Family Tourist Visa - daughter in another country

[benmat 0]

Hi.

My fiance (Indian citizen) is in India working for a technology company. We got engaged in August. And her parents are in Muscat. Our marriage is only in Dec in India. I was thinking of asking her to make a visit to Musact from India and apply with her family (to seem more legit?) for a tourist visa to the US as soon as possible. So that after the wedding in Dec, I can take her along with me. And then file the I130 after both of us reach here, so that we dont have to stay apart for the 9 or so months it take to get all approved.

Do you think going from India to Muscat to do the interview for the visiting visa will raise any flags?

[rahulv 4]

If you don't want any complications you should rather wait 9 months or so and go the right route. Since you are already engaged and if after marriage she comes here on a tourist visa and then you file I-130 the intent would be to immigrate on a tourist visa which is a serious problem. There could be serious problems in your application and could result in denial of her 130/AOS.

[benmat 0]

If you don't want any complications you should rather wait 9 months or so and go the right route. Since you are already engaged and if after marriage she comes here on a tourist visa and then you file I-130 the intent would be to immigrate on a tourist visa which is a serious problem. There could be serious problems in your application and could result in denial of her 130/AOS.

Im thinking of filing for I130 after coming to the US. And when her I130 interview is up, to send her back to India to attend it. I wasnt thinking of an AOS in the US. Is this still going to be an issue?

[Ning 619]

Hi.

My fiance (Indian citizen) is in India working for a technology company. We got engaged in August. And her parents are in Muscat. Our marriage is only in Dec in India. I was thinking of asking her to make a visit to Musact from India and apply with her family (to seem more legit?) for a tourist visa to the US as soon as possible. So that after the wedding in Dec, I can take her along with me. And then file the I130 after both of us reach here, so that we dont have to stay apart for the 9 or so months it take to get all approved.

Do you think going from India to Muscat to do the interview for the visiting visa will raise any flags?

It wont make any difference. She is a citizen of India. As such she will have to prove beyond doubt that she MUST return to Muscat or India. This is called the strongest ties rule.

Its a very bad idea to try any tricks to gain entry into the USA. The people that did that have set the stage for what you are about to experiance.

If she applied in Muscat she would have to prove ties there. She cant do that well enough to qualify. The fact that her parents are there isnt enough. It would be a bad idea to have an attempt be recorded as attempted visa fraud.

If she attempts to get a tourist visa in India it will be difficult. If she is married to a USC probably impossible. USCIS views her stongest ties to the USC if she were to enter the USA. This is because anyone with any type of visa is considered to be an intending immigrant. If they allowed her in you could file the AOS & she wouldnt have to leave to gain a green card.

It would be a good idea to prepare the 130 documents now to enable you to file them as soon as you are married to shorten the time you are seperated. If its 9 months consider yourselves lucky.

[benmat 0]

It wont make any difference. She is a citizen of India. As such she will have to prove beyond doubt that she MUST return to Muscat or India. This is called the strongest ties rule.

Its a very bad idea to try any tricks to gain entry into the USA. The people that did that have set the stage for what you are about to experiance.

If she applied in Muscat she would have to prove ties there. She cant do that well enough to qualify. The fact that her parents are there isnt enough. It would be a bad idea to have an attempt be recorded as attempted visa fraud.

If she attempts to get a tourist visa in India it will be difficult. If she is married to a USC probably impossible. USCIS views her stongest ties to the USC if she were to enter the USA. This is because anyone with any type of visa is considered to be an intending immigrant. If they allowed her in you could file the AOS & she wouldnt have to leave to gain a green card.

It would be a good idea to prepare the 130 documents now to enable you to file them as soon as you are married to shorten the time you are seperated. If its 9 months consider yourselves lucky.

What i dont get is, isnt this a valid scenario? Where a person gets a tourist visa and then 2 months later applying for the i130? Also what if the father is applying and then adds her as a person whose traveling with him in the DS-160?

[Ning 619]

What i dont get is, isnt this a valid scenario? Where a person gets a tourist visa and then 2 months later applying for the i130? Also what if the father is applying and then adds her as a person whose traveling with him in the DS-160?

Anyone that applys for a tourist visa does so as an individual. Each case is decided on its own merits. Her father can not "add" her to his. He applys for his. She applys for hers.

These people you are talking about seem to be citizens of India living in Oman. Each of them will have to prove beyond a doubt that they must return to India or Oman. This may be almost impossible when they have demonstrated the fact that they dont live in India anyway. These tourist visas always hinge on the strongest ties rule. If there is any reason to doubt the people MUST return the visa isnt issued.

[Jojo92122 1,924]

Hi.

My fiance (Indian citizen) is in India working for a technology company. We got engaged in August. And her parents are in Muscat. Our marriage is only in Dec in India. I was thinking of asking her to make a visit to Musact from India and apply with her family (to seem more legit?) for a tourist visa to the US as soon as possible. So that after the wedding in Dec, I can take her along with me. And then file the I130 after both of us reach here, so that we dont have to stay apart for the 9 or so months it take to get all approved.

Do you think going from India to Muscat to do the interview for the visiting visa will raise any flags?

Im thinking of filing for I130 after coming to the US. And when her I130 interview is up, to send her back to India to attend it. I wasnt thinking of an AOS in the US. Is this still going to be an issue?

You can't do it this way.

First, it is unlawful to enter the US with the intent to immigrate on a visitor visa. While some have gotten away with doing this, others are not so lucky. Is your wife willing to take the risk of a denial?

Second, it may not be easy at all for your wife to enter the US on a tourist visa. She needs to apply and qualify on her own. A US fiancee/husband is not going to help her case. Additionally, a visitor visa permits a person to enter the US but does not guarantee it. A visitor visa holder can be refused entry into the US. Look at it from the IO's point of view, you are returning from your wedding with your wife who only has a visitor visa? What are her ties to India and what are her ties to the US? She may not be allowed to enter the US even if she has a visitor visa.

Thirdly, if she is allowed into the US - she can only stay until her I-94 expires. If it expires in three months, she will violate the terms of her visitor visa. This is not good if afterwards, she travels back to India for her interview.

IMHO, you are taking unnecessary risks. Endure the separation. If you start playing with the immigration system, you may not like the consequences.

Call me a negative nancy. Some may be successful at this. Others may not be. There are possible negative consequences that can be avoided. I rather take the conservative route which is not complicated by visitor visa to await in the US while the immigration process requires leaving the US to complete.

Edited October 1, 2011 by Jojo92122

[benmat 0]

You can't do it this way.

First, it is unlawful to enter the US with the intent to immigrate on a visitor visa. While some have gotten away with doing this, others are not so lucky. Is your wife willing to take the risk of a denial?

Second, it may not be easy at all for your wife to enter the US on a tourist visa. She needs to apply and qualify on her own. A US fiancee/husband is not going to help her case. Additionally, a visitor visa permits a person to enter the US but does not guarantee it. A visitor visa holder can be refused entry into the US. Look at it from the IO's point of view, you are returning from your wedding with your wife who only has a visitor visa? What are her ties to India and what are her ties to the US? She may not be allowed to enter the US even if she has a visitor visa.

Thirdly, if she is allowed into the US - she can only stay until her I-94 expires. If it expires in three months, she will violate the terms of her visitor visa. This is not good if afterwards, she travels back to India for her interview.

IMHO, you are taking unnecessary risks. Endure the separation. If you start playing with the immigration system, you may not like the consequences.

Call me a negative nancy. Some may be successful at this. Others may not be. There are possible negative consequences that can be avoided. I rather take the conservative route which is not complicated by visitor visa to await in the US while the immigration process requires leaving the US to complete.

In spite of all the replies to my original post, I went ahead with the original plan as I still don't think there's any thing illegal with it. My wife's family applied for visiting visa as a family in Muscat and they were granted it in Nov. The interview process went smoothly. Very few questions, regarding purpose of visit (which was, to visit their cousins in the US), funding for the visit, places they would be visiting. We had the marriage early Dec. And she entered the US on the visiting visa (B1/B2) in Feb. At the POE, she was asked very few questions (funding, who was going to pick her up, where she was going to stay and who bought her ticket). They asked her how long she wanted to stay and she said 6 months and was granted a 6 months permit. We are now going to file for CR-1.

[Little_My 464]

This is a perfectly legal and by-the-book route for her becoming a permanent resident. There's nothing wrong with a foreigner coming to the US with a tourist visa, marrying a US citizen and then filing for a CR-1 - the wrong approach, which is what I think previous responders were thinking you were planning, is for a foreign spouse to come to the US under a non-immigrant status, marry a USC, and then proceed to adjust their status from non-immigrant to immigrant while in the US - with the preconceived intent to do this all along, prior to entering the country. This is a totally different process than the CR-1. Filing the CR-1 while she is in the country is perfectly fine - the difference to AOS is that with a pending CR-1 application, she must leave the US and return home after that 6 months period of authorized stay has passed. She will also have her interview in a US embassy/consulate in her home country, unlike in AOS where the whole process is completed in the US.

[benmat 0]

Is it possible to file for AOS if the marriage was in India and the spouse is now in the US on a B1/B2 visa?

[Little_My 464]

Well. That is exactly the Pandora's Box the previous posters were telling you not to open. Is it possible? Yes. Worth the risks that come with taking that route? I would say no.