What visa should we go for?!

[taishen 0]

Hey, quick question - I'm not sure if this has been covered here before or not, so if it has please forgive me. First off, my wife is Chinese & I am an American citizen. My wife and I we are planning to go to the States to visit my family in the summer with our vacation time. Yet, we have absolutely no plan to immigrate to the states, at least any time soon. So all the immigration visas, I'm assuming, are completely out of the question - but we're not exactly sure what visa we should go for. Can anyone please give us some advice/direction/etc. Thanks.

[Tricia599 2]

My husband and I were in the same situation when we first married in Brazil. We hadn't planned on moving to the US at that time - I just wanted him to meet my family. We went for a tourist visa, but it wasn't an automatic thing. At the toursit visa interview, the consular guy asked us why we weren't going for the immigrant visa. I really looked like we were headed for a denial (which freaked out my husband so he just clammed up), but the consular guy started talking to me, which is what saved us and got the approval (turns out we both went through the same exchange student program in high school to Brazil). He flat out told us that they routinely deny tourist visas for recently married spouses because they think that you are trying to circumvent the immigration process - which is much more expensive and time consuming. This has been confirmed by a number of people I know on another formum dedicated to expats in Brazil. It's a "guilty before proven innocent mentality" there, so I would asusme that is true of all of the "developing countries" (I don't know what the correct PC term is for it now).

Long story short, if you are just going to visit, I would say that the tourist visa is the correct visa. However, if you are recently married - less than 2-3 years - be prepared for a denial. Go with your wife to the interview and make sure that you have some really stong evidence of her ties to your home country in your application - everyone that I have spoken to about this has said that the consular person never looked at any of the supporting evidence you bring to the interview, so the most weight is put on the applicaiton. I am positive that if my husband had gone to the interview alone, he would have been denied.

Sorry to be such a downer, but an approval is possible. Good luck!!

[pupay 0]

I know somebody who had the same problem. His wife was with him during his interview but the consul upon learning that they were married told them to do it the right way and not by applying a tourist visa.

[taishen 0]

I know somebody who had the same problem. His wife was with him during his interview but the consul upon learning that they were married told them to do it the right way and not by applying a tourist visa.

So what exactly would be the, so-called, 'correct' way?

We aren't immigrating so applying for an immigrant visa or a non-immigrant visa with the goal of becoming an immigrant would all be lying, correct?

[benuk 18]

My husband and I were in the same situation when we first married in Brazil. We hadn't planned on moving to the US at that time - I just wanted him to meet my family. We went for a tourist visa, but it wasn't an automatic thing. At the toursit visa interview, the consular guy asked us why we weren't going for the immigrant visa. I really looked like we were headed for a denial (which freaked out my husband so he just clammed up), but the consular guy started talking to me, which is what saved us and got the approval (turns out we both went through the same exchange student program in high school to Brazil). He flat out told us that they routinely deny tourist visas for recently married spouses because they think that you are trying to circumvent the immigration process - which is much more expensive and time consuming. This has been confirmed by a number of people I know on another formum dedicated to expats in Brazil. It's a "guilty before proven innocent mentality" there, so I would asusme that is true of all of the "developing countries" (I don't know what the correct PC term is for it now).

Long story short, if you are just going to visit, I would say that the tourist visa is the correct visa. However, if you are recently married - less than 2-3 years - be prepared for a denial. Go with your wife to the interview and make sure that you have some really stong evidence of her ties to your home country in your application - everyone that I have spoken to about this has said that the consular person never looked at any of the supporting evidence you bring to the interview, so the most weight is put on the applicaiton. I am positive that if my husband had gone to the interview alone, he would have been denied.

Sorry to be such a downer, but an approval is possible. Good luck!!

Hi there,could I ask you for the name of the website that you mentioned for expats in Brazil??

Regards

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

He flat out told us that they routinely deny tourist visas for recently married spouses because they think that you are trying to circumvent the immigration process - which is much more expensive and time consuming. This has been confirmed by a number of people I know on another formum dedicated to expats in Brazil. It's a "guilty before proven innocent mentality" there, so I would asusme that is true of all of the "developing countries" (I don't know what the correct PC term is for it now).

Immigrant visa processing is more time consuming than adjustment of status, but it's not more expensive. Anyway, one of the CO's jobs is to detect preconceived intent and stop it. Once they get into the US then there's not much USCIS can do to stop them from shortcutting the system and adjusting status. Frankly, I wish they would do away with adjustment of status except in the case of non-immigrants visas that specifically allow for immigrant intent. That would make it much easier to get a B2 visa in many countries.

[Tricia599 2]

Hi there,could I ask you for the name of the website that you mentioned for expats in Brazil??

Regards

Sure. It's www.gringoes.com - there is a great forum if you're working out visa issues in Brazil.