marriage and tourist visa

[doninmichigan2004 0]

ok people, it has been three years now since Jane and I were married in Taiwan, we are all set, she has immigrated and we had her Conditional status lifted. But I'm trying to help out someone else, and for the life of me trying to remember an important point. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought that once you got married in a foreign country, the foreign spouse cannot travel back to the US, with the US spouse on a tourist visa. But, maybe it's only if once you apply for the immigrant visa you cannot travel on the tourist visa.

[GabiandVi 34]

As long as the foreign spouse can show strong ties to the country where he/she applies for the visa, there should be no problem.

My husband was given a B-2 visa after we were married, and one of the deciding factors was because we were married. I had spoken to the Consular Officer explaining that I wasn't planning to move home yet so I didn't want to apply for an immigrant visa for my husband, but I wanted him to be able to travel with me to the US. There would be no reason for my husband to immigrate illegally by overstaying his visa because we had a perfectly legitimate way for him to immigrate. He was granted a three-year multiple-entry visa. He has used it twice, each time being allowed 6 months on the I-94. He never stayed that long, though.

I think there is also a good chance that the spouse can enter the US after an I-130 has been filed. There are a couple of threads on here about that, and so far, the only responses I've read from people with first hand experience trying to enter the US on a B-2 with an I-130 pending have been positive. A few more questions at the border but ultimately, they've been allowed to enter with 6-month stays.