Bona fide marriage, will USCIS question intent?

[sdchargers 0]

Hi everyone,

I am a USC and my wife and I got married July 14th 2010. We actually decided to get married early July because she didn't like her internship (she was a J1 trainee) and she was considering quitting.

However, we were already living together for 1yr at the time, and dating for over 2 years at the time. We were planning on getting married all along, it just happened earlier than expected.

In the meantime, my wife got fired from her internship 2 day before the wedding. We file AOS in August and the application is pending.

Will USCIS question our intent? Like I said, we were planning on getting married all along, it just happened earlier.

We have all the documentation to establish a bona fide marriage ( lease, insurance, joint bills, pics...)

Thanks for your help!

[RICARDO4EVA2 194]

i dont see this being a problem.. you have all the necessary evidence if a real relationship.

[JoannaV 174]

Firstly, you have plenty of evidence of a bona fide relationship that looks like one that could've ended in marriage by July even without extenuating circumstances.

Secondly, USCIS do understand that people do, to a certain extent, plan their marriages around immigration. Most K1 filers would probably have waited longer to get married if it wasn't for immigration. (Ie, they would choose to live close by for a while before getting married.) Which means they are used to people getting married spontaneously/quickly/etc.

[VanessaTony 3,567]

Even if they could question intent (which I've read repeatedly you can't), intent applies to her ENTRY. It's obvious if she's been a J1 for at least a year she entered the US with the INTENT to study, not to marry you. Sure it happened eventually but it doesn't look like that was her sole purpose on entry.

** moved from "Adjustment of Status (Green Card) from Family Based Visas" to "Adjustment of Status from Work, Student, & Tourist Visas" as you are adjusting from a J1 visa and the prior forum is for K1, K2, K3 & K4 **

Edited October 3, 2010 by Vanessa&Tony

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

Even if they could question intent (which I've read repeatedly you can't), intent applies to her ENTRY. It's obvious if she's been a J1 for at least a year she entered the US with the INTENT to study, not to marry you. Sure it happened eventually but it doesn't look like that was her sole purpose on entry.

** moved from "Adjustment of Status (Green Card) from Family Based Visas" to "Adjustment of Status from Work, Student, & Tourist Visas" as you are adjusting from a J1 visa and the prior forum is for K1, K2, K3 & K4 **

Being my ####### retentive self...

They can question intent. In fact, they are supposed to question intent. If they couldn't then it would be rather pointless to have a law against "preconceived intent". What they are not supposed to do is deny based solely on preconceived intent. This is because precedent cases at the BIA have established that preconceived intent, while a serious negative factor, is not enough on it's own to outweigh the positive factor of being an immediate relative of a US citizen. If preconceived intent is all they've got to throw at the applicant, then they're supposed to use their discretion to approve the AOS.

None of the above applies to the OP's case, but it's important that people understand that intent is not irrelevant. It's one straw. Get enough straws, and you've broken the camel's back.

Back to the OP's case - Does your wife's J1 visa have a home residency requirement?

[VanessaTony 3,567]

Being my ####### retentive self...

They can question intent. In fact, they are supposed to question intent. If they couldn't then it would be rather pointless to have a law against "preconceived intent". What they are not supposed to do is deny based solely on preconceived intent. This is because precedent cases at the BIA have established that preconceived intent, while a serious negative factor, is not enough on it's own to outweigh the positive factor of being an immediate relative of a US citizen. If preconceived intent is all they've got to throw at the applicant, then they're supposed to use their discretion to approve the AOS.

None of the above applies to the OP's case, but it's important that people understand that intent is not irrelevant. It's one straw. Get enough straws, and you've broken the camel's back.

Back to the OP's case - Does your wife's J1 visa have a home residency requirement?

I stand corrected I will add it to my treasure-trove of info