Mother-in-law visiting on a tourist visa

[Cupidoll 1]

Hello VJ'ers! I apologize if this question has been asked before but, I can't seem to find it...

A little background first: My wife became a US Citizen last March (2010) and I am a US Citizen (sponsor) as well. My mother-in-law has had a 5 year tourist visa issued by the American Embassy in Kiev, Ukraine. She will come and stay with us for up to six months at a time, then go back to Ukraine. My mother-in-law is currently in the US visiting us and we would like to file for her to become a permanent resident. She is here legally and the instructions are pretty vague about what is "legal". I'm assuming she may need to go back to Ukraine since a tourist visa is not an immigrant visa. Can we file (I-130 and I-485) while she is here on a tourist visa?

As the instructions read, it sounds like we can file now but, I don't want to file with her here if she indeed needs to be back in Ukraine. Any thoughts/suggestions/experiences would be helpful.

Thanks in advance...

[RICARDO4EVA2 194]

Hello VJ'ers! I apologize if this question has been asked before but, I can't seem to find it...

A little background first: My wife became a US Citizen last March (2010) and I am a US Citizen (sponsor) as well. My mother-in-law has had a 5 year tourist visa issued by the American Embassy in Kiev, Ukraine. She will come and stay with us for up to six months at a time, then go back to Ukraine. My mother-in-law is currently in the US visiting us and we would like to file for her to become a permanent resident. She is here legally and the instructions are pretty vague about what is "legal". I'm assuming she may need to go back to Ukraine since a tourist visa is not an immigrant visa. Can we file (I-130 and I-485) while she is here on a tourist visa?

As the instructions read, it sounds like we can file now but, I don't want to file with her here if she indeed needs to be back in Ukraine. Any thoughts/suggestions/experiences would be helpful.

Thanks in advance...

You and your wife are seeking information to walk around the immigration process. The MIL has a tourist visa that's great use it for it's intended use. You/Wife/MIL would be misrepresenting the "reason" for the visit at the POE. SMH.

[Jojo92122 1,924]

If your mother in law is here right now, her US citizen daughter can file the I-130 and I-485. Your MIL will have to show that she did not enter the US on the visitor visa with the intent to immigrate.

If your MIL is outside the US, the plan for her to visit and adjust would be immigration fraud since she had the intention to immigrate to the US when she enters the US on the tourist visa.

How is the intent to immigrate shown? Quiting a job, closing bank accounts, telling neigbhors that she's immigrating, etc. It's a subjective look at what the immigrant had done prior to entering the US.

[Cupidoll 1]

You and your wife are seeking information to walk around the immigration process. The MIL has a tourist visa that's great use it for it's intended use. You/Wife/MIL would be misrepresenting the "reason" for the visit at the POE. SMH.

RICARDO4EVA2, it would serve you well to re-read my posting and comprehend what I wrote. I would not, nor ever have advocated circumventing the immigration process. You made a bad decision to accuse me of willfully attempting to break the law.

[Cupidoll 1]

If your mother in law is here right now, her US citizen daughter can file the I-130 and I-485. Your MIL will have to show that she did not enter the US on the visitor visa with the intent to immigrate.

If your MIL is outside the US, the plan for her to visit and adjust would be immigration fraud since she had the intention to immigrate to the US when she enters the US on the tourist visa.

How is the intent to immigrate shown? Quiting a job, closing bank accounts, telling neigbhors that she's immigrating, etc. It's a subjective look at what the immigrant had done prior to entering the US.

Thank you Jojo92122, I appreciate your answer and help. I had thought one couldn't file while here on a non-immigrant visa but wasn't sure because the wording is so vague. Again, your help is very much appreciated.

[RICARDO4EVA2 194]

No need to that was done prior to my answer that stands.

[Cupidoll 1]

No need to that was done prior to my answer that stands.

TROLL.....