General Immigration Advice Needed - Bringing Girlfriend to the USA

[OptimusPrime]

To be brief, I am a USC dating a Lithuanian for 9 months. She has a visitor visa for the USA and we are contemplating options for her coming to USA to live and work (she is home now). We are not ready for engagement or marriage however I think we will make a decision in the next 12 months. The ideal situation would allow her come here to work for 12 -18 months while our relationship matures. After that time we will most likely get married.

She is 27 and has an MBA from a Ltihuanian Unviersity. She works in finance and is not excited about coming here to work in summer camp or au pair, ideally she can continue her career in some way.

Here are some options I would like to get some help thinking through:

1. Come here using the 180 day visitor visa and use the next several months to take the TOEFL and possibly GMAT to enter a 1-yr US graduate program in the Fall '07. While going to school again is not exactly she wants (she wants to work)I think it would be good for her to have a US degree long-term. Once she is accepted to a program, she could change status to a student within the acceptable window before starting school. I realize that going from visitor to student while in the USA is not entirely legal because your original intent is not purely "visiting".

2. Pursue a job that would sponsor J-1 visa under the 18 month specialist training program.
The major complication here seeems to be finding a job that would allow her to continue her finance career (non-IT).

Any other options you can think of, that would be appropriate for our situation, would be most appreciated.

Thanks!

[OptimusPrime]

To be brief, I am a USC dating a Lithuanian for 9 months. She has a visitor visa for the USA and we are contemplating options for her coming to USA to live and work (she is home now). We are not ready for engagement or marriage however I think we will make a decision in the next 12 months. The ideal situation would allow her come here to work for 12 -18 months while our relationship matures. After that time we will most likely get married.

She is 27 and has an MBA from a Ltihuanian Unviersity. She works in finance and is not excited about coming here to work in summer camp or au pair, ideally she can continue her career in some way.

Here are some options I would like to get some help thinking through:

1. Come here using the 180 day visitor visa and use the next several months to take the TOEFL and possibly GMAT to enter a 1-yr US graduate program in the Fall '07. While going to school again is not exactly she wants (she wants to work)I think it would be good for her to have a US degree long-term. Once she is accepted to a program, she could change status to a student within the acceptable window before starting school. I realize that going from visitor to student while in the USA is not entirely legal because your original intent is not purely "visiting".

2. Pursue a job that would sponsor J-1 visa under the 18 month specialist training program.
The major complication here seeems to be finding a job that would allow her to continue her finance career (non-IT).

Any other options you can think of, that would be appropriate for our situation, would be most appreciated.

Thanks!

[Hudson]

1. If both of you are serious about getting married, file the I-129f, fiance visa, to bring her over, get married within 90 days upon her arrival, and adjust her status using the I-485. This of course will depend on if and when both of you want to get married.

2. She could file for the J visa, but there could be a problem with the embassy or consulate if they know the two of you are dating. They consider this dual intent and could possibly deny the visa.

3. Depending on her qualifications, she could be exempt from the H-1b visa quota, or she could apply under a different temporary worker visa if she qualifies, or the company could sponsor her on the L visa if that company has an office in her home country and in the US.

4. She could continue to work in her home country but have a mulitple entry visitor visa to the US.

If you are going to use work, J visa is the least lilely to enter the US because of your relationship. I would strongly pursue other temporary worker options if she truely wants to work here in the US either temporarily or permanently.

[HBKHBK]

You CAN NOT adjust a visitor visa once the visitor is in the USA.

Get that out of your mind.New rules brother.Not gonna work.Some on this board might say it does,but ultimately you'll find out.Its not gonna happene.

Any status change as a visitor to a student visa or what not,needs to be filed within the home country,meaning they HAVE to go back.

For the records,the minute U enter as a visitor,u agree the law,that U enter as a visitor for a certain amount of time and leave.

Therefore when she comes to the US she has to have proof,that she will return.
Not to mention the country she is coming from.
Believe that!

[OptimusPrime]

Thanks Hudson for your help, just a few follow-up points (see below).

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Hudson:
1. If both of you are serious about getting married, file the I-129f, fiance visa, to bring her over, get married within 90 days upon her arrival, and adjust her status using the I-485. This of course will depend on if and when both of you want to get married.

~Yeah, we are not ready for that and 90 days is quick to make such a decision~

2. She could file for the J visa, but there could be a problem with the embassy or consulate if they know the two of you are dating. They consider this dual intent and could possibly deny the visa.

~Could she just not mention me, talk about her financial and family ties to her home? She is genuinely interested in getting some more international work experience~

3. Depending on her qualifications, she could be exempt from the H-1b visa quota, or she could apply under a different temporary worker visa if she qualifies, or the company could sponsor her on the L visa if that company has an office in her home country and in the US.

~How can she find out if she is exempt from the quota? What other temporary, skilled worker visas are there? Unfortunately, L visa is not an option~

4. She could continue to work in her home country but have a mulitple entry visitor visa to the US.

~Yes, this is an option for sure~

If you are going to use work, J visa is the least lilely to enter the US because of your relationship. I would strongly pursue other temporary worker options if she truely wants to work here in the US either temporarily or permanently. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

[ntfd3]

HB, not acutally correct - u can and it is done very very often change ur visa from visitor if u do it on marriage. But ur right u cant do it any other way.

[OptimusPrime]

Thanks for the advice. I was thinking that she can take a trip home in July / August and go to the consulate in Lithuania to complete the student visa process and come back in August using the student visa. Is there any time requirement, between visas, that I should be aware of here?

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by HBKHBK:
You CAN NOT adjust a visitor visa once the visitor is in the USA.

Get that out of your mind.New rules brother.Not gonna work.Some on this board might say it does,but ultimately you'll find out.Its not gonna happene.

Any status change as a visitor to a student visa or what not,needs to be filed within the home country,meaning they HAVE to go back.

For the records,the minute U enter as a visitor,u agree the law,that U enter as a visitor for a certain amount of time and leave.

Therefore when she comes to the US she has to have proof,that she will return.
Not to mention the country she is coming from.
Believe that! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

[ntfd3]

Has she enough financials to study here? Lithunania is not one of the richest countries is it. If she keeps coming over here on a visitors visa one day she will be denied for doing it too often. Because there will be the thought of intent out there in the minds of immigration. And what college, will she get in, where will she live. there are so many things here to consider.

[Theone]

A Student Visa requires non immigrant intent, as well as money.