle waiting a few more months, it is a relatively simple process. Whereas entering the US with the intention of staying, but without having already been approved for a permanent visa, carries a higher risk and can take much longer in the end.

Feel free to PM me if you have any more questions

Thank you to everyone for the wonderful answers, let me give you more details, I am currently a college student (1º year out of 4 to complete the degree), I have a little job which doesn't give me almost any money so I am trying to get a full time job to begin saving money for this process; which I know from what I just read about other experiences. On the other hand my girlfriend is currently studying to get a bachelor degree in the US (just 1 year more so far), she has an associate degree already, and she plans in getting a full time job after graduation.

So my dilema is what do I do?. Stay here in Argentina for 4 or maybe 5 years more to finish my degree which is not a bachelor degree but an associate one and work a part time job, or look for a full time job to get money faster; my logic and heart says "stop loosing your time and get a job to leave this country as quick as you can" but then the reality appears saying, what will I do in the US with just a high school degree, and some extra knowledge I got studying several things without finishing it.

Everyone is right, we really want to be together, since the last moment we spent together in that painful airport we've been missing each other so much

Thank you for the advices, any other advice will always be welcome!

You can get a full bachelor's degree in the U.S. in four years, maybe even less. It's not hard to get into Universities. I really recommend you study in the U.S--it will save you lots of grief, and in certain fields you will get a more well-rounded education. Most education now is just jumping through hoops anyways. You actually use maybe 20% of what you study, unless it's technical or something like that. If you already have taken some classes, some of those might transfer to a 4 year University, making your study time even shorter. Get your fiance visa, and go into the U.S. and get married. Study there--trust me--it's a much better idea.

 

[cbonanni]

I can describe the Reagan years in many different terms, but "wonderful" is not one of them. The most complimentary I can come up with is "not quite so bad as the years of the Cheney regency."

I am glad someone caught my devious humor !! Agree the Cheney years were worse ( and still feeling the effects ! ) , actually an all time historical low.