Both of us are foreigners in the country of marriage

[micah83 0]

Hello, I am a little confused and don't know where to start. I am a U.S. Citizen and I married in Saudi Arabia and its registered with the government here. Problem is, I am a foreigner here, and my wife, a Yemeni citizen, is also a foreigner here.

On the U.S. immigration website it said that in order to get my wife a visa to travel with me to USA for a simple visit, I must apply for it in the country where the marriage took place! Is this true? If so, it could be a huge problem. Heres why:

I will be leaving Saudi in August and will be studying in Egypt for 2 years. Therefore, I probably won't go to USA with her for another 3 years. My current Saudi residence card will expire at the end of this year and it is not easy getting a visa to come back to Saudi (sometimes its near impossible, if not traveling for work or religious pilgrimage purposes. Though my wife is Arab and Yemen is a neighboring Gulf country, in all technicality my wife is still just as much a foreigner in Saudi as I am, and can in no way sponsor me a visa to come back to Saudi anymore than I am capable of sponsoring her a Saudi visa.

It would be really frustrating if I have to go back to Saudi just to apply for the USA Visa for my wife there. I hope this is not true or there is a way around this? I would prefer to apply for her visa in whatever country we happen to be in when we feel necessary to pay a visit back to USA.

I could apply for the visa right now in Saudi and hope I get it before I leave Saudi in August, but again it would be pointless if the visa expires before I even plan a trip back to USA.

I heard USA can give Visas that last over 10 years, but its up to the discretion of the consulate and sometimes they just hand out a lousy 1 year visa. Being in the post-9/11 world we live in and all the extra security of immigrants in the Middle-East, I am pretty sure my wife will be given the lousy 1 year visa.

I hope someone can help me out.

[Penguin_ie 5,993]

Where did you read that? Because it is not true.

You can apply for a tourist visa in any country where you are legally resident.

Tourist visas are most often 10 year multiple entry visas (she can only stay a max of 6 months at a time). As the wife of a US citizen, she may have some difficulty getting a tourist visa, so as well as proving her ties to her country of residence, be prepared to show that you intend to go back too (letter of employer, enrollment in university, lease etc).

[micah83 0]

some questions in response to that:

there is no such thing as a spouse Visa or another alternative to a tourist visa? I don't know if "Tourist" sounds right. M I, as her husband, even going to have any sway or involvement in getting her the tourist visa? or is she on her own? Usually just the individual person applies for a tourist visa without others involved (at least for most countries). If shes on her own, I don't think she, a non-working Yemeni, is going to be given a tourist visa.

Also, the 6 month limit on the Tourist visa could be a problem if I decide to stay. Could she cross the border for the weekend on a Canadian tourist visa every six months then come back and reset the 6 month duration? And is it possible to renew the visa after 5 years without having to leave the country? and if she does have to leave the country, where would she have to go for renewal?

And finally, I want to plan ahead just in case: what if by some chance I land a new job in USA and suddenly decide I want to settle down in USA for the long-run? How would we go about the immigration process for her? would she have to fly back to her home country or the country where the marriage took place? Saudi would be ok, but not her home country Yemen. She doesn't have any family in Yemen and was born in Saudi (her entire family works in Saudi, and she was born in Saudi, but they are in no way citizens of Saudi and hold Yemeni passports).

If she could do it in Saudi, would she have to have Saudi residency? This could be another problem. If her current Residence card expires, she would be returning to Saudi on a Family visa, but it can take months for her to get a Saudi residence card. Saudi takes forever on these matters. I would hate to wait for the Residence card just to BEGIN the immigration process with U.S.A.

[Penguin_ie 5,993]

The only spousal visa is an immigrant visa, and from my understanding you don't actually want to live in the USA; there is no "spousal visit" visa. If staying in the USA is a strong possibility for you, you must petition for a CR-1 spousal visa for her (getting her a tourist visa with the intent to immigrate and stay in the USA is visa fraud).

For a tourist visa, she needs to qualify on her own, having a US citizen husband does not give her more right to a tourist visa and in fact can count against her (as they will assume immigrant intent). Though if you are settled abroad, and can show evidence of that, it will help her get a visa. With a tourist visa, she must spend more time outside the USA than in, because it is a visitor visa, not a "live in the USA"- so if she spends 6 months in the USA, she would need to spend at least 6 months outside.

One option could be to try for a tourist visa- if she gets it, visit the USA for 6 months,m see if you two like it back here and if yes, you apply for a CR-1 spousal visa for her. She goes back home (home being anywhere she is legally resident) until her spousal visa interview and then immigrates.

[micah83 0]

IF she went back "home" to apply for immigration visa, how technical is U.S. on the status of the spouse being a "Resident" in the country where she is applying from? She has lived in Saudi Arabia her whole life and was born there and has never been to her home country of Yemen, even though her passport is Yemeni and shes not a Saudi citizen at all.

So, if she were to fly back to Saudi Arabia on a family sponsored visa, could she apply for the Immigration visa with the U.S. embassy immediately? Or is the U.S. going to make her wait until she has a new Saudi Arabian Residence card (her current one will expire after we leave Saudi and it can't be renewed unless shes living in Saudi)? it can take months for Saudi to issue the Residence card!!! it took me 4 months to get mine here! I would hate to wait 4 months just to BEGIN climbing the mountain that is applying for the greencard.

Alternatively, is there a way to apply for the immigration/greencard status in the USA, if I can prove we had no plans for her to immigrate there before hand? Example: I come back to USA, looking for a new job, all my jobs of the last 6 years have been overseas so unexpectedly I will probably head back out for a new job when the door opens. Surprisingly a work or study opportunity comes my way in USA after we came there and I decide to stay. Can she just apply in USA?

Lastly, how long does she have to remain in USA consistently so that her immigration doesn't got tossed in the trash forcing me to go through it again at some point in the future and start all over? A big worry of mine is that we go through this pain staking long process and pay all this money and everything goes smoothly, then a year or two later I land a killer job overseas and decide to leave the country again.

[Penguin_ie 5,993]

I think the US embassies have some leeway, so if she is legally in Saudi and ordinarily lives there, they will probably let her apply, but you should ask the embassy just to be sure.

Your second question is... tricky. If you two spontaneously decided to stay in the USA, then she could apply for Adjustment of Status (AOS), but if they suspect fraud it could lead to a lifetime ban. So I would avoid the "planned spontaneous stay". Keep in mind that if she has a tourist visa, she could also visit you in the USA during the process of applying for a CR-1, so you wouldn;t have to be completely apart for the 9-12 months the process takes.

Once she has been a greencard holder for three years and living married with you, she can appply for citizenship. Once she is a US citizen, she can live wherever she wants and will remain a USC, and thus can travel back to the USA anytime. While a greencard holder, she needs to spend more time inside the USA than outside.

[micah83 0]

Would she have to be living consistently in the USA for those 3 years? if at some point in those 3 years we leave the country for a year or two or more, will it dump the whole process into the trash and we have to start all over at some point? Or is the 3 years accumulative and can be added up over a span of say 5 or 6 years?

[Penguin_ie 5,993]

Would she have to be living consistently in the USA for those 3 years? if at some point in those 3 years we leave the country for a year or two or more, will it dump the whole process into the trash and we have to start all over at some point? Or is the 3 years accumulative and can be added up over a span of say 5 or 6 years?

She can visit abroad (ie short holiday), but if she is resident abroad, she will most likely loose her greencard.. She can apply for a re-entry permit before she leaves, which means she could stay abroad for 2 years without loosing her greencard, but the clock would re-set for naturalisation.