Married Overseas & Filing I-130 in US on Tourist Visa

[Oakley1234 1]

Dear Readers,

I am so happy I ran across this website!!! My girlfriend and I have been so stressed over the past couple of months and I am really hoping you can help eliviate some of this please. I look forward to passing on our experience to help other people like ourselves!

Our situation:

I'm American and my girlfriend is Russian. We both live in London, United Kingdom which is where we met and fell in love about a year ago. I'm on a sponsored work visa here and my girlfriend is on a student visa which expires at the end of May 2011. Neither of us have any previous issues with immigration or criminal backgrounds.

I have decided that I miss the good weather, good food, and just about everything the US has to offer me. I would like to move back home and take my girlfriend with me.

We have decided to get married next month in London and are in the process of getting everything sorted for this.

My girlfriend has a US tourist visa which is good until October 2011 and we are planning to come to the US together directly after the wedding in Feb/March 2011. I understand that our intent is to stay in the US which is frowned upon. I also understand that she wouldn't be able to travel outside of the US once we file the I-130.

We have considered filing the I-130 in the UK, but I would rather come back home as soon as possible and start a new career. Another consideration we have about filing in the UK is that her student visa would expire before the I-130 is approved...therefore it will be very expensive to enroll in school again and apply for another visa just to extend her stay for 1-2 months. Also, she isn't allowed to work (fulltime) in the UK on her visa, so it's quite depressing for her too.

Here is where I have questions and need advice please.

Can we file the I-130 successfully in the States if we are married outside the States?....and she has traveled into the States on a Tourist Visa.

Do we also have to apply for and Adjustment of Status.....from Tourist Visa to Marriage Visa?...and is this the I-485? Is this necessary for what we are planning to do? I remember reading that the AOS fee is about $1000

What complications may we run into?

How soon once we are in the States can we safely file the I-130?

How soon will my wife be legally allowed to work in the States?

Are there better ways to do what we are trying to do?

Can anyone give us advice on what we need to do, how long each of those processes typically take, and costs please?

Thank you so much in advance for any help you can be!!!

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

You cannot enter the US on a tourist visa with the intent to immigrate. That is visa fraud.

You can, however, look into getting married and filing directly with the consulate (DCF). You, the USC, would have to qualify as a UK resident by the consulate's standards. This is the fastest path.

[Harsh_77 718]

Once you are married, she cannot enter US on tourist visa-sorry to burst your bubble. If she enters US on tourist visa while she is married to you would be misrepresentation.

Tourist visa is not for immigration purpose, while her intent is to immigrate to US.

She would not be able to travel in and out of country until the whole process is completed.

The whole process whichever route you go K1 or CR1 it takes 6-7 months to complete.

[Oakley1234 1]

Thank you for your responses!

Suppose that we were married outside of the US and went to visit my family in the States afterwards. If we did not have intention to move/live in the US at the time of visiting but I received a very nice job offer while we were there, is it possible to stay legally and file the I-130 in the States? If so, would we have to file an AOS as well?

[Deputy Purple 1,294]

Making stories of "Suppose this, suppose that" don't get you out of the Visa Fraud Issues.

Look into filing DCF (Direct Consular Filing" with the US Embassy in London. If you meet the residency requirements it is much shorter than Filing for CR-1 through USCIS and without the risk of Visa Fraud with your your planned route.

If they ask if she's married to you and she answers yes they'll deny her entry. IF she answers no then she's committed Material Misrepresentation and will be banned for life.

Edited February 2, 2011 by Bob 4 Anna

[redsnap 13]

I actually traveled to the US after I got married in Austria and before we filed for the CR I. I had no problem, I just traveled using he VWP. I got asked at the border control why I enter the US and I said "to visit my husband". And once I arrived in the US, we filed for I 130. So, as long as you don't travel to the US with the purpose to immigrate and leave before your visa ends, I don't see why you can't do it.

[Y&E 12]

I actually traveled to the US after I got married in Austria and before we filed for the CR I. I had no problem, I just traveled using he VWP. I got asked at the border control why I enter the US and I said "to visit my husband". And once I arrived in the US, we filed for I 130. So, as long as you don't travel to the US with the purpose to immigrate and leave before your visa ends, I don't see why you can't do it.

That is true, but you intended to leave and the OP and his girlfriend do not intend for her to leave. Therefore they would be committing fraud.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

Once you are married, she cannot enter US on tourist visa

This isn't exactly true. A spouse of a US Citizen CAN use a tourist visa to visit. Say the couple lives on the moon and wants to visit the in-laws sometimes and not immigrate. That is fine. However, the OP wants to enter the US with the intent to immigrate on a non-immigrant visa. That is different.

Also, people CAN visit while the CR-1 visa process is pending.

[redsnap 13]

Well, sorry I didn't really express myself clear enough

Of course by October she'd have to leave again, since she needs to go to her interview and everything in Russia. But if they get married in Feb. then they should be almost through with the visa process in October anyways. So what if they get married, she travels to the US with her husband and leaves for Russia to go the interview and the medical and then come back to the US? Would that be a problem?

[Wayne and Claudia 40]

"What iffing" and "supposing" is all great and makes for great reading. However, the real question is "intent." Immigration could use any misrepresentation of her entry against her. She would also be coming on a tourist visa, not under the VWP. It will all come down to her true intent of entering. I just feel any entry into the US for her might cause problems later. I am in agreement with the DCF route. The OP stated that to enroll in another semester of school is expensive for just 1-2 months. I have a feeling it will take much longer than that for the process to complete so another semester is school may not be such a bad thing. Is it possible for the Russian student to possibly ask England for a tourist visa? She apparently has some mean of support, will be married to a USC and will have proof of a DCF with the US Embassy in London so might they allow her to stay for 6 months on that basis? It sounds logical but we all know that governments are far from logical.

[Done--Really 331]

DO NOT GET MARRIED OUTSIDE THE US !!!

Go to the US on the tourist visa.

get married in the US, and immediately file the I-130--this is not fraud.

Stay in the US as long as she can on the tourist visa.

MUST return to Russia (or London or wherever) before I-94 expires.

Finish immigration process with her outside the country.

Interview at the embassy in her home country, and then returns to the US with a green card and the ability to work right away.

This is simple, legal, and keeps here here for most of the process.

[TravellingNomad 12]

Well, sorry I didn't really express myself clear enough

Of course by October she'd have to leave again, since she needs to go to her interview and everything in Russia. But if they get married in Feb. then they should be almost through with the visa process in October anyways. So what if they get married, she travels to the US with her husband and leaves for Russia to go the interview and the medical and then come back to the US? Would that be a problem?

the problem is, they want to travel to the US together after getting married with the wife using her tourist visa. after arriving in the US, their plan is to stay in the US for good. OP never mentioned anything about his SO just visiting and then leaving the US to go back any where for interview or medical before the tourist visa expires. there's the misrepresentation problem.

like Wayne and Claudia said...you can keep running the scenario of what if's. but what immigration will only look at is the INTENT of the individual/couple.

Edited February 2, 2011 by TravellingNomad

[Done--Really 331]

Problem solved if they just get married here like I laid out above--just follow the rules--why make it so complicated ??

[Krikit 1,164]

Moving from IR-1/CR-1 Process to General Immigration Discussion.

Welcome to VJ.

[Gosha.Bee 1]

Once she enters the US on a visitor's visa she may only be able to stay for 90 days (unless they still stamp for 6mos but I doubt it, hasn't been the case for quite some time). It'll take you a while to a) organize the wedding (depending on what docs are required from her, some states only require the passport but some want to also see her birth cert, for example), and b) gather up all the docs to file I-130. Your first month - at best - is gone. She's only got two more to be with you. Once you file I-130, you're looking at 8-10 months of this process and you'd have to be apart for most of that time. AND IT SUCKS! BIG TIME.

I'm assuming since you're in the UK on a 1-year contract you probably qualify for DCF by now. Seriously look into this route. It might take you as little as 2 months to complete and you'll both be happily and legally back in the States maybe by August or possibly sooner.