Adjusting status on a tourist visa

[Kim & Gesner 14]

As far it being a "moral" issue, I like to think of myself as a moral person. I live a normal life like most, I work, I run a home and do every other normal activity in life. I happen to meet someone while on vacation and yes, fell in love. Our intention was never to AOS as he had a job, an apartment, clothing, bank account, car and whatever else back home in the Turks. I do not need to mention how hard being away from someone you love is as we ALL know the heartache and struggle it brings. His last entry, he had a return ticket, he was never even questioned on entry and came right through with 6 months granted on his I-94. He's made many visits to the U.S and always went home. It was a 4 day visit, that is all and something just changed. We originally planned to marry in Dec 2012 and honestly wasn't even sure if we would live here or in Turks and Caicos Islands. We knew we had plenty of time to figure all of that out. Next thing we knew, we just decided for him to stay. His boss said he could come back anytime so we decided to elope and marry and it was exactly that, no family, no friends, just us and the minister on the beach. We then went to Texas and after we returned to Maryland, we started looking at flights for him to return home and I planned to file and wait it out.

I read on HERE about the AOS process. I never considered it and he knew nothing about the immigration process. He never even cared to live in the US. He has lots of family here and could have came years ago but never wanted to.... that was until he met me. So the process of marrying and living here was completely new to him (and me..I'd never met anyone out of the country before). So after lots of prayers and a leap of faith, we filed for AOS.

Was it immoral?? I do not think so. Impulsive....perhaps but definitely not immoral.

[lynndy38 64]

We're not trying to make you feel bad. Most of all, people come on VJ to prepare or educate themselves on the process, others for support. Some users only state the fact without smileys. I'm also one of them and it's not to make the words seem harsh, it's only to make the message shine through with the raw facts.

I understand that,it was almost 5am when I was posting on here I was awake because I was worrying about it and came on here for support.It also felt like a rather public 'telling off' I didn't deserve that and the poster could quite easily have left a message on my profile or something. I am appreciating the advice on here,I obviously need to toughen up.

Sorry for hijacking the thread

[Dakine10 5,452]

"intent" is a state of mind, not an action, so how could one prove conclusively what "intent" was? USCIS also collects a sizable fee for AOS, as opposed to a much smaller fee for the I-130 petition for someone going the IR/CR route, so I don't think they really have incentive to make AOSing too difficult.

When someone gets married, quits their job, sells their house, moves all their belongings to the USA and then adjusts status, thats as conclusive as it gets. It's fairly obvious that they turned their intent into actions.

However even if USCIS somehow knows all of that, it's still not the intent that will get someone. As Harpa said, it's the misrepresentation that occurs when trying to cover up the intent.

[Krikit 1,164]

Moving to General Immigration-Related Discussion as this is not about AOS Process.

[Sandra G. 5,047]

It's fraud to enter knowing you will get married and adjust status, but it's not fraud if you entered to visit and then on the spur of the moment you decided to stay,get married and adjust your status. Some people they left their home country, their jobs, closed bank account, said goodbye/adios, they planned before arriving in USA to get married and adjust their status, it's completely different from someone that left behind job, study,property etc...they came here to VISIT but after a few months(at least 60 days) they decided to get married, the decision to get married wasn't planned before entering in the USA,it was unexpectedly then it's NOT FRAUD.

Edited August 29, 2012 by sandranj

[nica 5]

As far it being a "moral" issue, I like to think of myself as a moral person. I live a normal life like most, I work, I run a home and do every other normal activity in life. I happen to meet someone while on vacation and yes, fell in love. Our intention was never to AOS as he had a job, an apartment, clothing, bank account, car and whatever else back home in the Turks. I do not need to mention how hard being away from someone you love is as we ALL know the heartache and struggle it brings. His last entry, he had a return ticket, he was never even questioned on entry and came right through with 6 months granted on his I-94. He's made many visits to the U.S and always went home. It was a 4 day visit, that is all and something just changed. We originally planned to marry in Dec 2012 and honestly wasn't even sure if we would live here or in Turks and Caicos Islands. We knew we had plenty of time to figure all of that out. Next thing we knew, we just decided for him to stay. His boss said he could come back anytime so we decided to elope and marry and it was exactly that, no family, no friends, just us and the minister on the beach. We then went to Texas and after we returned to Maryland, we started looking at flights for him to return home and I planned to file and wait it out.

I read on HERE about the AOS process. I never considered it and he knew nothing about the immigration process. He never even cared to live in the US. He has lots of family here and could have came years ago but never wanted to.... that was until he met me. So the process of marrying and living here was completely new to him (and me..I'd never met anyone out of the country before). So after lots of prayers and a leap of faith, we filed for AOS.

Was it immoral?? I do not think so. Impulsive....perhaps but definitely not immoral.

If you're being totally honest about what happened, then I agree. The problem is, I assume lots of people who go through the visitor visa/VWP to AOS process, if they're informed enough to know it's illegal to enter with intent to stay, probably just tell themselves that it was a spur of the moment decision. I suspect that most of the time, deciding to stay in the U.S. permanently wouldn't be spur of the moment... after all, most people have lots of loose ends to tie up in their home country (like jobs, bills, saying goodbye to family members, etc), which if you're genuinely just visiting the U.S. when you make the decision (rather than moving there with pre-conceived intent), would be a problem.

People who definitely know that it's illegal and choose to do it anyway, thereby purposely flaunting the law are, in my opinion, taking a gamble on their loved ones. Furthermore, they're assuming that their circumstances are unique enough to merit not having to wait in line like everybody else. I definitely find *that* immoral!

[Boiler 45,486]

What do you mean everybody else, this is the norm?

[nica 5]

What do you mean everybody else, this is the norm?

I mean everybody going through the proper, legal procedure (K-1, CR-1, etc). I knew when I started that some people get away with arriving on VWP and then adjusting status, but I wasn't willing to try it because it's not legal and therefore seemed risky to me. Because we went through the proper procedure for CR-1, we had to spend the entire first year of our marriage apart. It was difficult, but at least we know we waited our turn and did it right.

Edited August 29, 2012 by nica

[Boiler 45,486]

You can argue about right or wrong, but stats say that you are the minority.

[nica 5]

You can argue about right or wrong, but stats say that you are the minority.

I am arguing about right and wrong.

[natalieblake 0]

Hey there,

I know someone looking into the whole I-130 process. Her husband is from Mexico and has had a tourist visa for a while (they last 10 years). I remember when I started this process lots of people telling me that entering the US on VWP and then adjusting status to permanent resident can potentially lead to trouble... (in fact, I was told it was considered immigration fraud), but is the same true with entering the US on a tourist visa and then trying to adjust status to permanent resident? If legal, how long does that process normally take?

Thanks all!

Hi, I looked into this some and is it any different to process an I-485 instead of an I-130? I believe that it is legal to adjust from an Tourist visa with I-485 if you are married to a US citizen? Your friend might want to go that way?

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

Hi, I looked into this some and is it any different to process an I-485 instead of an I-130? I believe that it is legal to adjust from an Tourist visa with I-485 if you are married to a US citizen? Your friend might want to go that way?

Natalie, no, it is illegal to enter the US on a non-immigrant visa with the intent to immigrate. In this thread you say you had the full intention to do it, but in your other thread, you say it was a spur of the moment decision. I am confused.

[Cesar & Cata 35]

This whole process has crazy flaws ... I actually tried to get my wife a tourist visa (denied). My thought was to have her here while the IR1/CR1 was approved, to then have her complete the process abroad (doing things the right way).

My thoughts, to those that have the tourist visa, use it!! Either stay and do AOS (trying your luck) or just stay while the IR1 is approved, at least this way you will be together in the mean time.

edit: One thing to keep in mind, those that use a non-immigrant visa to commit fraud will always have that hanging over them. I have heard of cases where during naturalization this has come up and even triggered investigations and deportation proceedings. There really isnt anything better than doing things the right way, clear concience and all!!!

Edited August 29, 2012 by Cesar & Cata

[*Snowdrop* 604]

I went the K1 route but was told by an Immigration Lawyer to come in on the VWP, marry and adjust. Same for the B2 btw.

If I was doing it again knowing what I know now I should have taken his advice.

Most of the people I have met in real life seem to have done it this way.

Problems, well I am a worrier so I would have had issues with that, practically the only time I have seen it as an issue is when it has been made too obvious to ignore. The one I remember from years back was he came to NY, they married and went on a cruise, came back and filed the following day.

But that was many years ago.

I feel like this too now.

At the time I knew that plenty of people were adjusting from the VWP and they had intent (although they probably didn't admit it.

I decided to do it the legal way and not risk it - plus I'm a worrier too so would have been a very tense few months.

So we married in the UK and filed for CR1. But then we got caught up in the 2007/2008 backlog which was a crazy time - NOA1 took over 90 days alone. NOA2 took ten months.

I wish we had taken the 'easy' route.

[Kim & Gesner 14]

This whole process was new to me I didn't know what AOS was. I started reading about options once we started talking about getting married. He already had a tourist visa before we met. Our decision to marry was planned before his last trip but our plan to change it from Dec 2012 to May 2012 wasn't made until after he arrived. I had a trip planned for my sons graduation in May in which I already had taken 2 weeks off work so we decided to marry the weekend before the trip. It wasn't quite 90 days (again something I didn't know about) but it was 84 days after he arrived on his tourist visa.

We are now dealing with what he left behind. Thank God his brother lives close by and was able to assist with most of everything. Some of his family was not happy of his decisions and called him "totally irresponsible" which I guess it kind of was but we really thought we would file and enjoy what time he had (until Sept 1st) and then he would go back and work until time to go to Haiti for the interview and whatever else he had to do in Haiti (his country of citizenship)

It hasn't been easy by any means but he is here with me and I have loved every moment, even the hard ones. The hardest is within himself. He can't work and sometimes it hits him he is not able to work and that itself has taken the biggest toll. He doesn't believe a woman should have to "support" a man so it's more of a pride thing. Clothes is another issue, he came with one bag, everything he owns is back home. He has children in Haiti, I am supporting them as well because their mother doesn't work. Haiti is a very poor country and that is why he was working in Turks and Caicos. I work and I work a lot, so he is here alone all of the time. I have to take my car as I have a 20 mile commute. There are struggles with both decisions whether you AOS or go back and wait it out. Neither is easy but AOS allows us to be together through the process and even with that doesn't mean it's a process without issues. We did discuss this when we talked about him staying so we knew the sacrifices we both were making but it still doesn't hit you until you are actually going through it.

Edited August 29, 2012 by Kim & Gesner