Travel to US while petition processing?

[adlitem 0]

Recently I posted to get some advice about what visa route my fiancé should go. I thought that DCF was not going to be an option but I was able to talk the Consulate into allowing me to petition for her so we’re getting married in a few weeks here in Brazil.

Now my question is about her ability to go back to the States while waiting out the adjudication process. She got her B2 tourist visa in October 2008 and visited my family in December 2008 for the holidays. At that time Immigration gave her a six month stamp (until 06/24/09) but she only stayed for a couple of weeks.

The Consulate told me that she is able to travel to the States as a tourist after we marry and submit the petition but to “be careful” about what she says at immigration. They also said that immigration decides how long a tourist can stay each time they enter.

Our plan is for her to stay for a couple of months in the US while we find a place to live, get settled in, I find a job, etc. We’d like to limit the time away we have from each other so she would return to Brazil for the interview and then go back to the States. The amount of time she stays in the US would depend on how long it takes for the petition to go through.

I have a couple of questions:

1. Will she have any problems going to the US as a tourist while my petition is being processed?

2. Will she (most likely) get another six months to stay as a tourist or will her time run out in June?

Thanks in advance for the input.

[YuAndDan 153]

The consulate's advice is sound, you may need to demonstrate that you will not overstay the visitor's visa to the satisfaction of the POE officer when entering the USA.

1) Need to show ties to home country.

2) POE will set the expiration of I-94 to that of visa (June)

Edited April 2, 2009 by YuAndDan

[Nik+Heather 121]

Our plan is for her to stay for a couple of months in the US while we find a place to live, get settled in, I find a job, etc. We’d like to limit the time away we have from each other so she would return to Brazil for the interview and then go back to the States. The amount of time she stays in the US would depend on how long it takes for the petition to go through.

1. Will she have any problems going to the US as a tourist while my petition is being processed?

Traveling to the US on a visitor visa without a return ticket in hand is a REALLY good way to get yourself denied at PoE.

Since you haven't yet sent in the petition, the likelihood of her needing to return before her visa runs out seems slim, so no reason not to make the return ticket be close to the expiration date. (Don't overstay! Plan for bad weather/canceled flights...airline strikes whatever)

We all wish that we could minimize our time apart, but it's just not always possible. That's why we have VJ, so we can support each other during our times apart. :-)

-H