Moving to US

[Wallysmum]

With a child. DD father has no contact but still has PR. Himself is planning to live abroad elsewhere.

For me to move us to live with partner who is a US citizen, what would I need to do? Unmarried but would consider if it makes the process easier.

Is it a very difficult process?

thank you

I'm married to an American. You're going to have to get married if you want your partner to bring you over legally.

Are you both in the same country right now? Or would you be going over to join them? There's a few different routes you can take. I came over on a K1 fiancée visa because now DH had already moved back to the states. It took about 18 months from start to finish. The process wasn't hard, just slow and expensive.

I’m married to an American. We got married first (quick little courthouse wedding when I was visiting him once) and then did the spouse visa. Advantage of that is that you get a green card the minute you arrive with immigrant visa and can work, etc right away. I’m the breadwinner so that was important for us. Spouse visa took 10 months and 1 day from sending the first form to going to the embassy for my interview and being approved. It’s slightly longer now. It’s not difficult. Just tedious. I visited him several times throughout the wait.

You will need documentation from your child’s father that he consents to you removing the child from the UK permanently.

**You will need documentation from your child’s father that he consents to you removing the child from the UK permanently.
This. Or a court order, might not be easy. Good luck!

There is no way you will be able to go to the US to live permanently without getting married unless you can get a working visa (rare as hens' teeth).

Do not go to the US on a visitor visa - B-2 - and get married while there. You would have to give a satisfactory explanation to a USCIS official about a spontaneous wedding if you were to proceed to a Green Card application via a 'status adjustment' application. They would very likely not believe you, and you would have a high chance of being deported, charged with visa fraud. You would be in a Catch 22 situation because the Green Card process, if relying on marriage as the tie to the US, requires proof that the marriage wasn't just for convenience (which spontaneous weddings look like to USCIS) and is based on a real relationship.

You should look into getting a fiance visa (K-1), which will require that you get married in the US within a certain number of months of your arrival. Then you send off your paperwork/certificates and application for a green card. You will both be interviewed as part of the GC process - USCIS will want to know when, where, how you met, how long you knew each other, when did you get engaged.

If you met online and your relationship consists of emails and phone calls you may be turned down. You may even be turned down if you met in the traditional way and had a traditional boy meets girl and dated in real life relationship. Your answers need to correspond.