Married to a US citizen and have a tourist visa.

[Scribble 1]

I am married to a US citizen. We got married about a month ago while I was on a tourist visa. After we got married I left US and went back to continue my education. Right now I have a multiple tourist visa, that will expire in march 2011. We are looking for a way of being together asap. Can I enter US on a tourist visa while already being married to a US citizen and then file for the adjastment of the status since I already have a valid tourist visa? What options do we have?

[sachinky 465]

That would be a very bad idea.

In short, when you enter the U.S. on a tourist visa, you have to do so with non-immigrant intent. Since you're already married to a USC, you're automatically deemed to have immigrant intent. You do NOT want to enter the U.S. with prior intent to immigrate and file for AOS. You risk a ban for misrepresentation.

The best path for you would be to utilize the CR-1/IR-1 route when you're ready to immigrate.

[Scribble 1]

That would be a very bad idea.

In short, when you enter the U.S. on a tourist visa, you have to do so with non-immigrant intent. Since you're already married to a USC, you're automatically deemed to have immigrant intent. You do NOT want to enter the U.S. with prior intent to immigrate and file for AOS. You risk a ban for misrepresentation.

The best path for you would be to utilize the CR-1/IR-1 route when you're ready to immigrate.

we contacted a lawer and she said that we can do that and once I am in US it is way better to file the paperwork but i thougth that was wierd since all the info on the internet says otherwise... but the problem is that we dont want to be apart from each other and all the types of visas that are there take a super long time. so we are really lost and undecided. from one side there is a lawer telling us its ok and from the other side there is internet information wich is completley different.

[belinda63 3,038]

Coming to the US on a NON-IMMIGRANT visa, ie. a tourist visa, with the intent to immigrate is illegal. Possible consequences of such an action vary from no problem to a life time ban from the US. The decision is yours to make but be VERY aware of the consequences of your actions.

[Scribble 1]

Can i visit US on a tourist visa while other visa spouse visa application is being processed?

[sachinky 465]

Hon, what makes you think anyone from this website wanted to be apart from their spouses for a very long time? I certainly didn't. But what to do? US immigration says "jump," you say, "how high?"

Your lawyer is giving you very risky advice. And I certainly wouldn't trust such a lawyer.

USCIS is tolerant of spontaneous weddings and the subsequent AOS. But entering when you're already married to a USC with the full prior intent and knowledge to Adjust your Status from the B-2 is visa fraud. I can't explain it any better than that.

Risking a ban for misrepresentation and jeopardizing your future with your wife seems foolhardy.

However, if you are going to go ahead with your plan, at least come back and tell us how it went, ya?

Can i visit US on a tourist visa while other visa spouse visa application is being processed?

Yes, as long as you can prove ties to your homeland that you'll go back to finish the processing and not skip out.

Edited May 4, 2010 by sachinky

[Scribble 1]

I'm femail, first of all, and my husband is a US citizen. but since I already have a valid visa the lawer said that they will take care of all the documents as long as I'm there. but yeah I did think it was a bit dodgy and all so now we really dont know what to do.

[Scribble 1]

Or can we file the documents for the apropriate visa and have me stay in US on my tourist visa and then going to the interview in my home country?

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

Here's the no B.S. answer, and many here won't like it.

It is absolutely correct that you simply cannot enter with a tourist visa in order to adjust status. The intent is the secret here.

However, intent for the most part happens inside the human brain and thus is difficult to document. If you have been married to your USC husband for some time and visited before and left the US again, you did nothing wrong.

If you were to travel to the US once again with no immigration intent, yet all of the sudden your husband convinces you that you've been apart from one another long enough and then, in the spur of the moment, you decide to file for AOS, that would not be premeditated and thus work.

For that very reason your attorney, whose job it is to advice people, said it would work. It has worked many thousand of times and it may work again. Yet, there are no guarantees in life, other than that you will die.

Usually, intent is not made an issue at AOS unless there's a paper trail of abuse, or the I.O. has a very bad day. Yet if questioned, you could truthfully say that you intended to go back to Mother Russia yet plans surprisingly changed. In such a case you would have to support your claim, which is easy if you still have a place to live and a cat and a dog waiting for you, and difficult to support if you had entered the US with cat and dog and all your belongings to begin with.

I think you will understand the underlying logic involved here. It's all about intent, and nobody here will advice you to enter the US with a tourist visa if you intent to stay and to adjust status.

Intent. Yep. Intent.

[Scribble 1]

Dear Bob, thax for the usefull info. I have my whole family, parent, job, etc, in Russia. so we are exploring our options. is it possible to apply for K3 and stay in the US for some time on a tourist visa, then go back home and go through the interview in the embassy?

[sachinky 465]

If you were to travel to the US once again with no immigration intent, yet all of the sudden your husband convinces you that you've been apart from one another long enough and then, in the spur of the moment, you decide to file for AOS, that would not be premeditated and thus work.

In this case, it is NOT spur of the moment and it is certainly premeditated.

I'm sorry but just because you did things a certain way, Bob, don't encourage others to break the law.

It's one thing to enter, meet a USC, fall in love, get married, and file for AOS.

But entering on a B-2 when you're already married to a USC, and trying to AOS is playing with fire. When you're married to a USC, you're automatically deemed to have immigrant intent--that charge is highly difficult to prove.

OP, you can always file for a CR-1 and use your B-2 to travel back and forth as long as you carry ties to Russia.

Either way, good luck.

[london-schone 0]

Just wanted to say I liked the responses to the question. Everyone here is in the same situation...wait...wait...wait. But, in the meantime, do everything by the book and dont look for loop-holes. In the long run you will be glad you did! I called the embassy where my husband is from and was told in no way what-so-ever is he to travel back to US until he gets visa or K3, that he will be turned away at POE. We did the same...we got married while he was here, but he went back as required and we are now awaiting answers on either the K3 or I-130. Good luck!

Edited May 5, 2010 by london-schone

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

Scribble,

Sachinki is mistaken. He might be a world famous brain surgeon with a Ph.D. in Psychology to top it off, but he still doesn't understand the essence of intent.

I believe you did understand it, so let me lay it down a bit more detailed so that others can join in.

If you (and I only use "you" now since it's easy to use), being married to a USC, live in Russia, study there, have an apartment there, and a pet, and travel to the US to visit your husband and kick back, in short, have a vacation, there's nothing wrong with that. It's fine, as your intent is to visit and to go home, married or not.

If at visit 4, or 9, or 12, when you again went to visit your husband, with the intention to go home afterward, all of the sudden have a talk with your hubby and he convinces you that you have been apart long enough, and you THEN AND THERE (English translation: in the spur of the moment) decide to adjust status, it's okay, as it was not planed when you entered the country.

Whether or not you thought about that, or your husband thought about that, or perhaps you dog dreamt about that, won't have any impact as it happened in the realm of the inmaterial, where gosts and angels and Allah have a good time. And since intent is happening in the human brain, intent is not being made an issue at AOS. It's between you and your God and your shrink to figure out if you gave it as much as a thought before, but for real life purposes, it will just work fine. And if the AOS happens because of the underlying chain of events, it's legal, and it will happen as smooth as buttah.

Welcome to the USA.

Edited May 5, 2010 by Just Bob

[Married2009 32]

Scribble -

You have heard both sides of the coin. Most people are telling you to the proper way to immigrate legally. One person is telling you how to avoid being apart - illegally. (Yeah yeah, intent starts in the brain, hard to prove, yada yada yada - but it is still there). You will have to decide, no one can make that decision for you. Personally, I wouldn't want to risk being the one in a million that is caught and banned. Nor would I want to start my new life on a lie. Good luck in whatever you decide.

[Scribble 1]

So, Bob whatever intent I dont have (or do have) that is my head only, but there is still that issue of not being admitted into the country at the first place as many people have said. I most certanly will have a job and the apartment and paperwork to prove it but I have no idea if that is going to be enough for the border people if I want to just visit my hubby.