Can someone get married to a US citizen in the US then file the paperwork

[Jenn&Jay 0]

Ok first.. The lawyer is an idiot, that is immigration fraud. She will be able to cross and get married, but when filing for AOS the truth WILL be discovered. Furthermore 15,000.00 is a retarded amount, My wife and I had no problems filing without the help of an attorney and ours was a complex case. The best course of action is to get married in either country and file for a CR-1 visa as it is the fastest route. During the cr-1 process you can continue to visit one another. I went to the usa for 6 months during cr-1 without an issue, and it was a relitavely painless process. Hardest part is being seperated for long periods of time but it is better than the alternative. Rushing into the process and comitting immigration fraud will ensure that they will likely never be together in the usa.

[moemac59 192]

Ok first.. The lawyer is an idiot, that is immigration fraud. She will be able to cross and get married, but when filing for AOS the truth WILL be discovered. Furthermore 15,000.00 is a retarded amount, My wife and I had no problems filing without the help of an attorney and ours was a complex case. The best course of action is to get married in either country and file for a CR-1 visa as it is the fastest route. During the cr-1 process you can continue to visit one another. I went to the usa for 6 months during cr-1 without an issue, and it was a relitavely painless process. Hardest part is being seperated for long periods of time but it is better than the alternative. Rushing into the process and comitting immigration fraud will ensure that they will likely never be together in the usa.

Thanks J&J, I will let her know...your information and input has been extremely valuable.

[Enigma11561 336]

$15,000 is just stupid. Period. $1,500 I could understand. So not only is your friend a bit crazy to entertain committing immigration fraud, she is getting ripped off at the same time. This girl needs a reality check. If she keeps thinking like this, the chances are just going to get better that some where along the line she will trip up and get a possible ban from coming back.

[Tygrys 143]

My girlfriend is not even going on a tourist visa, she is just telling customs that she is going down on vacation to see family and then she is going to stay and get married. I feel bad for her but doubt she will listen and just brush it off like I don't know what I'm talking about and that her lawyer is right. Her lawyer is actually an American lawyer and not Canadian...not that that makes any difference.

I appreciate all of the advice and will try to advise her accordingly.

I agree with you outback Annie, I'm glad that I am going thru the proper channels to immigrate legally...I could not bear to be without my soon to be hubby!

So, she is gonna use VWP to enter, right? Is it even possible to AOS from VWP?

[HeatDeath 430]

Canadian tourists are a status unto themselves - like VWP, only with even less paperwork. Canadian tourists are allowed in with only a Canadian passport, for up to 6 months at at time unless informed otherwise by the CBP officer at time of entry. Sometimes Canadians flying in will get an entry stamp with no visa type writen in it - other times the CBP officer will write B2 on the stamp, making it basically a free 6 month tourist visa that is given out by the CBP officer directly with no application process other than showing up at his desk and having a brief (2-3 sentences) interview.

AOSing from Canadian tourist status is exactly the same, in terms of pros, cons, costs, risks, and regulatory compliance, as AOSing from a tourist visa. As long as the entrant did not misrepresent themselves at the POE and sincerely did not intend to marry and AOS when they entered the US, it is perfectly legal to AOS from being a Canadian tourist if one has become an immediate relative of a US citizen.

[Tygrys 143]

Thanks for explanation, HeatDeath

[Fight for Love 98]

I have a girlfriend who has met an American. He lives in the US and she in Canada. They have plans to be married over the summer. The thing is that she has not filed any immigration paperwork to go to the US. She will be informing customs that she is going down on vacation to see family and then she will just end up staying there and getting married, and filing down there after they tie the knot. Her lawyer is also telling her that to get her GC it will only take a couple of months if they get married while she is down there.

Her lawyer has suggested that this is the route that they go as she doesn't want to wait to go thru the whole K1 process. I personnally think that this is wrong as I am going the K1 route and going thru all the proper channels to come to the US legally.

Can someone please elaborate? Just curious as her lawyer is costing her alot of money and I think that the lawyer is wrong...just going by all the post that I have seen on the site.

yes is possible..i know someone who marry an illegal immigrant without the person leaving the country and it's been 3years now that they are married..

[Tygrys 143]

yes is possible..i know someone who marry an illegal immigrant without the person leaving the country and it's been 3years now that they are married..

And what possibly it has to do with this thread? No matter what the OP's friend decides to do, she'd never be an "illegal immigrant".

[Justine+David 218]

She could file it herself without using $15k. To intentionally commit immigration fraud and be frauded themselves by paying $15k for a process that anyone that can read can do for free...hopefully they won't have any offspring.

[sulhaq 60]

Your friend is committing immigration fraud. Plain and simple. It is a risk in itself to do such a thing because she will be asked about it when she does the AOS. Furthermore, on any future paperwork that she will file with US immigration, she will have to answer the question "Have you ever lied to a US Immigration officer" for which I am quite certain she will put no.

If ever discovered, the consequences will be dire. Ask your friend if that lifetime risk is worth the extra 3 months it would take to do this legally. But I suppose to anyone who's senseless enough to be willing to throw away 15k in lawyer's fees for a process whose total cost is around 2k, it doesn't really matter...

[tehans 52]

She can come on a "vacation" get married on a whim (not planning ahead and showing up with a wedding dress in her baggage) and then return home and wait out the CR1 process for 6-9 months, that s what we did. The US citizen will have to file that

But just staying here will cause some problems.

And don't waste money on a lawyer, any person with 2 brain cells can do it

Edited April 12, 2012 by tehans

[MissAAA 9]

Hmmmm. I recommend your friend errs on the side of caution and files for the K-1 from her home country. USCIS has a zero fraud tolerance and the consequences could be dire.

Consult ANOTHER lawyer.

[jachey 1]

I will never trust an lawyer who advises me to break the law. The risk of getting caught is greater than spending $15k on a shady lawyer and possibly separating her family.

[BBCC 16]

I've read on this forum for months that it is improper to enter on B-2, get married then adjust status while remaining in US.

Yet, I learned from a colleague here in my office who did just that. He was here in the US from the middle east in the midst of a I-485 AOS application for his own green card from an valid employment-based L-1 visa. Then, met his wife in Canada. They travelled together back to the US, she on a B-2. They then married his wife in US and they then proceed to file a I-485 AOS for and successfully attached it to his own AOS application. They received their IR-1 together.

No one at USCIS or NVC in the process even suggested this was not allowed.

So now that I hear this first hand, why is this improper?

[sheeshkabelle 153]

15k?! that's a lot of clams to pay to have someone lie to you.

The guide the USCIS releases to have your fiance come to the US legally states:

One way is to apply for a fiancé(e) visa if your fiancé(e) is overseas and you want to marry in the United States. This visa lets your fiancé(e) enter the United States for 90 days so that your

marriage ceremony can take place in the United States. Once you marry, your spouse can apply for permanent residence and remain in the United States while we process the application. If you choose this method, file a Form I-129F, Petition for Alien Fiancé(e). An I-129F is available in the “forms” section of our website at www. uscis.gov. If we approve the I-129F, we will send it to the National Visa Center, which will process and forward it to the U.S. Embassy or consulate nearest your fiancé(e)’s foreign place of residence. The embassy or consulate will then invite him or her to apply for the actual fiancé(e) visa.

Another way is to marry your fiancé(e) overseas. If you marry overseas, you can then file a Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, for your new spouse. For more information about the I-130

relative petition for a spouse, please see customer guide A1, I Am a U.S. Citizen...How Do I...Help My Relative Become a Permanent Resident of the United States?

If your fiancé(e) is already in the United States in another legal immigration status and you want to marry in the United States, please see customer guide A1 about filing an I-130 relative petition after you marry.

The bolded, big letters are the catch there. Canadians visiting on WHTI rules are NOT here on legal immigration!

My guess is the lawyer is charging her so much because he does know the risk, and he wants to line his pockets up front, so when things do go bad, he can disappear, or tell her "I don't handle deportation cases".

Even our horrible lawyer that messed up our K-1 visa wasn't as bad as to suggest we break the law. We asked if we should do it that way. He said "Absolutely not, do not under any circumstances get married while he is here visiting. He could face a ban for life from the US."

Could she get away with it?

Probably.

Is she willing to shell out 15k to a lawyer for bad advice?

It appears so.

Is that fancy expensive lawyer going to represent her when it all back fires and she's deported and banned from the US?

Probably not.

Is she willing to risk her business, her chance to be with her fiance?

Maybe.

Do people like this piss the rest of us off, by skirting laws, while we wait and do it by the book?

Yes