ajklepac

The immigration process as a whole is much simpler in France than it is in the US, but we still don't know everything that we need to about the US visas. If we get legally married in France, I'm eligible to work there right away, and I think we can start the paperwork for Jon's visa at the same time. I'm not sure that he needs to be in the country while it's being processed, though--I don't think he does. But regardless he wouldn't be able to work in the US until it was finalized, and we'd like to stay in France for a couple of years. Did you use a lawyer? Would you be comfortable sharing what the fees were like?

Oh my gosh, that's absolutely dizzying! Forgive my ignorance, but what is a DW? I'm going to France this coming May and staying for 3 months. My fiance suggested we get legally married then, and then have the ceremony in the US in October. Since my parents are paying for it, they think it would be fair to have it here--if his parents help to buy plane tickets for the family, they still won't have spent as much as the wedding will cost...what do you think? I just don't want to have everyone traveling because I know we're already excluding so many people already by having it in one or the other of our home countries. I like the idea of having everyone at the house, cooking together every day and all of that fun stuff. It's really important that our families get to know each other (despite the various language barriers), which is why we're trying so hard to get everyone in the same place.

My fiance and I met when we were both backpacking around Central America. We fell in love instantly, reading each other's minds and finishing the other's sentences from day one. There was only one problem: I live in the US, and he lives in France. We were determined to make this work, and we have--but only being able to see each other 3 months at a time until a visa runs out is so hard on both of us, and our finances! All we want is to be able to wake up on the same continent every day, and really start our life together. So we're getting married! One problem: I live in the US, and he lives in France. After hours of exhaustive research, we've determined that it will be easiest to get married in the country where we intend to stay for at least the next 2 years, for immigration purposes. In our case, this means France; however, that just means that we need to be legally married in France, and doesn't quite settle the issue of where to hold a ceremony. We both have big families and lots of friends that we'd like to be there. We don't need an extravagant wedding--all that really matters to either of us is that everyone is there, together, celebrating with us and having a good time. Unfortunately in our case that's the extravagant part! It seems more sensible to have the wedding in one or the other's home towns so that only half of the guests need to travel rather than absolutely everyone. But how do we choose? Either way, we're being unfair to my side of the family or his. Neither of our grandparents can fly on planes. None of our friends are particularly wealthy, and regardless it's a lot to ask of anyone to spend $800-900 on airfare, then accommodations and food.... So what should we do? Run away and get married, then throw a big party in each country? One wedding and two receptions? Two weddings? Save up for plane tickets ourselves? How do we choose? What are some things that we should keep in mind while making these decisions? Any help would be appreciated! Thank you all so much in advance. AJ