Can my wife visit me on B2 tourist visa before we

[questionsfromperu 0]

Hello,

I know that this question has been posted several years ago, but I was more confused than anything by the different responses I saw, and I thought that maybe I could get some clearer advice.

I am a US citizen married to a Peruvian woman. We are legally married in Peru and we currently reside in Peru, however I only have a tourist visa that I renew at least once every 6 months.

My wife has a multiple entry, non-expired B2 visa and we have visited the US once before we were married, and she left before her allotted time had passed.

My questions are:

1) We would like to come back to the US for a couple of months to visit my parents, is this possible right now? I know that technically she is not supposed to come on a B2 visa as my spouse, but we have no intention of staying as we have a business in Peru together and plenty of evidence that we will be coming back (ownership documents of the business, proof of tourist groups we will be guiding, a return ticket, etc.). We will come back to Peru and do the adjustment of status. Based on the other forum entries I have read, it depends on the border agent that we speak to. She will likely be coming through Atlanta.

2) We are working on preparing her i-130 petition for a CR-1 visa, and I would like to submit it as soon as possible. Can I do this before or during her visit to the US on the B2 visa assuming they let her in?

3) We will not be traveling together - I have read that it is best to be vague as to the reason of the visit, ie "visiting friends" and then to be truthful if further questioned about whether she is married, etc. Any suggestions?

Thanks for your help... Worried about her getting denied at the border...

Edited March 15, 2013 by questionsfromperu

[DavidLovesPheap 6]

Hmm... Under no circumstances overstay a visa. A B-2 visa is only good for 6 months, right? If so, considering she has already been here, there probably aren't many months left on that visa, right? She would also need to prove again at point of entry that she doesn't have intentions to over-stay, the best thing being a return ticket within your wife's visa valid dates. You could always apply for a new B-2 visa, the fact that she has come to the US before and honored the terms of that visa helps, but being married might throw up some flags, but if you can prove that she doesn't have intentions to overstay that visa, it's always worth a chance. It's kind of up to the border officer at the POE at that point anyway

[JBForever 12]

as far as i know, B2 visa if it is for multiple entry is good for a maximum of 6 months for each visit.

so she should be fine to visit as long as she doesnt stay longer than the stamped date on her passport at POE.

wait for the experts' take on this but this is just my two cents worth.

hope it helps

[Boiler 45,585]

You are allowed to work in Peru on a tourist visa?

[ndu26 114]

There is no law that says spouse of a USC"is not "supposed to come on a tourist visa". The challenge is convincing the officer at the POE that she /he has no immigrant intent. As long as her visa is still valid, she can visit but make sure she does not overstay. She should be ready to answer questions as you already know. If she travels alone and they know she is married but you are in Peru, that might help her case better.

Your can prepare the I 130 documents and mail them just few days before your trip or once you are in the US. Be careful how you carry immigration dcouments on you though especially if visiting.

BTW, what you will be doing in Peru is not adjustment of status ( you only do that if you are in the U.S) and came in under another visa category.

You will be doing consular processing in peru after your I-130 is approved and passed through NVC.

Edited March 15, 2013 by ndu26

[questionsfromperu 0]

There is no law that says spouse of a USC"is not "supposed to come on a tourist visa". The challenge is convincing the officer at the POE that she /he has no immigrant intent. As long as her visa is still valid, she can visit but make sure she does not overstay. She should be ready to answer questions as you already know. If she travels alone and they know she is married but you are in Peru, that might help her case better.

Your can prepare the I 130 documents and mail them just few days before your trip or once you are in the US. Be careful how you carry immigration dcouments on you though especially if visiting.

BTW, what you will be doing in Peru is not adjustment of status ( you only do that if you are in the U.S) and came in under another visa category.

You will be doing consular processing in peru after your I-130 is approved and passed through NVC.

Thanks for they response. Well, we definitely have no immigrant intent at this point - we want to do things the right way. I want her to be in the US for a while to learn English while I pursue some other business opportunities. You believe it would make our case better if I stayed behind for a while? I was actually planning on traveling before her, but I could probably change that...

What do you mean by be careful how I carry the documents? You mean that the POE officer shouldn't see my i-130 stuff? They always only look at my passport.

Thanks for the clarification on the adjustment of status - still getting a grasp of this complicated process.

Thanks again

You are allowed to work in Peru on a tourist visa?

Not technically. I work with an American non-profit which pays me at home. You can own a business with a tourist visa and a special permission to sign contracts.. and then earn money from that business but not as an employee.

[questionsfromperu 0]

Hmm... Under no circumstances overstay a visa. A B-2 visa is only good for 6 months, right? If so, considering she has already been here, there probably aren't many months left on that visa, right? She would also need to prove again at point of entry that she doesn't have intentions to over-stay, the best thing being a return ticket within your wife's visa valid dates. You could always apply for a new B-2 visa, the fact that she has come to the US before and honored the terms of that visa helps, but being married might throw up some flags, but if you can prove that she doesn't have intentions to overstay that visa, it's always worth a chance. It's kind of up to the border officer at the POE at that point anyway

It's a multiple entry 10 year visa - from what I understand, each time you enter the US on it the POE officer can give you between 3 months and 6 months. So your statement that a B-2 is only good for a total of 6 months is not correct. We do not have intentions to stay more than 3 months.

[ndu26 114]

Thanks for they response. Well, we definitely have no immigrant intent at this point - we want to do things the right way. I want her to be in the US for a while to learn English while I pursue some other business opportunities. You believe it would make our case better if I stayed behind for a while? I was actually planning on traveling before her, but I could probably change that...

What do you mean by be careful how I carry the documents? You mean that the POE officer shouldn't see my i-130 stuff? They always only look at my passport.

Thanks for the clarification on the adjustment of status - still getting a grasp of this complicated process.

Thanks again

I mean you could still travel before her but she has to show ties to Peru that appears strong enough(in the eyes of the border official) to make her go back after her visit. If you decide to have her go before you, a day or two ahead should be enough.

About the documents, while i was processing for my mom 2years ago, I had my brother bring me her civil documents during his visit and for some reason they got to search his carry on bag and kept asking him what the documents were meant for. At the time I did not understand why that would happen until I came across couple of similar experiences here on VJ about people being asked why they had certain documents on them. One Egyptian woman even had her husband sent back after serious interrogation (they also found immigration documents on him) even though he stated he was just coming to visit his wife.

It rarely but does happen. I dn't know how they view Peru though.

Best wishes.

[Gosia & Tito 199]

It's a multiple entry 10 year visa - from what I understand, each time you enter the US on it the POE officer can give you between 3 months and 6 months. So your statement that a B-2 is only good for a total of 6 months is not correct. We do not have intentions to stay more than 3 months.

Does her passport indicate she is married?? That would help her case in case of questioning, specially if husband is in Peru. She does not have to bring forward details as to who is the husband or whether he is a USC, unless directly asked that is, in which case I'd not lie. The post about careful with documents refers to her carrying any document that could indicate intent, but that is just in case there is a secondary inspection in which case, all her stuff could be inspected.

Since she has visited before, there really shouldn't be any issues. One question is: When was the last time she visited? and How frequent the visits have been in the past? If frequent visits, and the last one was not long ago, someone might want to ask about them.

Upon entry, and given that you have mentioned that she would be around for some time learning English while you look at business opportunities, she might not want to say she's staying '6 months' for example, and instead go to the more normal 3-4 weeks for example, but, make sure the time matches the return ticket, you can always change the return later. Let the POE officer decide for how long the stay stamp is, and then stick to it.

On a separate topic, since you mentioned other applications later, once she becomes a LPR, she would have to remain stateside for the majority of the year, at least until becoming a citizen. Since you mentioned a business in Peru, you might want to think about the need for her to be in Peru to attend to the business.