B-2 while K-1 is processing...

[Salsa Shark 0]

I started a tangent on the February 2010 CSC I-129F filer's thread and thought I would continue it here...

We filed our I-129F a little over two weeks ago. Now that we have the NOA-1, we decided we would also try for a B-2 tourist visa in the meantime.

Just for the record, I'm not asking for opinions on that course of action. I've read the other forum postings, we've talked to other people who have tried this and we spoke at length with Pony Express.

Bottom line is that we really don't have anything to lose by trying other than some moolah. I just wanted to share our experience here as this seems to be a topic that comes up frequently but gets bumped off the rails by several unfounded black-or-white statements.

So...that out of the way....

My fiancee is from Chelyabinsk. We've been involved for two years now and have met each other in Prague, Egypt and the Bahamas. We tried for a tourist visa to Canada a few months ago and were denied, which honestly surprised me.

While we were deciding where to meet next, I read some of the reports showing the various visa issuance/rejection statistics broken down by nation. I was quite surprised to see that a large number of B-2 visas were issued to Russians. Even cooler was the fact that the rejection rate for those visas was only 4.9%.

Olya did the online portion of the application yesterday and submitted the rest via Pony Express a few hours ago. The woman from Pony Express said that a lot of people do the B-2 in conjunction with the K-1, though with varying degrees of success. But there are plenty of approvals. Also, since Olya would be doing her K-1 interview in Moscow, but her B-2 interview in Yekaterinburg, they don't really have any details on the K-1 request at the latter. I don't know if that means people omit that information for their B-2 request or not, but we decided on the full disclosure route. Not out of any great sense of legality, but more because Olya's a terrible liar

We included a cover letter that very clearly laid out our K-1 plans and that there is indeed an eventual intent to immigrate, it won't be during a B-2 stay. Since Olya was in the US a few years ago on a J-1 that was AOS'd to a B-2 and did not overstay, we're hoping that works in our favour as well.

Normally, they do the B-2 interview within a week or two, but we seem to have had bad timing. We were informed that, due to a spike in J-1 requests from students, they only have two days scheduled in March for interviews. So Olya will go in on March 22nd or March 24th and we'll have our answer then.

We're very realistic about our chances. I planned on going to Chely before we decided to file for the B-2, so we'll go back to that plan if this fails. If the B-2 is approved, then my only concern is a possible denial at POE. To hopefully preclude that, I might route her through Nassau, which has preclearance. If she's turned away, she can stay in the Bahamas for a week or two and I'll join her there. Can think of much worse ways to handle a rejection

So--will post an update when we have something new to report.

[SMR 368]

I started a tangent on the February 2010 CSC I-129F filer's thread and thought I would continue it here...

We filed our I-129F a little over two weeks ago. Now that we have the NOA-1, we decided we would also try for a B-2 tourist visa in the meantime.

Just for the record, I'm not asking for opinions on that course of action. I've read the other forum postings, we've talked to other people who have tried this and we spoke at length with Pony Express.

Bottom line is that we really don't have anything to lose by trying other than some moolah. I just wanted to share our experience here as this seems to be a topic that comes up frequently but gets bumped off the rails by several unfounded black-or-white statements.

So...that out of the way....

My fiancee is from Chelyabinsk. We've been involved for two years now and have met each other in Prague, Egypt and the Bahamas. We tried for a tourist visa to Canada a few months ago and were denied, which honestly surprised me.

While we were deciding where to meet next, I read some of the reports showing the various visa issuance/rejection statistics broken down by nation. I was quite surprised to see that a large number of B-2 visas were issued to Russians. Even cooler was the fact that the rejection rate for those visas was only 4.9%.

Olya did the online portion of the application yesterday and submitted the rest via Pony Express a few hours ago. The woman from Pony Express said that a lot of people do the B-2 in conjunction with the K-1, though with varying degrees of success. But there are plenty of approvals. Also, since Olya would be doing her K-1 interview in Moscow, but her B-2 interview in Yekaterinburg, they don't really have any details on the K-1 request at the latter. I don't know if that means people omit that information for their B-2 request or not, but we decided on the full disclosure route. Not out of any great sense of legality, but more because Olya's a terrible liar

We included a cover letter that very clearly laid out our K-1 plans and that there is indeed an eventual intent to immigrate, it won't be during a B-2 stay. Since Olya was in the US a few years ago on a J-1 that was AOS'd to a B-2 and did not overstay, we're hoping that works in our favour as well.

Normally, they do the B-2 interview within a week or two, but we seem to have had bad timing. We were informed that, due to a spike in J-1 requests from students, they only have two days scheduled in March for interviews. So Olya will go in on March 22nd or March 24th and we'll have our answer then.

We're very realistic about our chances. I planned on going to Chely before we decided to file for the B-2, so we'll go back to that plan if this fails. If the B-2 is approved, then my only concern is a possible denial at POE. To hopefully preclude that, I might route her through Nassau, which has preclearance. If she's turned away, she can stay in the Bahamas for a week or two and I'll join her there. Can think of much worse ways to handle a rejection

So--will post an update when we have something new to report.

Sounds like you have money to burn. Not that I have a problem with that. But you seem to be spending a lot of extra money on this thing.

[AKguy 1]

Just make sure she shows a helluvalot of ties back to Russia. Ties that show she would HAVE to go back home or lose out on a lot. Money, car, job, letter from job stating they expect her back, family ties. Provide this and she'll be in a much better spot to get the B2.

Good luck!

[Chris_Жанна 11]

I hate to be the Debbie Downer but I think you'll be wasting your time with this one ( I hope I'm wrong).

On the non-immigrant visa form there is a question that asks "Has anyone filed a petition on your behalf?"

She will have to answer "Yes" to this. The problem is, it is the CO's job to think that from the very beginning that the interviewee is going to immigrate to the USA by any means. And until the CO can be made to think another way the answer will most likely be "no" to the B-2 visa. The reason why, is because she is showing that she has "dual intent" yes, she is taking a legal avenue to relocate to the USA but now she wants to visit with a pending petition, so in the CO's brain this may be enough to have an out right denial, unless she has serious financial, social, etc ties to Russia.

Not only that, but even if she has the visa she must convince the CBP at the PoE that she will return home.

I would have tried for the tourist visa before the K-1. That's how we did it. Got the tourist visa before the K-1 application and Zhanna traveled to the U.S. and stayed for 3 months while we waited for the NoA2.

I'm not trying to discourage you at all. If you have the time and the money and don't mind rolling the dice, go for it! it won't hurt your k-1 petition. But she may have to explain why the tourist visa was denied at the k-1 interview perhaps.

"But there are plenty of approvals. Also, since Olya would be doing her K-1 interview in Moscow, but her B-2 interview in Yekaterinburg, they don't really have any details on the K-1 request at the latter. I don't know if that means people omit that information for their B-2 request or not, but we decided on the full disclosure route. Not out of any great sense of legality, but more because Olya's a terrible liar"

One thing that concerns me about this is that you should NEVER omit or lie to the Dept. of state, USCIS, or CBP. To omit material info on the non-immigrant visa application is in fact visa fraud and will defiantly ruin your K-1 plans if she omits, bends the truth, or lies on a B-2 form. Be very careful, this is not to be taken lightly. A lack of respect for the rules and you may have to change plans to live in Russia to be together. The Dept.of State does not play around with this stuff and will have no pity on denying your petition if there are material facts left out and they know you are lying or withholding information.

Good luck on obtaining a B-2. Zhanna got her B-2 from Yekaterinburg, and had no problem getting it there. Again, just be completely honest in all aspects of this process or you'll find yourself in a very compromised position.

[Salsa Shark 0]

Sounds like you have money to burn. Not that I have a problem with that. But you seem to be spending a lot of extra money on this thing.

While $200 is not an insignificant amount of money, it's hardly "a lot of extra money" or money to burn in the context of things...so I'm not really sure where that comment is coming from.

[AKguy 1]

In the long run, after the K-1 runs its monetary course, an extra 200 bucks of none essential needed funds might be considered extra. If you got it, cool. No need to think someone is commenting above and beyond a normal giving a sh!tedness.

[Salsa Shark 0]

I hate to be the Debbie Downer but I think you'll be wasting your time with this one ( I hope I'm wrong).

As I said in my original post, we're realistic about our chances here. There is enough evidence to convince me that it's worth the $200 to try.

On the non-immigrant visa form there is a question that asks "Has anyone filed a petition on your behalf?"

She will have to answer "Yes" to this.

Actually, the question is:

"Has Anyone Ever Filed an Immigrant Visa Petition on Your Behalf?"

So, no, she doesn't have to, and did not, answer in the affirmative here. But we do not have any intention to show deceit so we included a cover letter that explains exactly what our intentions are.

Not only that, but even if she has the visa she must convince the CBP at the PoE that she will return home.

Agreed. We are hoping that our being up-front about the K-1 and the fact that we have no intention of jeopardizing that by overstaying or immigrating on a B-2 visa will help our cause.

Again, I wasn't asking for judgment on my decision. I've taken opinions on this board into serious consideration, along with input from people who have really gone through the process (some of whom have been approved and some denied), and the statistics that show only a 4.9% rejection rate for B visa applications from Russia. I'm just sharing our experience in case in benefits someone else later--whether that is a rejection or approval.

We did not want to try for the B-2 visa before we had the NOA-1 for the K-1 because Olya clearly has dual intent. We want to show that the intent for the B-2 is >not< to immigrate, while the intent for the K-1 is to get married in the US and do AOS.

Regardless, the Yekaterinburg Consulate would have no knowledge of our K-1 petition if we were not volunteering that information. So the question we will be asking ourselves later is if we did the right thing by taking the full disclosure route or if we should have taken a more conservative approach.

"But there are plenty of approvals. Also, since Olya would be doing her K-1 interview in Moscow, but her B-2 interview in Yekaterinburg, they don't really have any details on the K-1 request at the latter. I don't know if that means people omit that information for their B-2 request or not, but we decided on the full disclosure route. Not out of any great sense of legality, but more because Olya's a terrible liar"

One thing that concerns me about this is that you should NEVER omit or lie to the Dept. of state, USCIS, or CBP. To omit material info on the non-immigrant visa application is in fact visa fraud and will defiantly ruin your K-1 plans if she omits, bends the truth, or lies on a B-2 form. Be very careful, this is not to be taken lightly. A lack of respect for the rules and you may have to change plans to live in Russia to be together. The Dept.of State does not play around with this stuff and will have no pity on denying your petition if there are material facts left out and they know you are lying or withholding information.

I'm not sure I understand why you made this comment. We are not required to tell anyone about the K-1 petition unless we are asked a question that requires it. We are being >very< respectful of the rules here, which is why we're taking a full disclosure approach. We would be well within our rights to not offer up any information not being explicitly asked for on the applications or at the interview.

I appreciate everyone's feedback--but we've already jumped in the deep end here so we're just waiting to see how it turns out. If the B-2 request is denied (and we do believe that is the likely path), then we will spend a very brief period of time debating about whether or not we should have proactive offered up the K-1 details. But this is, for all intents and purposes, a throwaway option for us. If Olya cannot visit me in the US, then we will spend time together elsewhere. We just figured that we would give this a shot since it was time for us to plan our next get-together.

The B-2 interview won't be for a month yet, but I'll post any notable updates as they occur.

[Martyshk 137]

I must say, while I was single, I'd blow $200 without giving it another thought....but now... Now I think of it as our money and that we NEED every bit of those monies.

I'm saving up, and she's encouraging me to as well.

I wanted to go visit her while we are waiting for NOA-2, but thinking that all those travel money can be spent on our AOS and then everything extra can be spent for our honeymoon, for example, makes me wanna save.

To the OP: stick it out, if you can. It's not a very long time to wait for the visa compared to a lifetime together.

[Salsa Shark 0]

In the long run, after the K-1 runs its monetary course, an extra 200 bucks of none essential needed funds might be considered extra. If you got it, cool. No need to think someone is commenting above and beyond a normal giving a sh!tedness.

I just thought the comment was tacky. For the thousands of dollars we're all spending to go through these various processes, $200 is a drop in the bucket. Keeping in mind that a B-2 approval means that we end up >saving< money by not having to vacation elsewhere, I'm quite comfortable in rolling the dice on this one.

[AKguy 1]

Disregard.

Edited February 25, 2010 by AKguy

[Salsa Shark 0]

I must say, while I was single, I'd blow $200 without giving it another thought....but now... Now I think of it as our money and that we NEED every bit of those monies.

I'm saving up, and she's encouraging me to as well.

I wanted to go visit her while we are waiting for NOA-2, but thinking that all those travel money can be spent on our AOS and then everything extra can be spent for our honeymoon, for example, makes me wanna save.

To the OP: stick it out, if you can. It's not a very long time to wait for the visa compared to a lifetime together.

Thank you.

For what its worth, Olya is actually covering the B-2 cost and hasn't given me any choice in the matter.

The reality is that we have been trying to get through the K-1 process for much longer than I care to admit and have had a lot of trouble even getting previous petitions to the NOA-1 point. Olya has essentially put her entire life on hold for two years while we solidify our plans and work to get her into the US for good. So the B-2 process, even if it fails and we're out $200, makes her feel more assured that all the waiting is going to be worth it. I didn't explain that part very well, but her frustration level is much lower than it would be if we didn't give it a shot. And that's more than worth the $200 I'll find a way to get back into her account

[slim 1,525]

While $200 is not an insignificant amount of money, it's hardly "a lot of extra money" or money to burn in the context of things...so I'm not really sure where that comment is coming from.

So she's paying for her flight over here and back, expenses while here, etc.?

While I agree $200 isn't a lot of money in the grand scheme of things, I can see why some folks would think you have money to burn. (Myself included.) Many of us went through this process with barely enough money to get our fiancees here once. We had to scrape up enough dough to fly over there and see them and then later turn around and pay for her ride over here and all the related expenses that come with importing a bride.

Obviously if you've met several times in several different countries you have a little bit of disposable income. Well, more than some of us, anyway. You're proving it by "gambling" with $200 more dollars and covering your bet by "just meeting in the Bahamas if that doesn't work out." So, not only can you afford to throw away $200, you can also afford trips to the Bahamas while the K-1 visa is looming on the horizon. - You're saying f'k it at the point many of us were thinking "Where the f'k is all this money going to come from?"

That's why the "money to burn" comments were made.

Now, since you do have money to burn (obviously) I think it's a great idea you're going for a B visa while the K-1 is processing. I also think your chances are quite good because, obviously, you have money to burn and there's really no incentive for her to overstay a B visa or try to game the K visa system by coming here sooner. Her petioner has plenty of money to send her back and forth, so why would she come over here to stay before getting the right visa? It's obviously just a visit so why not give her the visa?

If you have the money, do what makes you (and her) happy. I think most of us would do it too if we had the extra cheddar. I know I would.

[Chris_Жанна 11]

As I said in my original post, we're realistic about our chances here. There is enough evidence to convince me that it's worth the $200 to try.

Actually, the question is:

"Has Anyone Ever Filed an Immigrant Visa Petition on Your Behalf?"

So, no, she doesn't have to, and did not, answer in the affirmative here. But we do not have any intention to show deceit so we included a cover letter that explains exactly what our intentions are.

Agreed. We are hoping that our being up-front about the K-1 and the fact that we have no intention of jeopardizing that by overstaying or immigrating on a B-2 visa will help our cause.

Again, I wasn't asking for judgment on my decision. I've taken opinions on this board into serious consideration, along with input from people who have really gone through the process (some of whom have been approved and some denied), and the statistics that show only a 4.9% rejection rate for B visa applications from Russia. I'm just sharing our experience in case in benefits someone else later--whether that is a rejection or approval.

We did not want to try for the B-2 visa before we had the NOA-1 for the K-1 because Olya clearly has dual intent. We want to show that the intent for the B-2 is >not< to immigrate, while the intent for the K-1 is to get married in the US and do AOS.

Regardless, the Yekaterinburg Consulate would have no knowledge of our K-1 petition if we were not volunteering that information. So the question we will be asking ourselves later is if we did the right thing by taking the full disclosure route or if we should have taken a more conservative approach.

I'm not sure I understand why you made this comment. We are not required to tell anyone about the K-1 petition unless we are asked a question that requires it. We are being >very< respectful of the rules here, which is why we're taking a full disclosure approach. We would be well within our rights to not offer up any information not being explicitly asked for on the applications or at the interview.

I appreciate everyone's feedback--but we've already jumped in the deep end here so we're just waiting to see how it turns out. If the B-2 request is denied (and we do believe that is the likely path), then we will spend a very brief period of time debating about whether or not we should have proactive offered up the K-1 details. But this is, for all intents and purposes, a throwaway option for us. If Olya cannot visit me in the US, then we will spend time together elsewhere. We just figured that we would give this a shot since it was time for us to plan our next get-together.

The B-2 interview won't be for a month yet, but I'll post any notable updates as they occur.

Well it sounds as if you have it all figured out then and I don't know why you're posting questions here except to tell us what you have already decided and then get mad about advice that you may not like to hear.

If you want to hold back info that's your choice, if you think dancing around words is going to help you if the any kind of investigation that occurs (And I never said it would defiantly) then my friend that's your problem, not mine. I was offering advice and you took it as a judgment. Actually, I could care less what you do from this point forward.

[Salsa Shark 0]

Obviously if you've met several times in several different countries you have a little bit of disposable income. Well, more than some of us, anyway. You're proving it by "gambling" with $200 more dollars and covering your bet by "just meeting in the Bahamas if that doesn't work out." So, not only can you afford to throw away $200, you can also afford trips to the Bahamas while the K-1 visa is looming on the horizon. - You're saying f'k it at the point many of us were thinking "Where the f'k is all this money going to come from?"

Sorry, perhaps I should have given my comments broader context.

Olga and I started talking in February of 2008. We decided that we would get together in person no less than every six months--so things like airfare, hotel and all that are a moot point because that money would be spent anyway. If she doesn't come here on the B-2, then we meet somewhere else. We already tried Canada earlier this year, but her tourist visa application was denied. So for me, it's $200 and that's it.

So if the observation is that I have money to burn because we vacation together a couple of times a year, well, I guess I could understand that a bit more. I don't really know how my income compares with others on here, but I do not pull down a particularly large salary I just basically live as frugally as I can because it's more than worth it to have that brief time together when we can manage it.

My apologies for any misunderstanding on my part there.

[Salsa Shark 0]

Well it sounds as if you have it all figured out then and I don't know why you're posting questions here except to tell us what you have already decided and then get mad about advice that you may not like to hear.

If you want to hold back info that's your choice, if you think dancing around words is going to help you if the any kind of investigation that occurs (And I never said it would defiantly) then my friend that's your problem, not mine. I was offering advice and you took it as a judgment. Actually, I could care less what you do from this point forward.

???

I wasn't posting questions or asking for advice. I thought that was obvious in my original post when I said, "...we decided we would also try for a B-2 tourist visa...Just for the record, I'm not asking for opinions on that course of action."

So, yeah, I did take it as judgment when I expressly wasn't asking for it. The only reason I started this topic was to share my experience with the B-2 visa process. I thought it might be of interest to others who may be considering the same option, especially when there are significantly differing opinions on the wisdom of this action.

Your subsequent comments don't really help my perception here. Why do you think I'm holding back info when I have said more than one that we have chosen the full disclosure route? We sent a two-page cover letter with the B-2 package, half of which was explaining in painful detail that we did indeed have dual intent when looking at the big picture, but that the K-1 was the only path we were pursuing for immigration reasons.

I was just sharing my experience here. I thought I was clear in that intent from the beginning. I also said up front that I was taking the full disclosure route even though we were not required. I am not sure if that was the right decision.

I have no idea how this process will turn out. Maybe it goes through--in that case, I hope sharing our experience offers some useful advice. If it gets rejected (which we are realistically expecting to happen), then we will probably have some internal debate on whether or not we should have mentioned the K-1 at all. Leaving that information out is certainly not "dancing with words" and is well within our rights. I don't know which approach is the best one--so perhaps our failure (or success) adds some evidence to the question either way.

I didn't register here to argue, but I do take offense when statements are made out of ignorance.

I am here because I have gathered a tremendous amount of useful information from the VJ guides and from reading other peoples' experiences. I still have several months left in the K-1 process, so I'm also here for the comraderie and group support. Presumably, most of us are here for similar goals and I'm both a reader and a contributor.

>shrug<

Olga's interview is March 22nd in Yekaterinburg, so we'll see what happens in three weeks. Pony Express thinks it's a 50-50 shot, which isn't too shabby.