Getting married is a possibility but it wouldn’t help the situation . That opens the door to applying for a long term visa but the conviction would eliminate that possibility
I was looking online at schools and one (New Stanford School) made it clear that applicants should not have a criminal record. When I messaged them and asked they said that immigration recently had a big meeting and decided to crack down on people with records using ED visa to easily get into the country. I’ll see what else I can learn about that
Here is the problem with most suggested solutions. I have a conviction in the US from a long time ago that eliminates the possibility of any visa, even the Ed visa (which I just learned today). We just want to find a way to be together long term but it will not be easy from what a I have been reading