Closing The Distance - Where do i start?

[Louise_B]

Ok. So the serious talk had come up about closing the distance with my SO. me living in london and him being in the states also military bound! we thought it be best to talk about it now so we can be prepared to start closing the distance towards the end of this year or the start of next. But where the hell do i start?

I mean, What do i need what do i start with? how do i go about things? I know obviously i would need to be married to live over there and be with him and we have spoken about that! we want a future together. Anyone give advice if you have closed the distance and moving to america? or does anyone have knowledge on where to start first? this would be such a help!

Love you guys! your all being amazing!!

[Oldblighty]

The marriage route was how we started the journey of closing the distance. It was the only way we could be together long term. It took two years to get to know each other before we decided to get married. Three visits from Sept 2010 to Feb 2012 and then we tied the knot a few months later. I returned home ten days later & we filed the petition for an alien relative. You could go down the fiancee visa route, which means once your approved you arrive in the states and get hitched within 90 days.

There are of course other options, like getting a working visa which is tough to get. Depends how you really want to go about it?

[Lozz73]

I love this post and will be watching it as my SO partner and I are also wanting to get married and close the distance but everything I have read gets so very confusing, he is in America and I am in Australia, he is happy to eventually move to Australia but at the moment it's better that he stays in America for his work.

[Louise_B]

Thats brilliant news Lozz73, I know everything i read is so confusing and i give up .. its all letters and numbers and i havent got a clue what i should be looking out for etc. Yup me and SO are really looking forward to getting married! The whole .. will it be in the us or england? LOL so many decisions! I hope youll be closing it soon

I love this post and will be watching it as my SO partner and I are also wanting to get married and close the distance but everything I have read gets so very confusing, he is in America and I am in Australia, he is happy to eventually move to Australia but at the moment it's better that he stays in America for his work.

[chizatlauren]

I haven't been in this relationship for long, but I want to share our closing the distance plans because in my country, it really takes YEARS if you file a visa right now. Sigh.

We have 4 plans, and I hope they work.

1. I am enrolling myself in graduate school this coming semester because I am a liberal arts graduate and my course isn't that 'booming' in America right now. So I'm getting a master's degree in IT, and after I graduate I'll try to get a working visa. It's a win-win situation, because I'll be able to use my education to work here even if my Visa gets denied. BUT 50 percent of the reason why I'm enrolling is because of him and the Visa.

2. Get married in the Philippines and he'll bring me there (if plan number 1 fails). It will be two years from now.

3. Get a fiancee visa and get married there. (If they don't recognize the marriage here)


If all else fails, there's number 4. And he already told me he'll really do it for me just so we can close the distance.


4. He'll forget America after graduating from college (he's younger than me), fly to the Philippines and live here with me. That's a huge step, because I live in a third world country. I don't think this place has a lot of things to offer to him, although almost everyone here speaks English. It's easy to find a job here, but the pay is measly so I am not really keen of this idea.

[Alsfia]

Reading this thread I feel so lucky that both my SO and I live within EU :P My biggest problem with us closing the distance is my medication and the fact we will only be doing it temporarily to start with...
Go strong, folks!