Marry under the VWP, what will happen?

[rika60607 215]

- Affidavit of Support from your mother in law, also explaining that you both live in her house

- Affidavit of support from family friends, who know you (the more the merrier)

- Photos, photos, photos... Future Wedding photos, any trips taken together (then tickets, more photos)?

- Mail addressed to both of you

- See if you can open a joint bank account (if they let you do it w/o SSN) or may be a joint credit card.

- Life insurance in each other's name

- Both your names on a car title

There must be more options...

Note: Evidence of a Bonifide Marriage

The USCIS now requires that when filing an I-130 for a spouse that you include evidence of a bonifide marriage. They list examples of acceptable evidence as

Also reading above, we dont have any documentational evidence of this.. we are going to be living with my girlfriend's mother for a while after we are married until my adjustment of status goes through. Is there some things i have to send or is this mainly to scare people? And if i do, what could i send, marriage papers?

Kind Regards,

-Richard

[jula 0]

If i was to send of the I-130 after we marry, will the receipt for that cover my overstay of t he VWP in the US?

No, only when you file I-485 you can be in "pending AOS" status.

[rebeccajo 14]

Ok so here's the story: I am from England and my girlfriend is from New Jersey, USA. We have been officialy dating since October of 2007 and at the moment i am over visiting her for the summer. I have been here since May 29th 2008 on the visa waiver programme and i am due to leave August 27th. I am extremely close with my girlfriend and her family and we know that one day we want to marry, but we never discussed when. Her Dad was very sick this summer so the plan was for me to come and accross and look after him, he could hardly walk and was waiting for a liver transplant. Sadly, 3 weeks into my trip he passed away. Everything has been hectic since and i have been consoling my girlfriend. Information from back home says that my Mum has kicked me out of the house and does not want me back, but said that i can still be officialy linked to the house legally, especially for our K-1 visa, which was our original plan to send off this summer and then save up for everything when i return home. However, with this happening, my girlfriend and i have decided to be married. We want to get married while i am here, we are both in a lot of depression and as cheesy as it sounds we really need to be together. Her mother is all for this and said she will say and/or sign any papers that are necessary for me to stay here permanantly, or sponsor me if needed. She has a very well paid job. I do not wish to return home at all, i would only collect the clothes and items i have left, but if it would make things easier for me to never leave, then so be it. I can live without those small clothes and items, and i would be able to take care of things like bank accounts from over here on the phone eventually. If my girlfriend and i were to be married now... how would i be able to stay here with her? And how would i be able to apply for adjustment of status. I've seen a lot of posts saying this is a no go but some inspiring ones that say it can happen. What will happening if we go ahead with this and what do we have to do to remain together physically? We do not want to leave each other at all. She needs me here. Her family needs me here with their bereavement too.

Any help would be greatly appreciated,

Kind Regards,

Richard

P.S -- For additional information. I have visited here 3 times previous but for very short stays, 10 days in November, 14 days in January and 15 days in February. She has visitied England for a 14 day stay back in April too.

I've bolded inconsistencies in your original post which give me pause.

[rebeccajo 14]

Moved this back to general AOS forum as the OP wishes to rejuvenate the discussion.

[Hydey 0]

The affidavits of support and the photos are fine, including the tickets. But as for the mail in each of our names, we have nothing. The car would cost to put me on it and i don't have a liscence yet either. As for the joint checking account or credit card, i dont think that is possible to do with a non- US citizen?

Kind Regards,

Richard

[Jon&Lindsey 0]

I am adjusting from WVP, and my understanding (also from talking to lawyers, for what that's worth) is that it's ok as long as you really didn't intend to marry and stay when you arrived, and entered legally. Your girlfriend's father dying seems like a pretty life-changing event and an reasonable cause of you changing your mind and not wanting to be apart anymore. You entered the country legally and were inspected, so tell them the truth if asked - though it does seem a bit inconsistent (like rebeccajo said) if you wanted to marry 'someday' but were going to do the K1 this summer. Anyway, if you want to do it this way, I think the main thing is to get married before your VWP/I94W expires - we did a few days before mine expired, but we couldn't send the AOS packet off for several months, due to lack of money. I was scared too, but no one came looking for me! My understanding is that as long as you have less than 6 months of 'out-of status' time (ie between your VWP expiring and USCIS receiving your AOS packet), this is forgiven and so no bans, as you are married to a USC. We managed to get a joint bank account without me having an SSN and used this to write the cheques for AOS, we also got me put on our apartment lease, so used that as evidence of marriage.

[Hydey 0]

I am adjusting from WVP, and my understanding (also from talking to lawyers, for what that's worth) is that it's ok as long as you really didn't intend to marry and stay when you arrived, and entered legally. Your girlfriend's father dying seems like a pretty life-changing event and an reasonable cause of you changing your mind and not wanting to be apart anymore. You entered the country legally and were inspected, so tell them the truth if asked - though it does seem a bit inconsistent (like rebeccajo said) if you wanted to marry 'someday' but were going to do the K1 this summer. Anyway, if you want to do it this way, I think the main thing is to get married before your VWP/I94W expires - we did a few days before mine expired, but we couldn't send the AOS packet off for several months, due to lack of money. I was scared too, but no one came looking for me! My understanding is that as long as you have less than 6 months of 'out-of status' time (ie between your VWP expiring and USCIS receiving your AOS packet), this is forgiven and so no bans, as you are married to a USC. We managed to get a joint bank account without me having an SSN and used this to write the cheques for AOS, we also got me put on our apartment lease, so used that as evidence of marriage.

Hi Jon, that is a very inspirational story and some great information. How did you go about getting the joint checking account together? How did it work, i.e -- Which bank did you use? And did they ask many questions etc?

Also i was looking at the items needed for the I-185, and noticed the I-693 medical examination. Where do you get this from :-/

Was you already engaged before you entered the US too?

Kind Regards and Good Luck to you!

-Richard

[rebeccajo 14]

Rich,

With all due respect, you now indicate that you were engaged when you entered the US.

I'm one of this sites most staunch defenders of a persons legal right to adjust status from the VWP. And I realize a lot of things happened in your girl's family since your last entry. But - and again with all due respect - it seems to me as if you did realize (at the time of your last entry) that the K1 was your best legal option for living permanently in the US.

I would urge you not to abuse the visa waiver privileges granted you by virtue of your UK citizenship. While you may be within your legal rights and your case may be successful, your situation is why adjusting from the VWP is referred to on another site as the 'ten foot pole' question.

A good majority of the readers to these forums don't have VWP options. Deaths in families occur while couples are separated; babies are born; various and asundry catastrophes occur. They have no choice but to follow the path carved out by the US government for their migration to our country. My fiance and I considered adjusting from the VWP when he had difficulty leaving our borders on one visit. We chose to stay our K1 course.

At the end of the day it is your decision.

Edited July 5, 2008 by rebeccajo

[Jon&Lindsey 0]

Richard, see your other thread about the bank account (it was bank of america, no questions)

We had only vaguely talked about marriage 'at some point' before I entered.

You will need to get the medical exam (I-693) done by a civil surgeon, there is a list of them by area here,

https://egov.uscis.gov/crisgwi/go?action=of...office_type=CIV

Call around as prices vary! I think we paid about $250. They'll give you a sealed envelope to send off unopened. The exam wasn't half as bad as I expected, I had read stories of intimate examinations, but I didn't have to take any clothes off at all!

Edited July 5, 2008 by Jon&Lindsey

[Hydey 0]

Rebecca i asked if he was engaged before he entered the US. I was not, and am not.

- Richard

Richard, see your other thread about the bank account (it was bank of america, no questions)

We had vaguely talked about marriage someday, but when I - L - entered, I had NO intention of staying and was totally scared about doing 'the M thing' NOW rather than some vague time in the future. To me at least, that is not inconsistent! We hadn't even talked about when or doing the K visa, as I really didn't want to do it anytime soon.

You will need to get the medical exam (I-693) done by a civil surgeon, there is a list of them by area here,

https://egov.uscis.gov/crisgwi/go?action=of...office_type=CIV

Call around as prices vary! I think we paid about $250. They'll give you a sealed envelope to send off unopened. The exam wasn't half as bad as I expected, I had read stories of intimate examinations, but I didn't have to take any clothes off at all!

Thanks Jon. So i need to have this medical examination before i send off the I-485? I am not going to be able to complete all of this in time due to finances. What shall/can i do? Is there any other little things that need doing like this...

-Richard

[rebeccajo 14]

Rebecca i asked if he was engaged before he entered the US. I was not, and am not.

- Richard

Richard -

People who state they are getting married in a few weeks are usually considered to be engaged.

[Jon&Lindsey 0]

Get this done so you can send it off with the AOS packet. I do not think it is a problem waiting to get money together as long as everything is done before you are out of status 6 months.

[Hydey 0]

Get this done so you can send it off with the AOS packet. I do not think it is a problem waiting to get money together as long as everything is done before you are out of status 6 months.

Thanks Jon, is this a definite that it will be ok to work on getting everything together a month or two after my status is up? And correct me if i am wrong, the I-130 is for my girlfriend to fill out, the I-485 and I-765 are for me to do?

Kind Regards,

-Richard

[rebeccajo 14]

Get this done so you can send it off with the AOS packet. I do not think it is a problem waiting to get money together as long as everything is done before you are out of status 6 months.

Once a person overstays the VWP, those privileges are permanently lost.

Not a problem if the adjustment of status is successful.

[Jon&Lindsey 0]

Get this done so you can send it off with the AOS packet. I do not think it is a problem waiting to get money together as long as everything is done before you are out of status 6 months.

Once a person overstays the VWP, those privileges are permanently lost.

Not a problem if the adjustment of status is successful.

Yes, I was assuming that the adjustment would be successful, with the person really not intending to stay when they arrived legally in the US. I was not advocating that someone play the system, I was assuming the the OP really did change his mind.