Worried About AOS Marrying F1 Visa Holder

[Chinooski 0]

I've done plenty of research looking at what needs to be done in terms of filing paperwork, and the whole procedure. While I have my head wrapped around most of that, the part that is stressing me out is the timing of it all. My fiancé came into the US on an F1 one year ago, while in the US she has been staying with me. After she finished the Spring semester at school, she went back to her home country for nearly two months. She arrived back in the US in mid-June.

I proposed to her in early July and we have been thinking of two ideas of when to get married. The one that is starting to make more sense is to do it sooner rather than later at a courthouse and then have a wedding party next summer. This way we can get the paperwork process started now. The other option would be to do the whole shebang next summer.

What I am worrying about is the possibility of denial of AOS. Is one year in the US enough before filing for an AOS? Does her coming back in June, and us getting married as soon as August throw up any red tape (even though she has been here over a year)? When she came into the US we were dating, but had no plans to marry, is this a problem?. Any advice or comments are appreciated.

I just don't want some obscure detail to prevent us from living the rest of our lives together.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

Did she mention he had a US boyfriend when she applied for her visa originally? Did she mention she would be living with you? Does she plan to continue her schooling after you are married?

[Chinooski 0]

Did she mention he had a US boyfriend when she applied for her visa originally? Did she mention she would be living with you? Does she plan to continue her schooling after you are married?

I do not think that she mentioned she had a boyfriend when she applied for her visa.

She did say that she would be living with me and my sister however.

She does plan to continue schooling after we are married.

[asdfg 18]

I visited US twice.

After my first visit I dated a girl.

That girl was still in the US when I came here the second time,

but we broke up shortly after my second visit.

I met my future fiance 2 years later.

IO didn't ask anything other than when and where I met my wife.

I don't think they even care much about anything as long as your marriage

is legit and you are in real husband-wife relationship.

My I-130 was approved after interview.

But I am stuck with RFE (all I had was traffic violations, not even

points on DL, never arrested , never had criminal charges, no DWI/DUI,

nothing). IO apparently wasn't very experienced so after asking

if I had at least a traffic violation he changed my answer to YES

and now I got stuck in RFE stage (and I had to spend few hundreds

to hire an attorney to handle it, because it's an administrative

error to ask me for evidence of arrest disposition and court record

when I wasn't neither arrested nor tried in criminal court).

I regret not having an attorney during the interview.

Now if my case is denied due to admin. error I'll have to

go to court and then file a separate civil lawsuit for monetary damages

(cost of attorney etc.).

If your case is straightforward and you get older and

experienced IO you may get approved on the spot.

Good luck.

[Chinooski 0]

I visited US twice.

After my first visit I dated a girl.

That girl was still in the US when I came here the second time,

but we broke up shortly after my second visit.

I met my future fiance 2 years later.

IO didn't ask anything other than when and where I met my wife.

I don't think they even care much about anything as long as your marriage

is legit and you are in real husband-wife relationship.

My I-130 was approved after interview.

But I am stuck with RFE (all I had was traffic violations, not even

points on DL, never arrested , never had criminal charges, no DWI/DUI,

nothing). IO apparently wasn't very experienced so after asking

if I had at least a traffic violation he changed my answer to YES

and now I got stuck in RFE stage (and I had to spend few hundreds

to hire an attorney to handle it, because it's an administrative

error to ask me for evidence of arrest disposition and court record

when I wasn't neither arrested nor tried in criminal court).

I regret not having an attorney during the interview.

Now if my case is denied due to admin. error I'll have to

go to court and then file a separate civil lawsuit for monetary damages

(cost of attorney etc.).

If your case is straightforward and you get older and

experienced IO you may get approved on the spot.

Good luck.

Thank you for sharing your story. I am sorry to hear that everything did not go smoothly in your case, but it sounds like you are almost there!

I do believe ours should be a straightforward case. We met each other in Japan, fell in love over time and finally decided to marry.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

I do not think that she mentioned she had a boyfriend when she applied for her visa.

She did say that she would be living with me and my sister however.

She does plan to continue schooling after we are married.

Since it was stated that she would be living with you, she was probably asked who you were. Ask her. If she lied about any of that (who you were or how you met), there could be hurdles. Besides that, I see no issue.

[asdfg 18]

Thank you for sharing your story. I am sorry to hear that everything did not go smoothly in your case, but it sounds like you are almost there!

I do believe ours should be a straightforward case. We met each other in Japan, fell in love over time and finally decided to marry.

I really don't know and am fully preparing for official denial (been a while since they got RFE response and there is not even update on case status page that they got it.At this point I don't believe what 800 cust. service tells me on the phone, about it being "normal" not to update and so on) .

By statute my answer to question must be "NO" (excludes traffic violations, no arrests, criminal charges ever, no DUI/DWI etc) and by all means

it shouldn't have been changed to "YES" during interview with the subsequent request to provide "arrest disposition" and etc.

How do you provide "arrest disposition" if you never were arrested to begin with?

So, whoever issued my RFE might as well deny me because I have no record of arrest

I seriously think that's what can happen and am preparing to proceed with my lawyer as soon as we get a decision in mail.

So pissed off because it will cost me money to file motions, appeals or get this straighten in court. If that's the course am forced to go I will definitely sue USCIS for monetary damages after all is done.

As to yo u, I wish you the best of luck. I think if your marriage is legit and you really live as husband and wife there is nothing you should be worried about.

But you may want to consider taking a lawyer with you to an interview.

The IO's sometimes are new, under-trained and make outright errors in case processing

and you don't want to end up where I am now.

Good luck!

Edited July 23, 2012 by asdfg