Do I need to be married for AOS?

[roadstomoscow 1]

My GF is a Russian Citizen from Moscow and has a 2 year B2 Tourist Visa. She has visited me in the U.S. on this Visa already. In about 8 months we plan to have her come live with me in the U.S.. I have heard that we can do an AOS from the B2 to Citizen but I prefer to live with her for as long as possible before getting married and honestly prefer to marry her of my own choice rather than for immigration purposes. Can someone give me a strategy that would allow her to stay in the US with me as long as possible before we need to marry? Do we need to marry before submitting an AOS? Also we co-own an LLC Partnership business in the U.S. together which is legitimately doing business. I'm not sure if this could be used as part of the strategy or not. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Info on what forms would need to be filed and in what time frame would be great. Thanks

[ceadsearc 516]

You can't use the B-2 to AOS at all because it's a non immigrant visa and she is not already in America so she would be coming with intent and that's illegal. When people AOS from a B2 it is because their partner came and planned to go home and circumstances changed. And even if that were your case yes, you would have to be married.

You could do a K-1 which is a fiancé visa. But that requires marriage within 90 days. Your other option is to get married and file a CR-1. Both a K-1 and CR-1 would get her here within the 8 month time period you are talking about, or near to it. But if you don't want to get married none of that will work.

Unless she can somehow obtain a work visa, but those are not easy to come by.

[Little_My 464]

It is illegal and visa fraud to enter the US with a non-immigrant visa, such as a tourist visa, with a preconceived intent to marry a US citizen and then adjust status to permanent resident within the US - so her coming here with a B2 visa to marry you and adjust her status is not a viable plan.

For AOS or other family-based permanent resident petitions you need to be married. In the eyes of immigration law you are not family to each other until you are legally married, and only foreigners who are immediate family members of US citizens can apply for a greencard based on that relationship. Dating or being engaged won't do.

That being said, she has the option of coming here on tourist visa, staying for the duration that is stamped on her I-94 upon arrival (max 6 months), and then leaving once that period runs out. She can keep coming here to visit you as a tourist, but chances are that at some point she'll be asked more questions about her reasons for visiting this country if she keeps coming back frequently for extended periods of time.

She could also look into studying in the US. It is expensive, but a student visa would allow her to be here for longer, live with you, see how all that goes - and by the time she was finishing up her studies, maybe you would be clearer in terms of what you want to do with marriage and other future plans.

Work visa is also a possibility, but probably the hardest to get - depending on her field of work and educational background. H1-B work visa is a dual intent visa, so if she was eligible for that and could find an employer who was willing to hire her and sponsor her a visa, she wouldn't have to worry about the whole non-immigrant intent business that is associated with tourist and student visas. She could adjust her status from H1-B to permanent resident whenever you chose to get married, and she wouldn't have to worry about being questioned about intent issues at POE, since H1-B is dual-intent.

Edited November 18, 2011 by Little_My

[amazngrace 3]

My GF is a Russian Citizen from Moscow and has a 2 year B2 Tourist Visa. She has visited me in the U.S. on this Visa already. In about 8 months we plan to have her come live with me in the U.S.. I have heard that we can do an AOS from the B2 to Citizen but I prefer to live with her for as long as possible before getting married and honestly prefer to marry her of my own choice rather than for immigration purposes. Can someone give me a strategy that would allow her to stay in the US with me as long as possible before we need to marry? Do we need to marry before submitting an AOS? Also we co-own an LLC Partnership business in the U.S. together which is legitimately doing business. I'm not sure if this could be used as part of the strategy or not. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Info on what forms would need to be filed and in what time frame would be great. Thanks

To my knowledge, No you do not have to married as people come to the US all the time who are not married from many different countries and situations. When the time comes to proove ties to eachother the co-ownership of this business before even engaged to eachother will be a nice strong evidence to build your case. It is nice to see you are wanting to do this all proper, honestly and also to be sure, I think that is a very wise choice. As far as helping her stay here as long as she can without being married i am not sure?

[HeatDeath 430]

She cannot AOS from a B2 visa entrance unless she is A ) married to you (and has thereby become an immediate relative of a US citizen), AND B ) sincerely does not intend to stay and adjust status when she enters on the B2 visa.

So that won't work.

Co-owning a business won't work either, unless she has put $500,000 of her own money into it and you two have several US employees. That would possibly qualify her for an investment visa.

Other then that, she's pretty much gonna have to marry you to get a GC.

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

To my knowledge, No you do not have to married as people come to the US all the time who are not married from many different countries and situations.

When the time comes to proove ties to eachother the co-ownership of this business before even engaged to eachother will be a nice strong evidence to build your case.

Sure. Marriage can be seen as a form of business. We own a business together; I now marry you and you can stay. Makes sense.

It is nice to see you are wanting to do this all proper, honestly and also to be sure, I think that is a very wise choice. As far as helping her stay here as long as she can without being married i am not sure?

[roadstomoscow 1]

Ok so if she comes to visit and of course we don't yet intend to be married when she arrives which we won't until we are ready anyway. If before her time expires on her Tourist Visa and we decide at that point that we should get married we can do that before her time expires and file the AOS? She will have already visited me at least 2 times in the U.S. on that Visa so it's not as though we got the Visa and as soon as she got here we got married.

It is illegal and visa fraud to enter the US with a non-immigrant visa, such as a tourist visa, with a preconceived intent to marry a US citizen and then adjust status to permanent resident within the US - so her coming here with a B2 visa to marry you and adjust her status is not a viable plan.

For AOS or other family-based permanent resident petitions you need to be married. In the eyes of immigration law you are not family to each other until you are legally married, and only foreigners who are immediate family members of US citizens can apply for a greencard based on that relationship. Dating or being engaged won't do.

That being said, she has the option of coming here on tourist visa, staying for the duration that is stamped on her I-94 upon arrival (max 6 months), and then leaving once that period runs out. She can keep coming here to visit you as a tourist, but chances are that at some point she'll be asked more questions about her reasons for visiting this country if she keeps coming back frequently for extended periods of time.

She could also look into studying in the US. It is expensive, but a student visa would allow her to be here for longer, live with you, see how all that goes - and by the time she was finishing up her studies, maybe you would be clearer in terms of what you want to do with marriage and other future plans.

Work visa is also a possibility, but probably the hardest to get - depending on her field of work and educational background. H1-B work visa is a dual intent visa, so if she was eligible for that and could find an employer who was willing to hire her and sponsor her a visa, she wouldn't have to worry about the whole non-immigrant intent business that is associated with tourist and student visas. She could adjust her status from H1-B to permanent resident whenever you chose to get married, and she wouldn't have to worry about being questioned about intent issues at POE, since H1-B is dual-intent.

Edited November 18, 2011 by gurutogo

[MalaysianGirl 26]

Ok so if she comes to visit and of course we don't yet intend to be married when she arrives which we won't until we are ready anyway. If before her time expires on her Tourist Visa and we decide at that point that we should get married we can do that before her time expires and file the AOS? She will have already visited me at least 2 times in the U.S. on that Visa so it's not as though we got the Visa and as soon as she got here we got married.

What really matters is what the CBP officer at the POE asks your girlfriend, and what she answers. If she lies about her intent to marry and do AOS in the US, she will be noted down for material misrepresentation.

[payxibka 10,045]

Ok so if she comes to visit and of course we don't yet intend to be married when she arrives which we won't until we are ready anyway. If before her time expires on her Tourist Visa and we decide at that point that we should get married we can do that before her time expires and file the AOS? She will have already visited me at least 2 times in the U.S. on that Visa so it's not as though we got the Visa and as soon as she got here we got married.

it is not how many times you used the visa, each entry is a separate event. intent is determined at at each entry. if at the time of entry, her intention was to use that entry to circumvent us immigration law then that is a no no.

if her true intent was made known at the border that she intended to marry and remain, the cbp would not even let her in.

Edited November 18, 2011 by payxibka