Bringing Husband

[baji 0]

Hi Vj

I am asking this question for my friend , she will be getting green card visa , her Grand mother sponser her father and she is 20 years old . can she married her financee while she is still in pakistan after she receive passport . in other words her marriage date will be after the visa issue date but POE date will different . because she will enter in america after the marrige date .

what she is trying to do is , she will not have to go back for marriage and she can apply right away ? i hope its not confusing

[HeatDeath 430]

Hi Vj

I am asking this question for my friend , she will be getting green card visa , her Grand mother sponser her father and she is 20 years old . can she married her financee while she is still in pakistan after she receive passport . in other words her marriage date will be after the visa issue date but POE date will different . because she will enter in america after the marrige date .

what she is trying to do is , she will not have to go back for marriage and she can apply right away ? i hope its not confusing

I don't know exactly what kind of visa she has received, but if it is a derivative status based on her being an unmarried child of another visa holder, she should make sure that she is still unmarried when she enters the US. If she marries before PoE and they find out, they will turn her away if that's what her visa was based on.

According to this: http://www.uscis.gov/USCIS/New%20Structure...Guides/B1en.pdf , Permanent Residents can petition to allow their spouse to immigrate. So once she has a green card in hand, she can easily travel back to Pakistan, get married, and begin the process of filing for a spousal visa. (Unfortunately, Permanent Residents cannot petition fiances, so they would have to get married over there. He would then have to wait there for the spousal visa to be approved, figure 8-12 months, maybe more). But I would be very careful not to jeopardize her ability to enter the US as an unmarried daughter by playing fast and loose with the rules. If her visa is for an unmarried child, she should be unmarried when she enters the US. Otherwise they might not let her in at all.

Edited February 4, 2010 by HeatDeath

[JERIII 8]

I don't know exactly what kind of visa she has received, but if it is a derivative status based on her being an unmarried child of another visa holder, she should make sure that she is still unmarried when she enters the US. If she marries before PoE and they find out, they will turn her away if that's what her visa was based on.

According to this: http://www.uscis.gov/USCIS/New%20Structure...Guides/B1en.pdf , Permanent Residents can petition to allow their spouse to immigrate. So once she has a green card in hand, she can easily travel back to Pakistan, get married, and begin the process of filing for a spousal visa. (Unfortunately, Permanent Residents cannot petition fiances, so they would have to get married over there. He would then have to wait there for the spousal visa to be approved, figure 8-12 months, maybe more). But I would be very careful not to jeopardize her ability to enter the US as an unmarried daughter by playing fast and loose with the rules. If her visa is for an unmarried child, she should be unmarried when she enters the US. Otherwise they might not let her in at all.

Spouses of LPRs are category 2A Visas, not immediate ones, so figure about 4 years, not 8-10 months.

I think a consultation with an immigration attorney who is an expert on derivative visas is probably in order.

[HeatDeath 430]

Spouses of LPRs are category 2A Visas, not immediate ones, so figure about 4 years, not 8-10 months.

I think a consultation with an immigration attorney who is an expert on derivative visas is probably in order.

Ooch, Yikes! That's not good. That probably means the friend is faced with a very difficult choice: decline the visa altogether, or several years of separation from her fiance in exchange for a future life in America.

If she gets married, she will probably lose her derivative status. That means she won't have an opportunity to go to the US again until A) one of her parents becomes a citizen (at least 5 years) and can petition for her as a married child, or B ) she wins the visa diversity lottery, assuming she's even eligible.

If she goes to the US, she'll be an LPR right away, but is still looking at a 4 year-ish wait until she can bring her husband over. The green card at least makes international travel reasonably easy, but still, it's an ugly ugly choice, unless an immigration attorney knows of some usable cracks and loopholes to slide through here.

[Penguin_ie 5,993]

If she got the visa based on being unmarried, she must still be unmarried when she enters the USA.

[HeatDeath 430]

If she got the visa based on being unmarried, she must still be unmarried when she enters the USA.

Exactly, and worth repeating. It's similar to how K-1 fiance visa holders have to still be unmarried at the time of entry. You have to be unmarried for your petition to be approved. You have to be unmarried for the visa to be issued, and you have to be unmarried to use the visa. And they DO ask you about your marital status at each step in the process, just to be certain. If being unmarried is a condition of the friend's visa, the border officers WILL ask her about her martial status upon entry. If she is married and answers honestly, she will be denied entry, because her visa will simply no longer be applicable to her situation. If she is married and lies, that misrepresentation, if discovered at ANY TIME EVER later, would be grounds for revocation of the green card, and even of naturalization, if it is discovered after the fact.

Yes, they can revoke your citizenship years after the fact if they discover that material misrepresentation was committed at any stage in your immigration process. You will never ever be completely secure in the US if you blatantly misrepresent yourself at any point in this process. Keep that point FIRMLY in mind.

Edited February 4, 2010 by HeatDeath

[baji 0]

Exactly, and worth repeating. It's similar to how K-1 fiance visa holders have to still be unmarried at the time of entry. You have to be unmarried for your petition to be approved. You have to be unmarried for the visa to be issued, and you have to be unmarried to use the visa. And they DO ask you about your marital status at each step in the process, just to be certain. If being unmarried is a condition of the friend's visa, the border officers WILL ask her about her martial status upon entry. If she is married and answers honestly, she will be denied entry, because her visa will simply no longer be applicable to her situation. If she is married and lies, that misrepresentation, if discovered at ANY TIME EVER later, would be grounds for revocation of the green card, and even of naturalization, if it is discovered after the fact.

Yes, they can revoke your citizenship years after the fact if they discover that material misrepresentation was committed at any stage in your immigration process. You will never ever be completely secure in the US if you blatantly misrepresent yourself at any point in this process. Keep that point FIRMLY in mind.

Thanks You very Much . i love all my VJ friends you guys are awsome better than Immigration attorney

[Lebanese Girl 1]

Once your friend recieves her greencard in hand, she can get married as soon as she pleases. I am in this situation I got my greencard through my dad, once I recieved it that summer of 07 I went down to get married and applied for i-130. Now I travel back and forth but never stay beyond 6 months. What hurts the most is the wait lol, it kills and its going to be awhile. But she should pick and choose what she wants to, and what she feels is right. To be honest with you I didn't want to wait I just wanted to be with my husband, my parents choose this route.