babys birth and citizenship questions etc.

[fastinjun]

in a nut shell, Im a US citizen and my girlfriend is finnish of course. She is pregnant and due this july. My question is how does that affect things as far as if she wanted to come to the states for a visit with me since we are not married etc. I know this is a question for the consulate and I will make an appt next week to get some info.
We have been together a couple of years but never married. We have been discussing moving back to the states at some point but would we need to be married in order for her to live there legally even though we have a child together??? Also as far as citizenship for baby will it be eligible for dual citizenship?

[Pursuivant]

I'd say get married, just do it. Not going to try convince you other than "I told you so". Option is rude paperwork like the "illigitemate child" notice & stupid questions nevermind the US bollocks.

[mita]

I'd say get married, just do it. Not going to try convince you other than "I told you so". Option is rude paperwork like the "illigitemate child" notice & stupid questions nevermind the US bollocks.

I agree, paperwork isn't that simple or cheap even if you are married. Hopefully somone else has experience with the path you're looking at taking. I'm sure it works but not easy.

[Rosamunda]

We got married when #2 was on the way basically bacause if anything had happened to me (close encounter with a bus etc) my husband would not have been able to bring the children back to Finland (we were living in France) - and our kids would probably have been taken into care . I know the laws have changed since then and maybe the USA is more willing to dish out citizenship than Finland was. Anyway, just wanted to point out that getting your wife into the USA is not the only issue.

Being married also means that when/if you divorce, dealing with custody issues is not quite as messy. Search for threads on "custody" and you will get an idea of some of the grief people have been through. Not getting married doesn't make it any easier to separate once you have kids, in fact probably the reverse.

(edit: I just read johnevano's thread. You might want to read it too)

[fastinjun]

Thank you very much for your replies! Marriage huh.....I guess it makes sense and isnt the end of the world....is it???
So many things to consider, thannks again

[Rip]

I guess it makes sense and isnt the end of the world....is it???

It's both and end and a beginning - but you pretty much lost your freedom already when you decided to unleash your little tadpoles. Official things will be easier when you make your official family status match the actual one.

[fastinjun]

Unleash!?!? Very true, it all makes more sense on the legal aspect of things. Thanks for the advice

[Misku]

Your girlfriend should be able to visit the US with you for up to 90 days without a visa, but immigration is a completely different story! My understanding is that for the process to go smoothly, you either have to be married or engaged (there will be a stipulation that you marry within a certain period after her US arrival). The whole process takes a long time and is very expensive (at least in comparison to Finnish immigration). A friend of mine went through this recently and it took almost a year to get all the paperwork and, especially, medical documentation sorted out. Even if it doesn't take a whole year, you're looking at at least six months to fulfill all the immunization requirements etc.

Check out the official US immigration pages: http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis
This site is apparently also very helpful, though I haven't used it myself: http://visajourney.com/

Also, use the US embassy here in Finland as much as possible. They're so much more helpful than USCIS!