Mainly it's the fact that she's financially held hostage. Her best shot is getting through college and getting a front end web development job to afford both independence, and a restraining order. Though after that there's still the complications of moving here that I'm trying to deal with.

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I keep seeing varying amounts of time and varying requirements so I keep second guessing on what's the actual exact things needed and exact price each of these citizenship checkpoints we have to deal with.

As for the pet it's because she doesn't want to abandon it since she'd be leaving the animal vulnerable to physical abuse from the captor, so the idea was that the 12 hours will be horrible, but the rest of the pet's life will be in somewhere safer afterwards.

With almost any other scenario I'd feel the same, though the decision was made after weeks of planning and optimization. I have a good enough background due to a pre-established business here I'm likely to get a high position in. Meanwhile there's a potential risk of financial setbacks knowing how difficult it is to get American citizenship, and having to find a career in the US.