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[drspouse]

OK, so I think we've found a possible solution to the health insurance solution for my sabbatical - and the sabbatical itself has been approved by my department - possibly they think Faculty is going to reject it now so they think they are safe!

But now we need to work out what to do with Himself.  I found out you can apply for permanent legal resident status while still in the UK, but you need to have the intention to re-establish residence in the US (I don't have a property there).  So we could:

1) Do that, say we are intending to live over there permanently (we'd need to provide some evidence as I have a permanent job here and we have a house), but then if/when we decide we don't want to, just come back.  There is a small (very small) possibility we might like it so much we want to stay, but I couldn't, hand on heart, say we were clearly intending to establish residence there.

2) Just take him over there on a long-term Visitor visa.  He wouldn't be able to work, but would be able to study part-time and do voluntary work, and we don't really need him to work financially (he's just got a large attractive (redundancy) package which is why we want to go on sabbatical now).

3) Apply for an immigrant visa while here and then for his LPR status when we get there, when we have a US address.  It might not come through in time for him to work, but even if it didn't we'd have it for the next time we went - if we went on sabbatical again in 7 years, it would still be valid (lasts 10 years I think). In 7 years' time he'll still be working but I don't know if he would be in 14 years, but if we went again in 7 years we'd be more likely to spend a whole year, and not be so solvent as we are now.

I'm just wondering if anyone's done any of these, and also if anyone's got any experience of:

living in the US with a non-US spouse who's not on an immigrant visa - does it make things like driving, health care, impossibly difficult?

applying for LPR status either here or there - how long does it take?? or do I measure my piece of string??

Thank you, oh wise AUK people!

[doctorhu]

applying for LPR status either here or there - how long does it take?? or do I measure my piece of string??

Thank you, oh wise AUK people!

IME, applying for a green card is MUCH faster if you are able to do it while still in the UK, since your application is handled by the embassy instead of the INS (or whatever they're called now).  Of course "fast" in this case means 3-6 months instead of 1-2 years (or more).   If you do apply from the UK, be aware that you may not be able to travel to the US while your application is pending. 

It's true that once you get LPR status it's usually good for 10 years, assuming you've been married more than 2 years.  However, things can get very tricky if you leave and want to maintain your status.  To be (reasonably) safe you need to return every 6 months, but even this isn't always enough.

You'll find a lot of good stuff in the US marriage-based visa forum here: http://britishexpats.com/forum/

Overall the process is a monumental PITA - are you sure you really want to go?

does it make things like driving, health care, impossibly difficult?

Check with your destination state's DMV to see how long you can drive on a foreign license.  My wife was able to get a license with no problem, but I think she needed to supply a SSN to get it.

[drspouse]

Perhaps we don't want to go after all!

He says "think about what you want to do, don't worry about me" which is very sweet, but not very practical.

I think he can get a driver's license, having looked it up, if he's legally present - legal residence doesn't seem to be necessary. But whether he'd be able to get an SSN is another matter. And I can't see living there for 6-12 months without an SSN being a bed of roses.

[seniorscholar]

The UK spouse of a US citizen relative of mine applied for a green card in London in early January in a recent year, had the interview in May, and the green card in pocket almost at once. The primary question in this case was the assurance that the US citizen would be responsible for support for something like two years (demonstrated if US citizen had employment or accessible funds/investments in US accounts).

I know this may be useless anecdotal evidence, since I have left out too much, but the result is that the couple now have a Common Market passport with green card, and a US passport with UK "permission to remain and work" notation, which makes them very pleasantly mobile to many places under many conditions.

[expatinuk]

The UK spouse of a US citizen relative of mine applied for a green card in London in early January in a recent year, had the interview in May, and the green card in pocket almost at once.

Were they living in the UK or the US?

[seniorscholar]

The UK spouse of a US citizen relative of mine applied for a green card in London in early January in a recent year, had the interview in May, and the green card in pocket almost at once.

Were they living in the UK or the US?

London -- had been there for several years (and had also been married for several years).

[drspouse]

I'm assuming they presented evidence that they were moving back to the US?

We've been firmly informed by all that we inquired of that the mis-named Tourist Visa is in fact what we want. So we are going to go for that.  University approval here moves on apace so we'll start making arrangements for interviews soon...

Apparently he doesn't need an SSN, and as some may have seen, I've managed to get a Wells Fargo account without a US address, and if he gets a Taxpayer thingy number he can be a joint holder on that.  And the health insurance through the US institution is specifically for visitors so he won't need an SSN for that.

So driving, money and health sorted, and even if rental places want an SSN and a credit history, I have that, if the credit history is a little silent for the last few years!

Ah, a winter in the sun!