Married Couple living abroad - Applying for Greencard for spouse of US Citizen

[JaimeRipley]

Hi there,

So my husband is a US citizen, he has been living in NZ for almost 4 years now. We met here and dated for 2 years then got married in Sept of last year. We thought we wanted to live in NZ but recently we have started to feel like the US is probably better for us. So we have started looking at the process of getting me a greencard or a K3 visa while we wait for the greencard processing.

One concern that we have is that a lot of the information seems to be aimed at couples where the citizen is living in the USA. We are not wanting to live in seperate countries for any amount of time so we do not want to have to have him head back to the US in order for this to work out.

Is there pathways that allow for couples to apply from abroad and for the US citizen to stay with the applicant until the time the applicant can enter the country?

Thanks very much.

[scientist2016]

K3 is obsolete. Yes, you/your spouse can apply for an immigrant visa from NZ. There is no rule that he has to be in the US for doing that.

[JaimeRipley]

K3 is obsolete. Yes, you/your spouse can apply for an immigrant visa from NZ. There is no rule that he has to be in the US for doing that.

K3 is obsolete? The USCIS website still has it listed as an option with up to date forms available? It is listed as the I-129f petition for alien fiance' which applies for married couples as well.

[inadmissible]

USCIS will feature it on their website until congress moves to scrap the K-3/K-4 visa. I think it is kinda cruel, but it is out of USCIS's own hands

The good news is you'll get your immigrant visa soon enough

In hindsight, offering a K-3 and taking your money and giving you an immigrant visa instead is less cruel than the old status quo of making you wait years for an immigrant visa

[Gina13]

File Directly at the counselate where you are

Go to the embassy and file there.