Advice on traveling to US while visas are pending

[shiri 0]

Hey, I was looking at the FAQs about the possiblity of traveling to the US while the K3 or Immigrant visa are pending. It said that a visitor's pass is what would be used in that case. Ok, here is my question for the application for the visitor's pass, it asks if you have ever been excluded from the US. Is being denied entry the same as an exclusion from the US? This is a very important question. My husband has been denied entry into the US before because he didn't have all of his paperwork at the port before and then also once he had a one way ticket to the US, but didn't have a return ticket and they denied him. Later he was allowed entry... so is that the same as exclusion?

Thanks for your help!

Edited June 1, 2008 by shiri

[Catt 6]

Hi everyone,

We have petitions for K3 visa pending for approval at USCIS. Last Friday, I travelled to the US for a two week visit. I travelled on the visa waiver program.

Just to make sure, I had evidence of home ties with me, such as a letter from my firm stating I will return back to work afterwards, copy of my latest rental payment and of my latest paystub etc.

Entry at POE (Atlanta) was no problem at all, the officer only asked me are you here for business or pleasure, and then wished me a pleasant stay. The visa procedure never came up.

This all might very much depend on the POE or the individual officer you talk to, but I just wanted to share this, in case others were also thinking of travelling over and concerned about whether or not this might be possible.

take care,

Cat

[nick256 0]

As a follow up to this discussion I was thinking of trying to bring my wife over on a tourist visa for a visit in advance of the K3 application. I originally brought her over last August on a K1. We were married in October, then the bottom dropped out of the job market that I work in. My entire unit was laid off as were folks doing similiar work throughout my industry. It became obvious that my unemployment would be prolonged and my finances would go south. We decided she would return to Thailand until I found new work and my financial situation stabilized. She left on the final day her K1 was valid at the end of Nov. It took much longer to find work than we had hoped. I finally landed a great job that starts in a week. We've now been apart 7 months and I'd like to bring her over for a visit. My friends that live in Thailand tell me that the 10 year multiple entry visa application takes 4-6 weeks and that she can visit for up to 6 months. I was hoping that I could get her over for a visit before we file a k-3. I'm not sure if she has to return before the k-3 gets filed. I know the K-1 just sat in a box for 5 months last year before anyone touched it, so I'm not sure they would even know or care that she is here as long as she returns home when they start to process it. I'm hoping they'll regard a visitor's visa favorably given that she did visit before and returned home on time. Since she came over on a K-1 I doubt they'd be upset that we got married on her last visit since that was what the visa was for. It would be great if we could spend some of that long k-3 wait time together. In retrospect I wish I had just married her in Thailand in the first place and applied for the K-3. Then she would have recieved a multiple entry visa from the start and we could be together soon.

Even if she must return home before the k-3 is filed we still need some time together this year so I'm going to try and get her a 10 year tourist visa. What do you folks think? Anyone know if she can be visiting with me after I'm ready to file?

Nick

[MsZ 6]

Did she file for advance parole before she left? Because if she didn't, then they don't care that she came on a K-1, but they'll care that she left w/o proper documents. I'm kind of thinking this would make it a tricky situation since she's married to a USC but hasn't even filed a K-3. And Thailand is a different kettle of fish than Canada. I'd think you'd be better to file the K-3 first because at least you could indicate that you have a desire to do things by the book. It is a tricky one -- I could see it going either way with or without a K-3 in the works.

But I'd bet dollars to donuts that it'd be a no-go with her married to a USC and having left w/o advance parole.

Anyway, about Canada -- my husband comes here a couple or 3 times per month with an CR1 in progress. He just left again today and will be back on Wednesday. He was here 2 weeks ago. For the most part, we see each other every weekend or better so one of us is crossing the other's border quite a lot. Bring ties just in case. Don't carry more than you'd need for your stay. Be polite. Be honest.

[nick256 0]

Did she file for advance parole before she left? Because if she didn't, then they don't care that she came on a K-1, but they'll care that she left w/o proper documents. I'm kind of thinking this would make it a tricky situation since she's married to a USC but hasn't even filed a K-3. And Thailand is a different kettle of fish than Canada. I'd think you'd be better to file the K-3 first because at least you could indicate that you have a desire to do things by the book. It is a tricky one -- I could see it going either way with or without a K-3 in the works.

But I'd bet dollars to donuts that it'd be a no-go with her married to a USC and having left w/o advance parole.

Anyway, about Canada -- my husband comes here a couple or 3 times per month with an CR1 in progress. He just left again today and will be back on Wednesday. He was here 2 weeks ago. For the most part, we see each other every weekend or better so one of us is crossing the other's border quite a lot. Bring ties just in case. Don't carry more than you'd need for your stay. Be polite. Be honest.

Thanks for your thoughts on this. It seems to me that her punishment for not filing the advance parole is that she's back to square one. We now have to start a new K-3 instead of bringing her back on the original K-1. Because she left within the timespan of her 90-day visa with the K-1 she didn't violate the terms of her visa. I'm worried that if I file a K-3 first then we'll be demonstrating an intention for her to stay which would be grounds not to approve the 10 year visa. If she gets the 10 year mult entry visa first then she can come here for up to 6 months. We could be together while waiting for the K-3 to process. She'd still have to return home and go through the interviews in Thailand but at least we wouldn't spend another year apart. She would appear to have credibility that she doesn't want to stay in the US because she already abandoned the K-1 even though she got married. What do you think?