Some things are just not right

[Swamped 0]

IF I could get my baby here with a tourist or any other visa, i would do it. then 'decide' to get married. That was never an option since philippines seem to to think that the 'tourist visas' are the holy grail so noone seems allowed to touch or have them.

Wolf

That is true with China as well. They absolutely do not issue travel visas. It is true that you will see a "group" of tourists from China, but I'll wager that they have had their passports pulled and someone else is holding them..

[aussiewench 9]

Well their intention was to get married. My point is that it was a relatively easy thing for them to do. He explained his interview at the Portland office and I thought the questions they asked them were a joke. Really now would you tell USCIS that you were intending to marry your fiance before she came over. Of course not. Dont get me wrong I am not jealous I am happy for them. Like I said, it seems like it is a loophole in the process because if I can get a tourist visa for my fiance I would have done it this way because his situation is not the first I have read or know about but I can't since they dont give tourist visas very easily in India. I guess that is how things are I guess. I have spent the last 14 years becoming a US citizen doing things the right way yet there are people who are getting away with things the wrong way. Things are just not right in the entire immigration process that you get penalized for doing it the right way. The only solace is 2 wrongs dont make a right.

CKS, I feel your pain. But remember one thing - if their intention WAS to get married, they committed visa fraud. If the CO did not ask them the right questions to determine if they were lying, they were incredibly lucky. Also remember that this could still catch up with them. If it is later determined that they lied, deporation with no chance to return is the result. I highly doubt that you would really want to take that kind of risk even if you had the chance with a tourist visa. Rest assured that you are doing it the right way, and you won't have to worry about it when it comes time for removal of conditions. They will.

Intent to get married in the US in NOT visa fraud. Intent to immigrate is. Many of us have and do enter the US to get married, including myself.

[kitkat1 5]

I know a girl that was smuggled over the mexican border some years ago...she has her green card now...she said something about she had to pay some fine for like 1700 dollars or something like that and then they just gave her the green card by filling in the normal paperwork. I dont remember, but i think she got the green card after she had her first child born in the USA so i think thats how she did it.

Not exactly - it doesn't work that way. Unless she was as part of the '86 amnesty, when there were fines established for illegal presence. Otherwise, having a kid here has zero to do with it (neither does having a husband or wife). There is (currently) no way for an illegal Mexican to adjust in the US without returning to their country, filing a waiver, and waiting for approval there.

[CKS 0]

Intent to get married in the US in NOT visa fraud. Intent to immigrate is. Many of us have and do enter the US to get married, including myself.

Sure it's not. I never said it was but it sure is a gray area and a huge one in that too. Like I said if I could have a gotten a tourist visa for my fiance, I would have done so and then propose to her on the assumption that we had no intent of doing so and the end result of the marriage would be immigration to the US. The same is true for any K visa. My problem is the gray area that exists for doing it the wrong way. That gray should not even exist. It doesn't for the K visas at all. You probably could not even get a tourist visa if you have filed for the K visa on the suspicion of staying and not leaving. So why am i being punished for doing it the right way. Everyone should be subject to the law. If you get married on a tourist visa then you should have to go home and get in line like the rest of us. You should not have the ability to do an adjustment of status while here on the tourist visa. Anyways the point of my post was to highlight the shortcomings in the system not too point any fingers. If you are with your love one then I am happy for you whatever way you accomplished that. But it does not help me or for those of us who are doing it the right way and are getting penalized for it. That is all. That is just an observation I have made since joining VJ and reading about the ####### that many couples are experiencing with USCIS. They all have a common pattern but when I hear about stories like my colleague at work and others who got away with his application it makes me lose faith in a system that I have adopted since becoming a US citizen.