Visa Fraud- Using B-2 with intention to immigrate

[rebeccajo 14]

I understand that Kez was your friend and that your journey together must have created a special bond between you; and also why you would find it extremely offensive if you see someone attacking her. However, I did nothing of the sort.

Kezzie was just about one of THE most honest people here on VJ. To even speak her name in a sentence connected with visa fraud is offensive.

Just my 2cents.

Hear hear, Sian.

And I don't care how somebody waffles about using the word 'loophole'. If a person can't see that as offensive, then they have a problem.

[Mags 112]

I understand that Kez was your friend and that your journey together must have created a special bond between you; and also why you would find it extremely offensive if you see someone attacking her. However, I did nothing of the sort.

Kezzie was just about one of THE most honest people here on VJ. To even speak her name in a sentence connected with visa fraud is offensive.

Just my 2cents.

Well then you'll be glad I never did that, only when defending myself by saying she was NOT a fraudster.

If that's not okay either, than I quit right here.

I was just stating my own point of view - one that is shared by many here.

Edited August 7, 2008 by Magenta

[Marilyn. 340]

nowhere has gemmie ever said anything bad about Kez

[tmma 467]

nowhere has gemmie ever said anything bad about Kez

I agree with Marilyn. I read and re read this thread and what Gemmie said, and she didn't say anything bad about K. The point as I understood it was made that people use a method of adjusting status after marrying spur of the moment. This method is not illegal- nor was what Gemmie said a comment on J or K personally. It's obvious neither one are fraudsters; K's entry to the US was perfectly legitimate, anyone that's been on VJ for longer than 5 minutes knows that.

I do believe the reaction to Gemmie may have come from bereaving the loss of a friend; which in itself is understandable, but irrelevant to the topic as K/J committed no fraud and Gemmie did not accuse them of such.

Edited August 7, 2008 by tmma

[LaL 418]

I had thought it stemmed from this initial comment in response to Jon:

I understand why you took advantage of the loophole, I really do. It makes it so much easier.

[Marilyn. 340]

I had thought it stemmed from this initial comment in response to Jon:

I understand why you took advantage of the loophole, I really do. It makes it so much easier.

yes but I don't think she intended to imply anything bad...

[tmma 467]

I had thought it stemmed from this initial comment in response to Jon:

I understand why you took advantage of the loophole, I really do. It makes it so much easier.

Well, OK. Maybe the use of the word "loophole" has negative connotations; and sent this thread into something it's not. It's not a "loophole"....But I don't think that Gemmie was saying they " were fraudulent" and J's response to her was crystal clear, it's a legal avenue that anyone is able to utilize if they marry spur-of-the moment.

Edited August 7, 2008 by tmma

[LaL 418]

I had thought it stemmed from this initial comment in response to Jon:

I understand why you took advantage of the loophole, I really do. It makes it so much easier.

yes but I don't think she intended to imply anything bad...

Probably not - but between the other comments made and suggestion that this loophole makes it so much easier - one could interpret this as - another one skipped in line. Anyway - I really have no dog in this piece of the discussion.

Edited August 7, 2008 by LaL

[eric_and_teresa 10]

Hi Everyone,

Hmmm..From personal experience: Does being questioned at the border for 2 hours or so be considered scrutiny? What a nightmare that was, indeed, when all I wanted to do was only to visit my boyfriend/fiancee (now husband) at that time. When I came over the border from Canada on a B2 Visa, we did not have any prior intention to marry and it was last-minute that we decided to get married here in the US during that visit. For me, the thought of going back to Canada wasn't an option, more so realizing how much I missed my husband at times we were apart, and especially after how they poorly treated us at the border. Needless to say, it was the right decision for us to do the B2 to AOS, and I don't regret it and I don't see that it's illegal. Yes, along the way we did have many immigration hardships and sacrifices too, but it was worth it in the end. Most importantly, the happy ending of this experience: we're still happily married and happily living together legally in the US now, even though we had to go through the "shortcut" (though I didn't think it was a shortcut) route to get to this point.

Ant

I do not believe it would be fair to prevent B-2 holders to apply for AOS, as I believe there might some (very few, IMO) who did not have prior intention to marry AND immigrate using their B-2. But the USCIS should definitely subject B-2 holders who change their status to more scrutinity.

I just wanted to ask you... were you ever questioned if you had intent to immigrate when you arrived on B-2 during your AOS interview? I'm curious to know because I've read other reviews on the AOS sub-forum of adjusting fron other visa types, and some have mentioned that they were never questioned about their intent when they entered the U.S.

When I said more scrutinity I meant during the AOS interview, not at the POE. I know its not fun to be questioned at the POE. I've been through that many times, and you are right it is a very unpleasent experience. I believe its because CBP officers work under the premise of "guilty until proven innocent", every alien is presumed to have immigration intent until you prove otherwise. The funny thing is that for B-2 holders that apply for AOS, that seems to work the other way around during the AOS interview.

My conclusion to all this, is that the USCIS has many other things to worry about that they don't really care if people use a B-2 to immigrate, in this type of cases.

As for Gemmie's reply to Jon, she already sent a PM, she has already said she was not accusing him/them of committing visa fraud. What else do you expect her to do? Apologize to each one of you for this terrible offense? Not even Jon himself took it as bad you did! So, come on... get over it!

Edited August 7, 2008 by eric_and_teresa

[LaL 418]

I just wanted to ask you... were you ever questioned if you had intent to immigrate when you arrived on B-2 during your AOS interview? I'm curious to know because I've read other reviews on the AOS sub-forum of adjusting fron other visa types, and some have mentioned that they were never questioned about their intent when they entered the U.S.

When I said more scrutinity I meant during the AOS interview, not at the POE. I know its not fun to be questioned at the POE. I've been through that many times, and you are right it is a very unpleasent experience. I believe its because CBP officers work under the premise of "guilty until proven innocent", every immigrant is presumed to have immigration intent until you prove otherwise. The funny thing is that for B-2 holders that apply for AOS, that seems to work the other way around during the AOS interview.

My conclusion to all this, is that the USCIS has many other things to worry about that they don't really care if people use a B-2 to immigrate, in this type of cases.

As for Gemmie's reply to Jon, she already sent a PM, she has already said she was not accusing him/them of committing visa fraud. What else do you expect her to do? Apologize to each one of you for this terrible offense? Not even Jon himself took it as bad you did! So, come on... get over it!

I know you're not asking me, but often I have read of anecdotal experiences with this sort of adjustment and the majority of members stated they were not asked about their intent at the border. I suppose this means they proved their intent at the border, period. I would agree with you (and actually I stated something very similar) that USCIS has other worries than the VWP/B2, etc adjustees.

As far as Gemmie's statement, response and PM - we are just commenting - not railing anyone, not outraged, etc. Just discussing where it could have been perceived as backhanded. So nothing to get over IMHO.

Edited August 7, 2008 by LaL

[eric_and_teresa 10]

I just wanted to ask you... were you ever questioned if you had intent to immigrate when you arrived on B-2 during your AOS interview? I'm curious to know because I've read other reviews on the AOS sub-forum of adjusting fron other visa types, and some have mentioned that they were never questioned about their intent when they entered the U.S.

When I said more scrutinity I meant during the AOS interview, not at the POE. I know its not fun to be questioned at the POE. I've been through that many times, and you are right it is a very unpleasent experience. I believe its because CBP officers work under the premise of "guilty until proven innocent", every immigrant is presumed to have immigration intent until you prove otherwise. The funny thing is that for B-2 holders that apply for AOS, that seems to work the other way around during the AOS interview.

My conclusion to all this, is that the USCIS has many other things to worry about that they don't really care if people use a B-2 to immigrate, in this type of cases.

As for Gemmie's reply to Jon, she already sent a PM, she has already said she was not accusing him/them of committing visa fraud. What else do you expect her to do? Apologize to each one of you for this terrible offense? Not even Jon himself took it as bad you did! So, come on... get over it!

I know you're not asking me, but often I have read of anecdotal experiences with this sort of adjustment and the majority of members stated they were not asked about their intent at the border. I suppose this means they proved their intent at the border, period. I would agree with you (and actually I stated something very similar) that USCIS has other worries than the VWP/B2, etc adjustees.

As far as Gemmie's statement, response and PM - we are just commenting - not railing anyone, not outraged, etc. Just discussing where it could have been perceived as backhanded. So nothing to get over IMHO.

I was looking for your post where you said that on this thread and I could not find it! But yeah, I agree with you on that. I think the USCIS its ok with B-2 holders immigrating as long as they regularize their status after marriage.

About Gemmie, I think that she has already explained more than once that she did not mean to sound offensive to Jon, so there is no point to keep pointing out that it did sound offensive, especially when Jon did not even pay much attention to it.

[LaL 418]

I was looking for your post where you said that on this thread and I could not find it! But yeah, I agree with you on that. I think the USCIS its ok with B-2 holders immigrating as long as they regularize their status after marriage.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...t&p=2089925

Edited August 7, 2008 by LaL

[Gemmie 142]

When I said "the loophole makes it so much easier", I meant that the option takes away being forced to leave the US, spending several months away from each other and having to apply for a visa. Not that adjusting whilst in the US is easy in itself.

Nothing is good enough in this case though because personal feelings are involved. Even when I explained that I wasn't accusing anyone here of fraud, it was the term that I used that became offensive, and when I explained how the term wasn't meant to be, I was told even mentioning a name in the same sentence (no matter what the context!) was offensive. I do agree with tmma that it was more the reaction of experiencing the loss of a friend, which is understandable, as I can see how close people were to this person.

I find it interesting that so many times on VJ, expressing your negative thoughts and feelings is often encouraged; the immigration process is a downer and can be shared by others going through a similar thing - but you do so in response to a specific poster and game over, no matter what the intent.

So many times we see people coming on to rant about not recieving their NOA, having to wait much longer at their service centre, officers losing important documents, being judged by governmental officials, others being approved before them, being apart from their loved one on special occasions, frustrations with adjusting, the list goes on... we do this with ignorance to some extent of others' situations and I have to say it, I LOVE that VJ allows people to complain about such things, otherwise we would all go crazy with frustration and/or helplessness! None of this is personal when we complain, because the enemy here is the system and the hardships that we must all endure to be with our loved ones.

[antda 13]

Hi eric_and_teresa,

In answer to your question:

As I said before, I was questioned under scrutiny for 2hrs when I arrived at the border/POE on a B-2 Visa. And it certainly didn’t help either that we had a full carload of mainly/mostly my husband’s (not mine) personal belongings at that time when we crossed over then. It was definitely an unpleasant experience at that time when we crossed over. What a nice way to say “Welcome to America. Enjoy your visit.” indeed! Since then, other than that one time, I’ve had no problems crossing back and forth over the Canadian/American border, especially now that I have my green card when I cross back home into the USA. Even when I went back to Canada a few months later, after I got my green card, with a full carload of my personal belongings to bring back to the USA, I didn’t have problems then either.

As for the AOS interview, in contrast, I was surprised that they never asked us about my intent to immigrate on a B-2 visa, even though I thought beforehand that they would ask that then. The AOS interview for us lasted about 10-15 minutes or so, and the few questions they asked were more so about our relationship/marriage and other issues. Funny thing though, at the AOS interview, the Immigration Officer did ask, “Since you came over from Canada, why did you get a B-2 Visa for your short-term visit here?” (as Canadians are exempt from getting visitor’s visas when crossing over to the US and commonly travel over the border at that location without passports or visas at all). And I replied back, “I don’t know, you tell me. I just gave them my Canadian passport to show as identification for my visit here, and I was issued and stamped with a B-2 Visa in it.” And to this day, I still don’t know why I got that B-2 Visa stamp in my Canadian passport, though the stamp there makes for an interesting souvenir of that nightmare-ish experience I had that day.

And yes, maybe in the end, as you said, “the USCIS has many other things to worry about that they don't really care if people use a B-2 to immigrate, in this type of cases.”

Good luck with your immigration journey too, eric_and_teresa.

Ant

Hi Everyone,

Hmmm..From personal experience: Does being questioned at the border for 2 hours or so be considered scrutiny? What a nightmare that was, indeed, when all I wanted to do was only to visit my boyfriend/fiancee (now husband) at that time. When I came over the border from Canada on a B2 Visa, we did not have any prior intention to marry and it was last-minute that we decided to get married here in the US during that visit. For me, the thought of going back to Canada wasn't an option, more so realizing how much I missed my husband at times we were apart, and especially after how they poorly treated us at the border. Needless to say, it was the right decision for us to do the B2 to AOS, and I don't regret it and I don't see that it's illegal. Yes, along the way we did have many immigration hardships and sacrifices too, but it was worth it in the end. Most importantly, the happy ending of this experience: we're still happily married and happily living together legally in the US now, even though we had to go through the "shortcut" (though I didn't think it was a shortcut) route to get to this point.

Ant

I do not believe it would be fair to prevent B-2 holders to apply for AOS, as I believe there might some (very few, IMO) who did not have prior intention to marry AND immigrate using their B-2. But the USCIS should definitely subject B-2 holders who change their status to more scrutinity.

I just wanted to ask you... were you ever questioned if you had intent to immigrate when you arrived on B-2 during your AOS interview? I'm curious to know because I've read other reviews on the AOS sub-forum of adjusting fron other visa types, and some have mentioned that they were never questioned about their intent when they entered the U.S.

When I said more scrutinity I meant during the AOS interview, not at the POE. I know its not fun to be questioned at the POE. I've been through that many times, and you are right it is a very unpleasent experience. I believe its because CBP officers work under the premise of "guilty until proven innocent", every alien is presumed to have immigration intent until you prove otherwise. The funny thing is that for B-2 holders that apply for AOS, that seems to work the other way around during the AOS interview.

My conclusion to all this, is that the USCIS has many other things to worry about that they don't really care if people use a B-2 to immigrate, in this type of cases.

As for Gemmie's reply to Jon, she already sent a PM, she has already said she was not accusing him/them of committing visa fraud. What else do you expect her to do? Apologize to each one of you for this terrible offense? Not even Jon himself took it as bad you did! So, come on... get over it!

[eric_and_teresa 10]

I was looking for your post where you said that on this thread and I could not find it! But yeah, I agree with you on that. I think the USCIS its ok with B-2 holders immigrating as long as they regularize their status after marriage.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...t&p=2089925

Thank you!