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I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA

183 points proberts | 1 comments | 17 Oct 24 16:01 UTC | HN request time: 0.205s | source

I'll be here for the few hours and then again at around 1 pm PST for another few hours. As usual, there are countless possible topics and I'll be guided by whatever you're concerned with. Please remember that I can't provide legal advice on specific cases for obvious liability reasons because I won't have access to all the facts. Please stick to a factual discussion in your questions and comments and I'll try to do the same in my answers. Thanks!

Previous threads we've done: https://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=proberts.

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gr4vityWall ◴[17 Oct 24 17:12 UTC] No.41871529[source]▶
I'm a non-American Software Engineer, living outside the US. Me and my girlfriend (who's an American citizen) are seriously considering marrying and moving together next year.

Any advice or anything you recommend reading? Also, how long it typically would take until I was able to legally have a job in the US, once I move?

I have a tourist visa and traveled to the States countless times. If I go there with the intent of getting married, do I need a special visa or not, considering I can already enter legally?

Thank you for your time.

replies(3): >>41871748 #>>41871767 #>>41872978 #
1. zie ◴[17 Oct 24 19:33 UTC] No.41872978[source]▶
We went through the Fiance Visa program and it wasn't a big deal, but the foreign one of us was Canadian, which is on the we like that country list, which probably helped a lot.

You have to follow special rules for the fiance visa program, and most all the paperwork happens before you get married.

The big thing I remember(it's been decades now), there was a fee we had to pay at one of the consulates somewhere, and they gave us 2 receipts, a big fancy full page one and the tiny cash register receipt. Way afterwards they made us prove we paid the fee. They wanted the tiny cash register receipt, not the fancy full page one. Make sure you keep literally everything , you have no idea what might be important later on.

I'm not saying the fiance visa is right for you in your situation, just mentioning it in case you are not aware.