My girlfriend needs help with a work permit?
Answer:
You don't have to marry her quite yet...
There are several programmes that can sponsor a UK citizen for shorter periods of time, such as BUNAC (http://www.bunac.com/uk/workamerica/),... which provides a work permit for I believe a few months.
She can also look into a J-1 exchange visa, which lasts 18 months. These are given by employers as a type of "internship learning experience" for young people to further their careers. This would depend what field she studies/works in, but for example, if she has hospitality experience, several English pubs around the country sponsor such visas. Employers such as these often advertise in newspapers around Europe for employees. Just be careful - her ability to stay in the country on this visa will depend on this job, so if she were to be fired, or if she quit, she would have to leave the country.
And while the J-1 visa does say that you must return to your home country for two years after the visa is over, this is not the case if you decide to get married (as I did) within the 18 months.
She and not you has to go to her local governmental office and inquire. There isn't a dang person on here who can help you or her with this.
marry her or depending on her profession /skills find an employer that can sponsor her, if her profession or skills qualify, i would speak to an immigration lawyer that works with employment based immigration on this , visitors cannot come and just decide to live here.
If you are both free to marry (and that is what you desire) you should investigate a K-1 visa. The best place to start is at the first link below and then move onto uscis.gov.
There are several steps:
1. You petition for her. This is quick, painless and generally routine, if you earn at or above 125% of federal poverty level. She may not set foot in the USA until after step 3.
2. She fills in a small forest of paperwork, gets a police report and inoculation record (and gets the jabs up to date - that may take time so start that early). She may not set foot in the USA during this time
3. She goes to the US Embassy for a medical and interview. You are not encouraged to attend. If approved, she will get the visa that day. It is good for one trip to the USA within six months. Once in she cannot leave until after Step 5.
4. Get married. My wife and I got married in a 2 minute ceremony in front of the mayor after five days in the country andf then organized a repeat for the family when we had the time.
5. Immediately after marriage, apply for adjustment of status and a work permit. She may not work or obtain a SS# until she gets a work permit, which takes 3-4 months. The adjustment of status takes about 9 months. This is what gets her the coveted Green Card. As part of the process she will be fingerprinted and the prints sent to the FBI.
6. If you screw this step up you have wasted about three years of your life! One year and nine months after the date on the Green Card, apply for the temporary status to be removed. You MUST apply no later than two years after the date on the Green Card. It's more paperwork but a pretty painless five minute interview.
You are going to have to prove a genuine relationship, at the start of steps 2, 5 & 6. that usually includes photos, emails, phone records, plane tickets and anything else you can think of.
Provided your girlfriend does not have a criminal record, this will be fairly painless. You may want to engage a US immigration attorney (aila.org is worth a visit). it might cost $5,000 or so over a couple of years. You can also do it yourself. it isn't rocket science but much of the paperwork duplicates information in several places. That's where the attorney comes in with the computer program.
If this is really what you want, go for it! It is achievable, especially from the UK (where I'm from originally).
The Immigration information post by website user , MyTend.com not guarantee correctness.
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