09-11-2002, 04:14 PM
I'm trying to work out when we should apply for Green Cards, and I'm really worried as we could be severely financially compromised. Our current L1 & L2 visas will expire in April 2003 when we will have been resident in the US for three years. The company has already told my husband that they will apply for an extension (for another three years I think) and will start the application procedure for this next month.
I have a couple of questions for those of you who may have already gone through this!
My first question is At what point would we need to send our passports off to get a new visa added? Surely this wouldn't be as soon as the company applies, or is there a quick turnaround? Otherwise we would be getting less than 3 years on our current visa - or perhaps it runs from the day after our current visas expire? (I'm also thinking of spending Christmas in Blighty so don't want to be deprived of my passport!).
Pre 9/11 we knew of British expats who applied for Green Cards and it took around a year if the visa holders were on L1/L2's. My guess is that it takes a lot longer these days.
We just can't afford to have our eldest going to a US college (she doesn't want to study here anyway) and she will hopefully go to university in England in 03 or 04 (where the course fees should be around 2k to 2.5k GBP per annum). We've kept our house in Essex which we rent out as we haven't emigrated - although we're having to spend loads of money doing repairs to the place right now. My husband will need to have his employer send a letter to Essex County Council education dept. to state that he is on a contract here (ie. not emigrated or PR overseas) so we dare not apply for Green Cards until she has gone to college or we will have to pay the *very* expensive international student fees. If we were in another EEC country eg. France, Germany, Sweden etc. then the fees for students from those countries are the same as for native British citizens - yet since we're not resident in the EEC then students &/or their parents who have left the UK in the last three tax years are charged the non-EEC international course fees which are at least 10,000 pounds more per year.
My 2nd question is; if we have the second set of L1/L2 visas issued and apply for Green Cards after say, 18 months (with 18 months left to go before they expire and we have to leave the US) what happens if we have applied but not yet had the Green Card approved/issued?
Would it mean we have to pack up and leave the US, or do they annotate our passports to say that we have an application pending and can stay until the GC is either approved or denied?
I have a couple of questions for those of you who may have already gone through this!
My first question is At what point would we need to send our passports off to get a new visa added? Surely this wouldn't be as soon as the company applies, or is there a quick turnaround? Otherwise we would be getting less than 3 years on our current visa - or perhaps it runs from the day after our current visas expire? (I'm also thinking of spending Christmas in Blighty so don't want to be deprived of my passport!).
Pre 9/11 we knew of British expats who applied for Green Cards and it took around a year if the visa holders were on L1/L2's. My guess is that it takes a lot longer these days.
We just can't afford to have our eldest going to a US college (she doesn't want to study here anyway) and she will hopefully go to university in England in 03 or 04 (where the course fees should be around 2k to 2.5k GBP per annum). We've kept our house in Essex which we rent out as we haven't emigrated - although we're having to spend loads of money doing repairs to the place right now. My husband will need to have his employer send a letter to Essex County Council education dept. to state that he is on a contract here (ie. not emigrated or PR overseas) so we dare not apply for Green Cards until she has gone to college or we will have to pay the *very* expensive international student fees. If we were in another EEC country eg. France, Germany, Sweden etc. then the fees for students from those countries are the same as for native British citizens - yet since we're not resident in the EEC then students &/or their parents who have left the UK in the last three tax years are charged the non-EEC international course fees which are at least 10,000 pounds more per year.
My 2nd question is; if we have the second set of L1/L2 visas issued and apply for Green Cards after say, 18 months (with 18 months left to go before they expire and we have to leave the US) what happens if we have applied but not yet had the Green Card approved/issued?
Would it mean we have to pack up and leave the US, or do they annotate our passports to say that we have an application pending and can stay until the GC is either approved or denied?