Very Frustrated and annoyed at my friend who cheated

[tmma 467]

hi folks..just found out that my friend cheated by not doing K-1, and instead married his fiancee/gf of 2 YEARS while she was here on a Tourist Visa, and now they are happily living together without ever having been caught!!!

He should have gone through K-1 and waited like the REST OF US......

My question is can I do anything to rat him out (I dont care about friendship anymore--we were never really that close anyway)....

It just boils my blood knowing his story and how he got away with it!!!

Not read the other responses ....

1. Your friend did NOT break any immigration laws if there was NO INTENT to marry on entry at the POE. That is fact--Best advice---Deal with it. Stop wasting energy whining about perceived injustice and cheating and prepare for your own case and if it's burning you up so much them being together and you and your SO not right now----Nothing stopping you from visiting there.

[chili74 0]

I feel that K1 is crazy, meet someone once, then have a short 90 days to make that critical decision.

I'm sorry, this is a bit of a hijack, but a K1 is applied for not only in the circumstance you describe. I'm not sure how you made this leap.

[Aniomaman 0]

I feel that K1 is crazy, meet someone once, then have a short 90 days to make that critical decision.

I'm sorry, this is a bit of a hijack, but a K1 is applied for not only in the circumstance you describe. I'm not sure how you made this leap.

Well said Chili74, I don't think the USCIS has a rule on filing after your first visit. It's your choice to file after your first visit or several visits. They are not there to make judgement calls on how strong your relationship is but common sense dictates that before 2 mature adults decide to go into marriage, they are sure that is what they want and know their partners well enough. I knew my Fiancee as a friend first and then we went on to date(this took about 7 years), not many people are patient enough but you can imagine there were loads of visits in-between.

So if you decide to file for a K1 after one visit, then you need to be ready for whatever goes with that which in my opinion varies with individuals as some people are lucky enough to meet their soul mates and understand them in that short period. Just my 2 cents.

[HongKong2LA 9]

Good god, people, we don't have all the details on this. If there was no intention to stay and adjust on entry, these people have not violated immigration law. My first husband and I did this -- we had been dating for six months (and living together in the UK for 4 months), and he came back with me for what was supposed to be a 90-day stay. About two weeks in, we realized we weren't going to be able to hack the time apart while I applied for graduate school in the UK, so we married and began adjustment. We eventually abandoned the AOS to return to the UK where he had been accepted to law school. We did not encounter ANY problems because we honestly did not intend to do this before we entered the US.

There is no magic amount of time you've been dating to ensure success. I know a couple, friends of my family, who had been dating for many years, on and off. She had lived in his home country for a while, and I believe he once was here on a work visa of some variety. He came to visit her one time on the VWP (he did this several times a year), and about 3 weeks in she decided she had had enough and proposed to him. They married and adjusted, even though it meant he had to leave his fairly lucrative job for several months. It worked because he had no intention of staying when he entered. See a pattern?

Seriously, unless you know all the details about this case, just stop it. And even if you do know the facts, and you feel mortally offended, well, bully for you and your righteous indignation. God knows there's enough of it around here.[/b]

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

I think John and Marlene's post should be pinned at the top of the forum.

[mox 298]

I feel that K1 is crazy, meet someone once, then have a short 90 days to make that critical decision.

I'm sorry, this is a bit of a hijack, but a K1 is applied for not only in the circumstance you describe. I'm not sure how you made this leap.

This is an argument older than VJ itself. You've got your "K-1 should only be used after the couple is 100% positively going to get married, and the 90 days should only be used to make arrangements" crowd, and you've got your "the 90 days should be used for the couple to make sure they can really live together" crowd. For some reason this seems to draw heated arguments, because presumably people can't help but try to mess with other peoples' lives and enforce their own personal beliefs on others.

To stay somewhat on the topic, OP: get over it. If you've got a lot of extra time to burn pursuing a complaint against somebody else who may or may not have done the wrong thing, put that time to better use. Volunteer some time to Habitat for Humanity or a soup kitchen. Turning somebody in because you are "frustrated and annoyed" with how they went about their "journey" is just wasting energy, and in the end you'll feel no better about yourself.

Now...who's for pie?

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

Now...who's for pie?

What kind of pie are we talking about? Banana cream pie? Apple pie with ice cream?

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

This is an argument older than VJ itself. You've got your "K-1 should only be used after the couple is 100% positively going to get married, and the 90 days should only be used to make arrangements" crowd, and you've got your "the 90 days should be used for the couple to make sure they can really live together" crowd. For some reason this seems to draw heated arguments, because presumably people can't help but try to mess with other peoples' lives and enforce their own personal beliefs on others.

There's no debate, really. USCIS has made it clear that the purpose of the K1 is to marry in the US - full stop.

Page 2...

http://www.uscis.gov/files/article/A2eng.pdf

What if we are engaged but have not yet decided to marry?

The fiancé(e) visa is a temporary visa that simply permits your fiancé(e) to enter the United States so that the two of you can marry in the United States within the 90 days permitted from the date of entry. It is not a way for you to bring a person here so you can get to know one another, or spend more time together to decide whether or not you want to marry.

"Personal belief" only comes into play when someone wants to believe that the K1 is something that it is not.

[rin and john 71]

Just look at the DHS statistics:

http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/statist...06/table26d.xls

The table above shows about 50,000 K-1, K-2, K-3, and K-4's combined.

Then look at table 2 of this report:

http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/statist...LPR_FR_2007.pdf

Over 375,000 spouses and children of US citizens granted LPR status (via either a CR-1/IR-1 or AOS).

If I am reading the data correctly, the majority of foreign spouses/children of US citizens obtaining LPR status in any given year are doing so by adjusting status from within the USA. Those of us who walked the path of the K visa are in the minority. So "ratting out" someone for filing AOS while here in the USA would most likely fall upon deaf ears at USCIS.

[mox 298]

There's no debate, really. USCIS has made it clear that the purpose of the K1 is to marry in the US - full stop.

Page 2...

http://www.uscis.gov/files/article/A2eng.pdf

The cited article is not legislative or authoritative, and was written by a bureaucrat, not a lawmaker. Your source is a FAQ, not law. There are 2 lawful requirements for a K1 Visa: that you have met the person within the past year, and that you are free to marry at the time of filing.

"Personal belief" only comes into play when someone wants to believe that the K1 is something that it is not.

My point exactly.

[KnightAndMagpie 7]

Now...who's for pie?

What kind of pie are we talking about? Banana cream pie? Apple pie with ice cream?

I want pecan pie!

I've been reading the forum for a bit. It's better than watching TV...

But at the risk of haranguing the dude who suggested the 90-day period was to "make a decision": before we started the K-1 process, Knight visited me, and then we didn't see one another for about a year (for various reasons that I've disclosed before but won't go into now), and then he stayed with me for two weeks. We'd actually known one another for some time before we decided on the K-1, and actually started the process, withdrew our petition, and started it again later so I could finish my degree. Yes, we had been together in person twice, but depending on who it is, you don't necessarily need to stay with someone for long periods of time. We were also in very close contact when we weren't together in person. I've now been here in the US and living with him for what seems like a lifetime and it made the entire journey worth it. It was incredibly difficult for the both of us, especially considering the circumstances I was dealing with, but I just count my blessings that it was easier than what a lot of people have to put up with.

So! As I'm likely repeating what many have already stated: be happy that your journey is over, and yes it's yuck, but you did it safely via the K-1 visa. There are considerable risks they're running in what they're doing, but it's not necessarily illegal. There's no need to go after them with the Mallet of Righteousness because they chose the route they're taking -- it's the way the system is. Leave them be, and be happy for them if it works out, and if you can't be, well thrrprprprp to you, sir.

That was probably one of my unclearer and convoluted posts, but my brain's been on vacation and looks like it's not coming back.

Magpie.

Edited June 24, 2009 by KnightAndMagpie

[NArocks 13]

First, HE is the US Citizen (my friend), and she is the outsider - Canada..... They have been dating for 2 years. She came on Tourist a couple months back and got married. Now they are happily living together...I just dont know if AOS was completed successfuly or not.

Oh and why I want to rat him out, you ask? Because its a matter of principle...why should we have to have to wait, and why should they be able to get away with it?

Excuse me the outsider? And is your finace from the US? Be careful throwing judments around when you also are Marrying and outsider. As I am not a native american I am also an outsider NO?????

[Minya's wife 24]

First, HE is the US Citizen (my friend), and she is the outsider - Canada..... They have been dating for 2 years. She came on Tourist a couple months back and got married. Now they are happily living together...I just dont know if AOS was completed successfuly or not.

Oh and why I want to rat him out, you ask? Because its a matter of principle...why should we have to have to wait, and why should they be able to get away with it?

What they did is LEGAL as long as her intent when she entered the US was just to visit as her tourist visa said and while here she and her man decided to get married. As long as they can prove that....it is legal for them to do what they did.

Unless you have primary evidence proof that their intent was otherwise there is really nothing you can do, nor has any principle been violated. I think your anger is misplaced.

[mox 298]

First, HE is the US Citizen (my friend), and she is the outsider - Canada..... They have been dating for 2 years. She came on Tourist a couple months back and got married. Now they are happily living together...I just dont know if AOS was completed successfuly or not.

Oh and why I want to rat him out, you ask? Because its a matter of principle...why should we have to have to wait, and why should they be able to get away with it?

Excuse me the outsider? And is your finace from the US? Be careful throwing judments around when you also are Marrying and outsider. As I am not a native american I am also an outsider NO?????

Relax. It's not a judgment, it's just a poor (although syntactically accurate) choice of words.

[Krikit 1,164]

The cited article is not legislative or authoritative, and was written by a bureaucrat, not a lawmaker. Your source is a FAQ, not law. There are 2 lawful requirements for a K1 Visa: that you have met the person within the past year, and that you are free to marry at the time of filing.

And that you supply them with a letter stating your intent to marry and adjust status. Twice. From each of you. I guess they just want to be sure in case someone was just coming here to test the waters.