Fiancée Visa / Marriage Visa – Green Card Success Story by Darren and Veronica

Veronica and I ( Darren) first met at LAX airport. We were both part of a group that was flying to Nepal on pilgrimage. At that time, I was in the USA on a 5-year R1 visa. We got along very well on that trip, but it was not until a year later that I saw Veronica again when she moved very near to where I was living in Arizona. We started dating and soon moved in together. We knew we were right for each other, and about a year later, we got married.

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In August of 2009 my R1 visa was up, so we had to make a decision on how to move forward. At that time, we did not know that we could have stayed in the USA, gotten married and file for my green card. We also both needed to find new work and Veronica found a teaching position in Taiwan, so off we went. In Taiwan I decided to start a home Internet business and it started to take off!

After a year and a half in Taiwan we decided to go back to the UK (my home country) and visit my family. This is where we started the process of looking for a lawyer to help me get permanent resident status for the USA through my marriage.

We looked extensively online, emailed and called a number of lawyers, but we got the right feeling with Chris Ingram. It was also refreshing to see that Chris was a UK citizen that successfully made the immigration process to the USA himself.

Initially, we did start to think about doing the process ourselves. However, the more we looked into the more we started to see the breadth of the process and knew that getting professional help was essential. There was too much at stake to mess it up! Our situation wasn’t a 100% straightforward either because we had to move from the UK to Spain (long personal story) before going back to the USA and then applying for my green card.I was nervous about going through immigration at the airport in Las Vegas (which is where we entered the USA, and then connected to Honolulu), but the process was a breeze and lasted about a minute tops!

Working with the Chris Ingram office was a pleasure. The staff is very friendly and informed, and communications were clear. This is important because there were a lot of forms to fill out and much supporting evidence needed. A process that would otherwise be a minefield trying to do it ourselves! It can be frustrating getting all the supporting evidence together, but it is a necessary process and the Chris Ingram office is very clear on how much is necessary to provide a solid case.

By the time it came for the green card interview at the USCIS office in Honolulu — we naturally felt nervous, but also assured that the Chris Ingram office had put our case together excellently. In fact, Chris Ingram said that they put the case together so well, that the interview is essentially a formality!

So, we passed the interview and I got my Green Card!!! We cannot tell you how great it feels to come out on the other side of that process successfully!

The questions at the interview are primarily focused on the relationship. I believe that the interviewer just needs to be assured on a human level that you are a couple.

Some of the questions we were asked:

·       How did you first meet?

·       When did you start dating?

·       How long after being together did you get married?

·       What is it about your wife that makes her right for you? And vice versa?

·       What do you have in common?

·       What do you do for work?

The interview lasted about 30 minutes, and that was that.

We are now happily living in Maui, Hawaii. When I was first in the USA on the R1 visa, I lived mostly in Arizona and loved having sunny weather most of the time. Veronica also loves the sun and we thought that Hawaii would be a great place for us – we weren’t wrong. I think we will be living here for many years or even a lifetime!

Naturally I miss a few things about my home country – Wales, UK, but living in the USA is where I want to be. I wouldn’t swap it for anything! Miss my family and a few friends at times. The one thing that I don’t miss about the UK is – and yep you might have guessed it – the weather!

If you are thinking about immigrating to the USA or are already in the process of doing so, then I would definitely say go for it or stick at it respectively. I was often a little nervous during parts of the process, particularly entering the USA through airport immigration as a visitor, and also at the interview for example. The rest of your life depends on the outcome! And I can say with all certainly that I would not have got through the process without the support and professionalism of Chris Ingram and his team.

I have a green card and could not be happier about it.