Cross-posted from r/legaladvice at someone's suggestion.
I (25M) am a natural born US citizen.
Long story shortened, a very dear friend of mine lives in Pakistan (and is a Pakistani citizen,) and we have to get him out within a year. Sooner is better, because we may actually have less than a year (impending unwanted marriage, his family has the ability to change the timeline.) I am in northern California, but my parents live in Missouri, and I could go there if it would….. somehow make any of this easier or there is superior legal aid there.
Ideally we would be getting him to the US so myself and my family can help get him on his feet, but if that’s not possible in the time frame, literally any safe LGBT friendly country would do.
Because it might be relevant in terms of organizations that could help, we are both transgender men. I have physically and legally transitioned to a man, and look the part. He has not because it’s not safe or possible there, and him being trans is a secret to his family. (So if gay marriage is threatened we’re a straight couple on paper, and visually at the moment. At least there’s that going for us.)
I just… need to know where to START with everything going on w/ Covid and the travel ban. I love him very dearly, and we want to be together romantically, so if marriage is the best option that would be neither a hardship nor a fraud.
I was looking at the fiancee US visa for that reason but there’s so much conflicting information on whether they’re even being processed right now that I can’t sift through what’s truly Feasible and worth applying and paying for and what’s not on my own.
I’m sure there are a lot of complications with this idea I’m not aware of, but I’ve thought about….. going there, marrying him there, staying there with him until he gets his paperwork and then coming back together. Is that… potentially possible?
Are there organizations that handle stuff like this specifically that we could reach out to?
He has a friend in Canada he could live with as well, but they’ve said they’re not processing visas right now-- still, if there’s another way to get him there, at least he’d have somewhere to land.
He is a legal adult, and could get his legal documentation if he needed to.
Any knowledge or help would be so, so appreciated. Just….. What’s the best thing to apply for? How long should it take? Is there a way to speed things up in certain cases?
Also, if we can't get him to the US or Canada in time by hook or by crook, does anyone know where we could get him?
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source https://www.reddit.com/r/immigration/comments/jkpr3o/getting_someone_out_of_pakistan_asap_ideally_to/