I am an America citizen and my boyfriend (well recently fiancée) is from England. We met when I was studying abroad in London nearly 2 1/2 years ago. Last summer he successfully applied and was awarded a J-1 visa as a summer intern. After his summer program ended, he returned (and did NOT over stay) to England to finish his degree. Currently he is finishing his degree. He will graduate in spring 2010.
After he graduates from university with his B.A., he would like move to the United States. We are wondering the best way for him to go about doing that. We understand that the J-1 visa is a non-immigrant visa, but we think it might be the best short term option because we are not ready to get married yet.
His idea to qualify for a J-1 visia is that he will return to the United States and work to the same place he worked for last summer, except this time he'll work in a more rigorous position, as a trainee (as opposed to being a summer intern). We think we may have found a NGO who will sponsor his J-1 visa. What we worry about is that it would look fishy if right after his J-1 visa expires we get married. What our current plan is for him to come into the country for a bit less then a year (Aug 2010- July 2011) on a J-1 visa, leave the country to get married in England, and then return to the United States and apply for a spousal visa. Ideally, we would just apply for the fiancé or spousal visa, but we don't want to get married within 90 days of him arriving in the United States.
What we want to know is that does this sort of thing happen regularly? DO people apply for one visa, and then when that expires apply for another one? Or are we better off trying to apply for a Employment Third Preference (E3), seeing as ultimately we want to live together in the United States. Any advise? Which type of visa, a J-1 or Employment Third Preference (E3) is easier to get? Where will we have the most success? :confused:
Thanks,