Immigration just for periodic visits?

[drpepper 0]

Hi everyone, I'm new to VisaJourney.com but it seems like a great resource. There's one question that I can't seem to find a response to anywhere, though- Is it worth applying for immigration visas for the sole purpose to facilitate travel back and forth to the States?

My fiancé and I both live in southern France. She’s French, and I just started a PhD. So we’re not planning on moving back to the states anytime in the near future. However, there are awful problems with the biometric passport requirements and she’ll probably need a visa next time we come back for the holidays (which of course has a 6-month delay and expensive fee attached).

From reading some of the FAQs and guides on this site, it seems that the DCF is fairly fast and painless. But looking over the website for consulate in Paris, I’m a bit worried about the travel requirements (from http://www.amb-usa.fr/consul/visas2_categories_ir.htm ):

STEP FOUR: After the visa is approved and issued

Once you have received your immigrant visa, you must enter the United States within 6 months of visa issuance to obtain an alien registration receipt or "green" card (Form I-151 or I-551) that will allow you to live and work in the United States ...

• It normally takes several months for DHS to process and send the alien registration card to you.

• In the interim, the passport stamp, valid for a year, permits employment and travel as you await your green card. You may depart and return to the U.S. before you receive the alien registration receipt card, as long as the DHS stamp in you passport has not expired.

• Should you wish to leave the U.S. and your stamp has expired and you have not yet received your alien card, you should contact DHS in the U.S. before departure to obtain permission to return to the U.S.

• If, in the future, you plan to live outside the U.S. for more than 12 months, you must apply for a re-entry permit (Form I-131) in the U.S. BEFORE departure. The maximum validity of this document is two years. If the relocation is permanent, you should formally abandon your permanent resident status.

• Without a re-entry permit, any absence from the U.S. of 12 months or longer, or any residence established outside the U.S., is considered grounds for loss of permanent resident status.

So does this mean that we can’t continue to live overseas without constantly applying for re-entry permits? Or risk losing any future chance for permanent resident status if we decide to live in the states?

Thanks for your help,

drpepper

[zyggy 9]

Hi everyone, I'm new to VisaJourney.com but it seems like a great resource. There's one question that I can't seem to find a response to anywhere, though- Is it worth applying for immigration visas for the sole purpose to facilitate travel back and forth to the States?

My fiancé and I both live in southern France. She’s French, and I just started a PhD. So we’re not planning on moving back to the states anytime in the near future. However, there are awful problems with the biometric passport requirements and she’ll probably need a visa next time we come back for the holidays (which of course has a 6-month delay and expensive fee attached).

From reading some of the FAQs and guides on this site, it seems that the DCF is fairly fast and painless. But looking over the website for consulate in Paris, I’m a bit worried about the travel requirements (from http://www.amb-usa.fr/consul/visas2_categories_ir.htm ):

STEP FOUR: After the visa is approved and issued

Once you have received your immigrant visa, you must enter the United States within 6 months of visa issuance to obtain an alien registration receipt or "green" card (Form I-151 or I-551) that will allow you to live and work in the United States ...

• It normally takes several months for DHS to process and send the alien registration card to you.

• In the interim, the passport stamp, valid for a year, permits employment and travel as you await your green card. You may depart and return to the U.S. before you receive the alien registration receipt card, as long as the DHS stamp in you passport has not expired.

• Should you wish to leave the U.S. and your stamp has expired and you have not yet received your alien card, you should contact DHS in the U.S. before departure to obtain permission to return to the U.S.

• If, in the future, you plan to live outside the U.S. for more than 12 months, you must apply for a re-entry permit (Form I-131) in the U.S. BEFORE departure. The maximum validity of this document is two years. If the relocation is permanent, you should formally abandon your permanent resident status.

• Without a re-entry permit, any absence from the U.S. of 12 months or longer, or any residence established outside the U.S., is considered grounds for loss of permanent resident status.

So does this mean that we can’t continue to live overseas without constantly applying for re-entry permits? Or risk losing any future chance for permanent resident status if we decide to live in the states?

Thanks for your help,

drpepper

An immigrant visa is meant for that, to permanently immigrate to the US. It is NOT meant as a substitute for a tourist visa.

Your wife should get the biometric passport, or get the visa. The immigrant visa will cost you a lot more (about $1,000 by the time you're done) and doesn't suit your needs at this time. Make the appointment for the tourist visa and pay the $100. It'll be good for 10 years and can be used on multiple occassions.

[drpepper 0]

Hi everyone, I'm new to VisaJourney.com but it seems like a great resource. There's one question that I can't seem to find a response to anywhere, though- Is it worth applying for immigration visas for the sole purpose to facilitate travel back and forth to the States?

My fiancé and I both live in southern France. She’s French, and I just started a PhD. So we’re not planning on moving back to the states anytime in the near future. However, there are awful problems with the biometric passport requirements and she’ll probably need a visa next time we come back for the holidays (which of course has a 6-month delay and expensive fee attached).

From reading some of the FAQs and guides on this site, it seems that the DCF is fairly fast and painless. But looking over the website for consulate in Paris, I’m a bit worried about the travel requirements (from http://www.amb-usa.fr/consul/visas2_categories_ir.htm ):

STEP FOUR: After the visa is approved and issued

Once you have received your immigrant visa, you must enter the United States within 6 months of visa issuance to obtain an alien registration receipt or "green" card (Form I-151 or I-551) that will allow you to live and work in the United States ...

• It normally takes several months for DHS to process and send the alien registration card to you.

• In the interim, the passport stamp, valid for a year, permits employment and travel as you await your green card. You may depart and return to the U.S. before you receive the alien registration receipt card, as long as the DHS stamp in you passport has not expired.

• Should you wish to leave the U.S. and your stamp has expired and you have not yet received your alien card, you should contact DHS in the U.S. before departure to obtain permission to return to the U.S.

• If, in the future, you plan to live outside the U.S. for more than 12 months, you must apply for a re-entry permit (Form I-131) in the U.S. BEFORE departure. The maximum validity of this document is two years. If the relocation is permanent, you should formally abandon your permanent resident status.

• Without a re-entry permit, any absence from the U.S. of 12 months or longer, or any residence established outside the U.S., is considered grounds for loss of permanent resident status.

So does this mean that we can’t continue to live overseas without constantly applying for re-entry permits? Or risk losing any future chance for permanent resident status if we decide to live in the states?

Thanks for your help,

drpepper

An immigrant visa is meant for that, to permanently immigrate to the US. It is NOT meant as a substitute for a tourist visa.

Your wife should get the biometric passport, or get the visa. The immigrant visa will cost you a lot more (about $1,000 by the time you're done) and doesn't suit your needs at this time. Make the appointment for the tourist visa and pay the $100. It'll be good for 10 years and can be used on multiple occassions.

Thanks zyggy, I didn't realize that the tourist visa lasts for so long.

[hcj 0]

If your wife already has a machine-readable passport (issued before October 2005), then she can still travel visa-free and not have to get a new biometrics passport. Just thought I'd mention it in case she already has the machine-readable one.

http://www.amb-usa.fr/texts/092605.htm

Edited February 24, 2006 by hcj

[drpepper 0]

If your wife already has a machine-readable passport (issued before October 2005), then she can still travel visa-free and not have to get a new biometrics passport. Just thought I'd mention it in case she already has the machine-readable one.

http://www.amb-usa.fr/texts/092605.htm

That's true, but apparently only until October 2006. Although the page that you referenced doesn't mention it, I found the following elsewhere on the embassy's site:

Q: What is required for nationals of VWP countries to apply for entry to the U.S. under the VWP after October 26, 2006?

In order to enter the U.S. under the VWP after October 26, 2006, travelers must be carrying electronic biometric passports that include a contactless chip that can be read by DHS readers.

October 18, 2005 Press Release from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security

That said, France is supposed to start printing biometric passports in July, once the court decides a dispute between the imprimerie nationale and the government, who gave the new passport contract to a private company in apparent violation of the law.

drpepper

[meauxna 15]

That said, France is supposed to start printing biometric passports in July, once the court decides a dispute between the imprimerie nationale and the government, who gave the new passport contract to a private company in apparent violation of the law.

drpepper

drpepper, I've read about France's problems elsewhere.

Why not have your fiancé apply for a B vistor's visa?

[kain243 0]

I asked a similar question elsewhere... The tourist visa you can get is good for ten years?? Is that the same as the B visa? I'd like to go on the VWP program with my wife too but i hope they will let us in... She wasn't able to get a student visa since we were married, I hope she will be able to get a tourist one.

It would be nice if you could get pre-approved for an immigrant visa and only actually request it later to make moving easier... Nothing like that is possible right?

[zyggy 9]

I asked a similar question elsewhere... The tourist visa you can get is good for ten years?? Is that the same as the B visa? I'd like to go on the VWP program with my wife too but i hope they will let us in... She wasn't able to get a student visa since we were married, I hope she will be able to get a tourist one.

It would be nice if you could get pre-approved for an immigrant visa and only actually request it later to make moving easier... Nothing like that is possible right?

If the reason she was denied for a F visa is because she had immigrant intent, the result will be the same for a B visa.

[kain243 0]

We never actually wen through with the process. I called the embassy and they said that no consular officer would grant a student visa to a person married to an american. As to the B, I'm not even sure what it is.. ? We are hoping to go visit my parents over easter on the visa waiver program, if we have return flight tickets will it work?

[drpepper 0]

We never actually wen through with the process. I called the embassy and they said that no consular officer would grant a student visa to a person married to an american. As to the B, I'm not even sure what it is.. ? We are hoping to go visit my parents over easter on the visa waiver program, if we have return flight tickets will it work?

I think it should, if her passport is machine-readable and issued before October 2005. Otherwise you're in trouble, since you probably won't be able to get a appointment at the embassy in time...