US residency for Argentines??

[YanquiGallego]

A US citizen friend of mine is planning to marry his Argentine girlfriend.

They are currently obtaining the special Visa Fiancé for her to travel to meet his folks and plan to fly up to Vegas and get married (LOL typical) and then come back to BA, he wants to obtain US residency and later citizenship after a few years for the girlfriend, however, both of them want to continue to live in BA because this is where he is working right now and her parents are quite needy.

He's asked me if I knew of possibilities for Argentines that are wed to US citizens obtaining US residency while still living abroad with their spouse?

Anybody have any info on this?

Thanks

 

[ElQueso]

I have a friend who has done this, but in order to make it work, it's a bit gray and expensive.

I believe the US immigration law states that the immigrant must live in the country for at least six months out of the year in order to maintain temporary residency and complete the permanent residency. My friend is doing this by going to the States every couple of months for a couple of months. He was warned by his immigration attorney that the number of exits and entrances could be a problem when it came time to complete the permanent residency, but so far he hasn't encountered anything problematic.

Permanent residency is one thing, but I don't think the citizenship is as easy. I don't know much about that aspect though.

My wife is Paraguayan and I have not had her apply for residency because quite frankly I can't afford the multiple flights back and forth that would be required to do so. There's no chance at all if you can't be in the country for the stated period of time, as far as I know.

To qualify for a spouse or fiancee visa in the States, you also have to prove the ability to support your spouse/fiancee. If he has a job in the States and files income tax returns based on those earnings, that in and of itself shouldn't be a problem, but if he earns money here, it could be problematic.

 

[mcaffa]

He should contact the US Embassy in Argentina directly ([email protected]) and see what they have to say.

 

[el_expatriado]

He's asked me if I knew of possibilities for Argentines that are wed to US citizens obtaining US residency while still living abroad with their spouse?

Anybody have any info on this?

Thanks

I am in the same situation (my wife is Argentine and we live in Argentina). It can't be done. You have to apply for the residency when you actually want to go and live in the USA. But you can't apply and then not use it.

But residency for a spouse is approved automatically. You don't have any wait list or anything.

 

[nikad]

It cannot be done, I am in the same boat, and if you cheat and lose residency, say goodbye to it...

 

[legilber]

I went through my US citizenship about 3 years ago (Canadian) after having live in the states for over 10 years on a Green card. Keep in mind that they ask for a detailed report of any traveling outside of the US for the past 5 years (I believe its 5 and not 10). I doesn't matter if you went on a long weekend to Canada, Mexico, whatever. They want to know it all.

While still on a green card my bother lived in france for a year. We weren't aware of the 6 month rule and his citizenship took well over a year to come in, while ours took about 6 months. However considering we had been living in the US for so long, they understood that we were there to stay and gave us the green light.

So yes, you have to be physically living in the US in order to do this. A word of advice for anyone wanting to get not only a green card but also citizenship, KEEP TRACK OF EVERYTHING! Jobs, traveling, etc.

Tell your friend good luck!

 

[earlyretirement]

I am in the same situation (my wife is Argentine and we live in Argentina). It can't be done. You have to apply for the residency when you actually want to go and live in the USA. But you can't apply and then not use it.

But residency for a spouse is approved automatically. You don't have any wait list or anything.

This is exactly correct. You have to wait until you are ready to go move to the USA. I got married several years ago in Buenos Aires but we couldn't apply for USA residency for my wife until we were ready to re-locate back to the USA.

You don't have to wait for anything once you are ready to file. The employees at the USA Embassy in Buenos Aires are SUPER friendly and helpful. It was super easy. We just applied and had to show paperwork, photos, documentation of the marriage and it was super easy. She had to enter the USA before a set date and she got a temporary green card for 2 years. Then when that was up you have to remember that you MUST re-apply to get a one year extension on it. And keep in mind you can't apply too far ahead of time for it. I think you have to wait for something like less than 90 days before it expires.

I never knew about this going into the process but it's important to remember as we didn't get any notice or anything in the mail. I had to search this out and find out what the next step is after the temporary green card expired after 2 years.

You have to fill out the form I-751 (Petition to remove conditions on residence). -- (http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/i-751.pdf). You have to pay $590 in various fees to get it renewed and we had to show tax returns, bank statements, wife's State driver's license, car registration and insurance paperwork, utility bills, etc. They basically want to see proof that you are still together and in fact living where you claim to be living. My wife also had to go personally to an office to go get her biometrics (fingerprints, etc) taken.

They don't care if you're traveling around on vacation but they will flag you if you're living the majority of the time outside of the USA. It's best to do once you are ready to live in the USA for an extended period.

Then your spouse can get citizenship after 3 years. The funny thing is they don't give you another Green Card with a new expiration date. They only send you this letter that says your Green card is extended another year that you have to carry around with your green card when you travel.

 

[GS_Dirtboy]

This advice is spot-on. I'm a US Citizen married to a Brasilian. We now live here in Argentina. We just went through all of this. She has her green card but had to be living in the US to get it. The overriding consideration for Immigration in this case is what is your intent. If you intend to reside in the US then you should have no problem. If your wife spends more than 1/2 of her time outside of the US, has a job outside of the US, or has other indicators that her intent is not to live in the US then you'll have a problem. Be forewarned, it is an expensive process.

Also, our lawyer advised us to be absolutely truthfull with Immigration. If they catch you lying about anything you can probably kiss goodbye any future life together in the US. Congratulations and good luck!

 

[earlyretirement]

Be forewarned, it is an expensive process.

Also, our lawyer advised us to be absolutely truthfull with Immigration. If they catch you lying about anything you can probably kiss goodbye any future life together in the US. Congratulations and good luck!

Actually I don't think this has to be an "expensive process" at all. I didn't spend a penny on it. I did it all myself and I thought the process was very easy. I'm fairly good with legal matters but still I didn't think it was difficult and certainly someone could do all of this themselves without a lawyer. They key is to follow each step and be very detailed with the paperwork.

The forms are all downloadable from the website and it's just a matter of gathering the documents that they ask for. I don't think anyone that really is living in the USA would have any problems at all. I can't see any need to hire a lawyer unless you have some really difficult situation or something more complicated.

But if you're a US citizen and living in the USA and legally married and residing in the USA it's all straight forward and you can easily do it yourself.

I do agree to be completely honest with immigration. I have a good friend and he married a Brazilian girl and she spent the majority of the year in Brazil as she didn't really want to live in the USA as she missed Brazil and spent more time with her family. Long story short....she didn't get her permanent residency extended after her 2 year initial period.

I wouldn't jeopardize messing around with going through the USA residency process until you really are moving to the USA. It will make it more complicated later. Your spouse can easily get a long term tourist visa to go back and forth until you are ready to get her residency. Certainly not worth it to jeopardize the situation because then later when you really will move to the USA you could have problems.

 

[GS_Dirtboy]

Actually I don't think this has to be an "expensive process" at all. I didn't spend a penny on it.

How did you do this? Filing the forms isn't free.