Visiting US?!? Petitioner & Beneficiary living abroad waiting on I-130 approval

[lindsay.sheaves 2]

Hi All!

My husband (beneficiary) & I (petitioner) have both been living abroad in Sweden for over a year. My question is can we visit my family in California for a vacation for a few weeks while we are waiting on my husband's I-130?! We got the NOA1 in December 2013 and haven't heard anything since then. I've been hearing that it is taking about 5 months until NOA2 and ironically that might be around the time we want to visit family in the US. I'm sorry if this question has been asked a million times before but i tried looking for answers already and could only find info on K-1 fiances saying it is usually ok for the person living abroad to visit the US citizen living in the US. In general I've found that it's REALLY HARD to find information for cases where the husband & wife are BOTH ARE LIVING ABROAD. Am I the only one who feels that way? Is there a thread for people like that for IR-1/CR-1? Thank you in advance for any help!

-Lindsay

[Merrytooth 5,748]

Maybe this will help you?

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/479894-yes-you-can-visit-ir1-cr1-version/

[Gosia & Tito 199]

Hi All!

My husband (beneficiary) & I (petitioner) have both been living abroad in Sweden for over a year. My question is can we visit my family in California for a vacation for a few weeks while we are waiting on my husband's I-130?! We got the NOA1 in December 2013 and haven't heard anything since then. I've been hearing that it is taking about 5 months until NOA2 and ironically that might be around the time we want to visit family in the US. I'm sorry if this question has been asked a million times before but i tried looking for answers already and could only find info on K-1 fiances saying it is usually ok fo the person living abroad to visit the US citizen living in the US. In general I've found that it's REALLY HARD to find information for cases where the husband & wife are BOTH ARE LIVING ABROAD. Am I the only one who feels that way? Is there a thread for people like that for IR-1/CR-1? Thank you in advance for any help!

-Lindsay

No one can really tell what will happen at the time. Most likely, there would not be any issues, given the country you guys are coming from (sorry to all, not being demeaning to other countries, just have direct first hand experience with Sweden and there was no problem in the multiple times that an entry occurred).

BUt, all it takes is a CBP on a bad hair day to ruin the best plans and intentions.

It would help to have documentation that can show that you are going back: house/flat lease/ownership; children that are stating with relatives; jobs, etc....just in case.

Lycka till er båda.

Edited March 28, 2014 by Gosia & Tito

[Ryan H 3,812]

***Moved from Progress Reports to Process & Procedures.***

**Moderator hat off**

Refer to the pinned topic "Yes You Can Visit, IR-1/CR-1 version" on the first page of this forum.

[TeaCup 65]

I know it's not really the same, but my husband and I went to the states to visit for a family members wedding, we are both living in ireland at the moment. When we got to POE at the airport the officer was very strict with us and had me sign a thing saying I will leave the country after X amount of time. We hadn't even filed our I-130 at the point so I'm not sure how it would go for you.

[lindsay.sheaves 2]

Thank you all for the input and advice! I'm a newbie here so sorry for asking the same question everyone else does! But thank you for referring me to the other thread with more info. thank you!

[LoveExile 27]

I'm living in Holland with my husband (he's Austrian), and we filed our I-130 petition in July 2013. We both visited Washington, D.C. in November 2013 and he didn't have any problems crossing the "border" at Dulles. The USCIS agent even said "welcome home" with a friendly wink to my husband.

My husband has a long history of visiting the U.S. without ever over-staying over the 5 years we've been married, so I think that helped. As long as you follow the rules, you'll do just fine at the border.