How to sponser to someone for an american green card?

Question

I'm a dual German/American citizen currently living in Australia on a permanent resident visa. I am planning on possibly moving to the U.S. in a few years which will obviously be no problem for me but I want to take my girlfriend who is a New Zealand Citizen/Australian Resident with me, without having to get married. I'm not too sure how the whole sponsorship thing works or in fact how any of it works as I have never lived in America before myself. How Do I do this? is there any way of taking her with me without getting married?

Answer 1

I'm facing a similar sort of situation - I'm Australian, my boyfriend is a US Citizen. We've been banging our heads against walls but so far the only way we've found is exactly what you don't want to do - get married.

The only other way to sponsor her for a green card is to find an employer within the US who is willing to do the paperwork. The employer has to prove that he's advertised for and looked for an American worker first, but can't find one for the job, and why he feels that this international worker is the one he NEEDS. It's hard.

She could also enter the Diversity Lottery, which is a lottery that awards green cards. I think it gets drawn at the end of each year, and she still has to pass eligibility IF she wins. The chances aren't that great of winning.

Look up the USCIS for a list of visas, your girlfriend may be eligible for something that I'm not.

<EDIT> In response to the poster below, it will be actually be quicker if she comes as your fiancee. The fiancee (K-1) visa clears in 6-8 months, whereas a spouse visa (K-3) takes more like 10-12 months to clear. She can't live with you in the US while the visa is pending. She can visit on the Visa Waiver Program, but the officials at the port of entry can deny her entry and are likely to.

Answer 2

It can't be done.  The only way she's coming with you is as your wife.

Answer 3

You can't sponsor her without marriage.

She can try to get a job in USA with an employer who will sponsor her for an employment visa and later a green card.

Answer 4

She can come with you either on K1 Fiance Visa or K3 or CR1 Spouse Visa. Unless she gets hired by US Employer who is willing to sponsor her green card, which takes from 5 years to 9 years.

http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/...

Answer 5

while you could get married and file an immigrant visa petition for her directly in Australia, you won't be able to file a fiance petition for her there. Plus, the K-3 mentioned above is not a fiance petition but a nonimmigrant petiiton that allows you to bring your wife to the US while waiting for her immigrant petition to be processed. So, to file the K-3, you'd still need to be married first and file the immigrant visa petition. They also can't be filed overseas and there's no reason why you should since the faster route would be to file the immigrant petition. You'd have to file a K-1 fiance petition in the US to bring her in that way, but it would take about a year and you'd be required to marry her within 90 days, or she'd have to leave the US.