Possible AOS from B2?

[coraliesolms 47]

Ok.. you have 3 (three) options here. All of them legal, one of them is risky.....

Option A : Get married in USA, apply for AOS. Now, this could be risky, because CBP thinks that she intends to live in the USA. However if there is nothing written in her passport about no intent, then you can do it, and say when you found out she only had a month to stay with you, you felt heartbroken over it and decided to get married and adjust. The intent was NOT there when she entered, but after the ordeal at customs, you wanted to do it. Most likely this will not be a problem, but the risk is there.

Option B : Get married in USA, spouse goes back to Brazil, and you file CR-1. The nice thing about this visa, once she gets here, she gets a greencard and can work right away. It just means she has to stay in Brazil while it is being processed.

Option C : She leaves at the end of the month, and you file for K-1 visa. Once this is approved, she enters the USA and you guys get married and THEN adjust status (same as option A... just without the "intent" risk).

Hope this helps, and Im sorry your short visit is filled with stress like this

[Journeyer 17]

I understand your concern and am sorry that the post of Veridiana, a user who joined TODAY, has such an impact on you.

Good luck.

I really didn't notice the join date, but I was very skeptical as it just did not sound right. I would really, really love for her to stay and AOS and so would she, we are just very nervous. It would be devastating to be permanently separated. Both of us had failed marriages and years later at this point in our lives we feel very lucky to have found something so special as we have. We don't want to lose that.

[YuAndDan 153]

Dont get married here!! Immigration will consider a fraud!! Do the painful and long K-1 visa. or marry over in Brazil and go for AOS!

DUDE!! There is NOTHING wrong with getting married in the USA, what is considered wrong is Adjusting status afterword if entering the USA was with the intent to immigrate on a B-2 visa. There is NOTHING wrong with getting married and then filing an I-130 for a CR-1 immigrant visa and then returning home and waiting to interview for a spouse visa.

[Journeyer 17]

If you are not 100% sure you ARE CORRECT when you answer, then either A) DON'T or B) State so in your answers. WRONG answers (and this statement is very wrong) can cause a lot of problems for others.

Then you should know better.

OF COURSE you can marry here if you want. Of COURSE it doesn't matter what country. If you want to do things 100% by the letter legal, marry your girl, send her home before her visa expires and file your paperwork.

AFTER your paperwork is filed, she could still try to come to the U.S. with PROOF she is filing to legally immigrate to the U.S. It doesn't mean they will always let her in, but it doesn't mean they will stop her either. You might/should still be able to visit, but it will likely be questionable or the POE officer will give her a hard time again.

Also keep in mind that just because she went through one officer who was a jerk it doesn't mean they ALL are going to be that way.

Thanks. I appreciate that. I mean, even I knew that we can legally marry on a valid B2 if she goes back on time and we go the CR-1 route. I was never questioning that. I only was really hoping we could AOS and avoid a long separation.

Yeah, she got a real clown of a IO this time. I don't think she will be willing go through immigration here again on the B2. I'll just have to visit her in Brazil while we are waiting it out if we do the CR-1.

[Journeyer 17]

New member with 2 posts, I would look at the facts and not opinions. No one knows what the POE typed into the computer regarding her secondary questioning. I still say the POE officer did his job well, he was trained to see violations of the B2 visa and he did, now what did he record none of us will never know.

So PO, its your life, you take the risk as you see it. I don't see what is the rush, you wasn't planning on getting married until 2011, why are you rushing it for now. If it's real LOVE it will survive a small separation. Didn't you say your gf has a whole active life in Brazil, so is she ready to put everything on hold until she get her gc to go back to Brazil that could take anywhere from 5 to 8 months.

B/W I am not a new poster, I have been on this site since 2007 and have done the CR1. My husband and I were separated for the 9 months that it took us to do the CR1 and our love didn't die, it only got stronger.

We were actually planning on getting married in 2010, not 2011.

Didn't you say your gf has a whole active life in Brazil, so is she ready to put everything on hold until she get her gc to go back to Brazil that could take anywhere from 5 to 8 months.

She does have an active life there if she chooses, she can work, but she does not have to. She is definitely willing to put her life there on hold. She has spent more time here than there the last 2 years. I guess that is the problem that immigration has.

I agree with you. It is very real for us and if we are separated for 6 months or a year, it is not going to change that, but it is not pleasant.

I didn't say you were a new poster. And I thought the others posters were referring to someone else, not you?

[cacahuete 2]

Journeyer,

I faced the same dilemma you did a couple of months ago.

I also was on a B-2 visa although I was luckier than your fiancee and was given six months at entry and then approved for a six month extension.

Over the last couple of months I was there I seriously considered marrying and adjusting status. I went over and over it in my mind but in the end I decided that the safest option was to return home and apply for the appropriate visa. I felt that the months of worries I would experience as I wondered if my AOS would be approved or not were not worth the few months I would have to wait if I returned home as I was supposed to.

I have paid US$450 to change flights before.

But do you want to take a risk or do you want to pay that amount to feel safe? That is the question to ask yourself and your fiancee.

My fiancee and I filed the paperwork for my K-1 visa the day I left the country. Today, it is already exactly two months since we filed the petition. Time passes much more quickly when you know it is the last time you will have to be separated.

A separation is not necessarily a completely negative thing. The separation would give your fiancee time to tie up all her ends in her home country and say goodbye to her family.

My fiancee and I were separated for 11 months between my two trips over there. We thought we couldn't stand being separated either but we worked through it, we had our own lives and our own things to work towards and of course we had my next trip over there to look forward to. In the end I think we were better for this test that we passed.

Your fiancee has only been in the US for less than a month and marrying after being in the country for less than one month could be viewed negatively by USCIS.

In the scheme of things, a few months is not really that long to be apart when it's the last time you'll have to be apart.

You are fortunate that you would be able to visit your fiancee at all while the visa is processing, many people on these boards are not as fortunate. You are also lucky that you have been able to spend as much time with your fiancee as you already have, many people are compelled to make a decision to marry maybe earlier than they would have preferred to, in order to continue their relationship and live together.

I will not be able to see my fiancee again until I have the K-1 visa. I cannot afford it as I need to save my money for the first few months I am there before I can work and I am unable to get time off work here. In addition, I would not want to risk spending the money and being turned away at the border. He cannot visit me as he also has work commitments.

For me, the most painful part was the decision whether to leave or stay and adjust status. Once I'd made the decision to leave, I accepted my circumstance and everything became easier.

Yes, it is lonely here by myself without him. But I have found I have plenty to do between work and tying up all my loose ends here and spending these last few months with my family. I don't need to worry about whether my AOS will be approved, I just wait for the visa, patiently and with peace of mind.

[Journeyer 17]

Ok.. you have 3 (three) options here. All of them legal, one of them is risky.....

Option A : Get married in USA, apply for AOS. Now, this could be risky, because CBP thinks that she intends to live in the USA. However if there is nothing written in her passport about no intent, then you can do it, and say when you found out she only had a month to stay with you, you felt heartbroken over it and decided to get married and adjust. The intent was NOT there when she entered, but after the ordeal at customs, you wanted to do it. Most likely this will not be a problem, but the risk is there.

Option B : Get married in USA, spouse goes back to Brazil, and you file CR-1. The nice thing about this visa, once she gets here, she gets a greencard and can work right away. It just means she has to stay in Brazil while it is being processed.

Option C : She leaves at the end of the month, and you file for K-1 visa. Once this is approved, she enters the USA and you guys get married and THEN adjust status (same as option A... just without the "intent" risk).

Hope this helps, and Im sorry your short visit is filled with stress like this

That helps a lot, thanks so much.

then you can do it, and say when you found out she only had a month to stay with you, you felt heartbroken over it and decided to get married and adjust.

That is uncanny accurate. That is EXACTLY what happened. We were intending to get married and for her to go back and do CR-1. But we thought she would be here over 3 months and we would get started right away to reduce the separation time. Now it looks like that long separation is inevitable apart from me making short visits there(expensive). We were both pretty devastated last night and my fiancee told me it was like a bad dream that she wanted to wake up from. I guess we should be thankful that we are together for Christmas and New Years. This is our 3rd Christmas together and if we marry and file CR-1 now, maybe we can keep it a perfect 4 in a row.

[Journeyer 17]

In the scheme of things, a few months is not really that long to be apart when it's the last time you'll have to be apart.

That is how we are trying to look at it now.

You are fortunate that you would be able to visit your fiancee at all while the visa is processing, many people on these boards are not as fortunate. You are also lucky that you have been able to spend as much time with your fiancee as you already have, many people are compelled to make a decision to marry maybe earlier than they would have preferred to, in order to continue their relationship and live together.

We just were not willing to do that. We have both been through failed marriages and we are older now. All of our children are grown now. We just could not really justify getting in a big hurry and getting it wrong again. But now that we are sure, it just seems that maybe our age(I am 50 and she is a few years older than I) makes a few months seem longer. I don't know. That is probably just my imagination. The nearly 4 months that we were just separated for seemed like FOREVER.

I will not be able to see my fiancee again until I have the K-1 visa. I cannot afford it as I need to save my money for the first few months I am there before I can work and I am unable to get time off work here. In addition, I would not want to risk spending the money and being turned away at the border. He cannot visit me as he also has work commitments.

I hear you about that. I have not been able to go there yet because of work commitments. I was working as an independent consultant on big projects and 0 vacation time. I got lucky and one of the firms hired me full time and now I have vacation and can finally go there to visit her. And it could not have come at a better time.

For me, the most painful part was the decision whether to leave or stay and adjust status. Once I'd made the decision to leave, I accepted my circumstance and everything became easier.

Ditto, for sure. We are very torn about this right now, and my house is not the happy place it has become for the 2 of us when she is here. We are sad and nervous. I hate this.

Yes, it is lonely here by myself without him. But I have found I have plenty to do between work and tying up all my loose ends here and spending these last few months with my family. I don't need to worry about whether my AOS will be approved, I just wait for the visa, patiently and with peace of mind.

For me too. I just took a job in a state where I know no one. This place was painfully lonely those last few months that she was away. For her, all is good, she is surrounded by family and friends when she is in Brazil.

Very well put, I really appreciate the time you just spent with your reply.

[cacahuete 2]

You're most welcome

Just remembering those last few weeks in the US brings back all these memories of how I wrestled over and over with the decision in my mind. It felt like a great burden and when I arrived back home I realized the burden was gone and I could just sit back and wait.

Your situation reminds me of that of my fiancee. He moved to a state where he knew no one, just about a month before I left the country. My fiancee and I are about 20 or so years younger than you but my fiancee's parents abandoned him when he was a child and he has no family aside from his grandparents who live a few states away. So my fiancee is alone in the house we shared there, filled with our memories. He doesn't easily make friends.

I, on the other hand, am like your fiancee, surrounded by family and all my old friends here. The thought of seeing my family again after being away for a year was the only really positive thing I could find to look forward to.

I understand what you mean, waiting for those months seems longer as you are older.

I really feel for you in your situation and it is a real disappointment that the short time you have been given together is filled with nervousness and sadness. The first time my fiancee and I separated for our 11 months apart, I was an emotional wreck for the last few weeks I was with him. Looking back, I wish I could have found a way to be at peace with the situation and just enjoy the end of the time we had together but at the time I was unable to come to terms with the situation.

Anyway, I wish you luck in your journey, whichever route you choose to take. I just wanted to let you know you're far from being the only one who's had a difficult time with these decisions and the painful emotions.

[Journeyer 17]

Your situation reminds me of that of my fiancee. He moved to a state where he knew no one, just about a month before I left the country. My fiancee and I are about 20 or so years younger than you but my fiancee's parents abandoned him when he was a child and he has no family aside from his grandparents who live a few states away. So my fiancee is alone in the house we shared there, filled with our memories. He doesn't easily make friends.

Trust me on this one. When you are 20 years older, you still have all the same feeling at the same intensity as you do now. You just may move a little bit slower than you used to, but on the inside you will still be the same.

Wow, your fiancee does seem a little similar to me. I grew up with my grandparents also, but have since been reunited and have made up with my parents. I make friends easily, but not like my fiancee, she is a social butterfly for sure. But even if you are very social, this is a problem at my age. Everyone at my age just seems to be settled into their own little universe, so it is much tougher to make friends to do things with. My family is scattered to the four winds of the planet, literally. Not more than 2 of them live in the same state, or not in this country at all. I think I am doomed to a little(lot) of loneliness while she is gone. Time to man up I suppose and deal with it.

[The Clown 1]

Here is my point. The fact that she before was given 6 months to stay in USA it is a normal procedure from immigrations. Now, a VISITOR visa is self explained, how will a visitor stay for 4 months ???? go back and then come back in three months for another 4 months ??? if you calculate that she spent more time in USA than Brazil. The best thing to do is do things right. Go back to brazil and get married there, come back and file for her petition. We all want to be with our love ones, do not risk the opportunity to have her here a syour wife for ever and do things right.

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

Did immigration happen to make any notes in her passport ? If they really suspected that she wanted to immigrate they may have noted her passport with something like no AOS .

[silvana.toma 15]

Can you not call customs for an extension of the visa? I know for fact that you can call or go to customs and extend. Can you GF remember the questions the customs agent asked her?

My feeling is that if he made such a big stink upon her entry in US, chances are he probably wrotte something in his magic computer-maybe something about her intent or something. Try to call and get her extended, since it is not recomended to marry on the tourist visa on the first 3 months.

If i were you i would try to find a imigration lawyer and see what they say(some even give free consultation-my free consult was helpfull)as well. If they agree to help you,maybe you can do this without having her leave the country (they are not as expensive as one would think($700-in virginia). The reason why I say this, is because they see so many cases everyday that chances are they already helped someone with the same exact issue.

If you have money, and are willing to separate for a while you can do the K1 visa-but also keep in mind that can take a while too...

People adjust status all the time, and if you think you are the only complicated case that is planing on doing this think again! There are people with long overstays, and all sorts of problems and they were able to adjust status. There will always be a risk in anything you do, even when you cross the street there is a risk that you might get hit by a car...

As you can see the opinions from our fellow vj's are so different, that makes you confused as of what should you do. Talk to a lawyer, that will shed some light on your ideeas as what can you do and can not do.

I wish you all the luck, and let us know what did you decided to do!

[pixie77 2]

she had been in Brazil for nearly 4 months before coming back this time.

No, she has been coming here on a B2 on and off for a little over 2 years now

These are reasons why she was suspected as wanting to live here... I know of a couple who used to come here every 6 months for the last 3 years but on their recent trip they were sent airport to airport...They were told that the pattern of their travel is very suspicious and abuse of their visitor's visa after hours of interrogation their visas were revoked. They are strict. But I suggest that you follow the right way as what the other VJ'ers are suggesting.

Try watching Border Wars on NGC, you will see how DHS goes about their job when they become suspicious.

Good luck!!

[garfield529 47]

All of the posters on here who keep saying to go to Brazil to get married should use caution in their use of this forum because they are new members who seem to lack any knowledge of the immigration process. If you are both legally able to marry, the location and time doesn't matter, only the action taken to apply for immigration benefits. Any part of the process that require loved ones to be separated is painful, however, emotional responses without fact-based foundation WILL only bring our members more mental anguish or possible troubles. Please refrain from these types of comments just so that you can have a comment.