Dear Soniusa,
I'll point out a few visa options possibly relevant in your situation,
but mostly I'll give some personal advise based on experiences with
people in similar situations. If you are not looking for (or might be
offended by) any kind of personal comment, please hit the delete button now.
soniusa wrote:
> I'm just curious about the basics. I have a boyfriend in Germany
> coming to visit in 30 days. I want him to stay in the US with me and He
> wants this as well.
Realistically, there should be no problem for this (German) person to
travel to the U.S. for a maximum of 90 days once or twice a year (or
even more often, as long as he spends at least a few months in Germany
between visits.) When entering the U.S., it would not be necessary for
him to _volunteer_ the fact that he has a girlfriend in the U.S. One
must never, ever lie to a customs/border officer, but usually a German
traveler with no unusual immigration history wouldn't be asked anything
beyond, "What are you gonna do while in the U.S.?" (Typical answer:
"Travel to A, B, C") and "Where are you gonna stay?" (Typical answer:
"First with a friend," [again, the friend's gender need not be
volunteered] "then in motels along the way".) In the unlikely event an
officer asks more questions and uncovers the existence of a U.S.
girlfriend (but who's to say what's a girlfriend as opposed to a female
friend, really?) your friend could still enter, provided he could make a
compelling case that he would return home within 90 days ("I have a
job/house/apartment to return to" etc. etc.)
> I assume getting married is the fastest way to go
Yes, if you know now that you want to live together in the U.S. permanently.
> about this but we all live in the real word.
Okay, and here is where the personal advise starts... ;-)
> I would love for us to get
> to know eachother for a year before actuall marriage.
While this is understandable, you might want to consider that any
process involving a non-fiance/marriage visa may well be time-consuming,
expensive, and/or frustrating for one or both or you. (More on this
below...)
> He is 5 years
> experienced IT Technician. but if he applied for more schooling in the
> US .is that all he needs to get a student visa?
"IT technician" is a very vague term. Does he have a college or
university ("Fachhochschule" and "Universitaet" in German) degree? If
not, does he have a high school degree that would allow him to enter
college/university in Germany ("Abitur" in German)? If none of the
above, his options of attending school in the U.S. may be limited. Even
if he does have some form of higher education, he most likely would have
to pay full out-of-state tuition in the U.S.
You both have to ask yourselves if the added cost and potential stress
of interrupting a career to go back to school would be worth it if all
it would accomplish would be for the two of you to live together. Might
all the aggravation perhaps less likely for you to want to get married
(in other words, be counter-productive)?
You may want to consider how your boyfriend might feel. He would have to
interrupt his career, uproot his live in Germany, and move to the U.S.
to start school, essentially without any commitment from you. If his
student visa runs out and you don't want to marry him at this point,
he'd have to go back to Germany and try to restart his life (after a
year or more planning for a life in the U.S.), while you could basically
go on as if nothing had happened. I am not saying that such
arrangements can't work (in fact, they often do), but please be mindful
that there is an equal chance that such an unequal deal might might make
things worse rather than help you stay together.
> and also if I decide
> throw caution to the wind and marry him.
Basically, you have to decide where you are in the relationship. If it
is very early and doesn't go much beyond "I like him; it may develop
into something more", you should probably stick with mutual visits for a
while. If you know now that you can't live without him, you should
probably just get married. (A simple, civil ceremony would be sufficient
for now. You can always have a big church/temple/mosque affair involving
the family much later.) I am not sure that there is a good way in
between the two.
> How long does it take to get a
> spouse visa and work permit? I am under the impression it is 6 months.
> and when applying for a spousal visa. He will still be allowed to come
> visit on a passport again while waiting for this ?
Others are better qualified to answer these questions. From what I
gather, 6 months seem like a lower bound, the process may also take a
year or so. It may be hard but not impossible for your boyfriend to
visit in between. Of course, you can always visit him.
Good luck,
Thorsten |