F1 Student Married to US Citizen -- Worried that the circumstances of our wedding will arouse suspicion.

[Blenderwasher 0]

I'm the US Citizen. My wife is from South Korea. She entered the US on an F1 and is currently legally here waiting for an AoS based on our marriage. We were married in January of this year after dating for approximately 4 years, all of it long distance. For the first two years, she was in Korea. In 2011, she obtained a student visa and came to the US. Her university was on the other side of the country, so our relationship continued to be long distance. During the summer of 2012, we began to seriously discuss marriage. She came to meet my family for the first time at Christmas. A few days later, I formally asked her to marry me, and two or three days after that, we got married before a judge. There were no other witnesses, which is allowed in my home state. She graduated from school in May 2013, and she came to live with me in early June. A few days after she moved in, we filed the AoS paperwork. Our interview is in approximately a week.

The reason we got married before a judge instead of having a more traditional ceremony was to get the green card process rolling. We would have liked to have a 'real' wedding, but we were worried that we wouldn't have time to plan it properly before her student visa expired and she was forced to leave. (She was busy finishing up school, and I was also finishing school and needed to start looking for a job.) We are still planning on having a more traditional ceremony and reception, probably next spring.

Here's my concern, if it isn't already clear: If the immigration officer asks us why we chose to get married before a judge, the true answer is, we wanted to hurry and do it before she had to leave the country. To me, that sounds suspiciously close to "We got married so she wouldn't have to leave the country," which would be fraud, I think. In reality, we got married because we love each other, and it was only the timing and way we got married that was motivated by immigration concerns. I'm worried that the officer who interviews us won't be impressed by such a fine distinction.

Are we in trouble?

Thanks!

[Ryan H 3,834]

How and when you chose to get married is rarely, if ever an issue. Since you were dating for 4 years prior to getting married, I would imagine you have plenty of supporting evidence that you accumulated during that time.

[h13rma 35]

Yes. We had a long distance relationship for several years before our surprise wedding. It never even came up at interview, we had loads of evidence, our interviewer never asked for any of it. He asked my USC wife a couple of questions, then got me in and asked two questions, how long we'd known each other 14years, and then approved on the spot. If you are a genuine couple, it should be okay.

[changeofheart 0]

Courthouse weddings are pretty common when there's an immigrant involved, it's hard to plan a wedding when one persons family is in another country as well as the expense of the immigration process making a pricey wedding less of a priority. I'm sure officers see that all the time.

Did your family throw any parties for you or give you gifts after the wedding?

[Blenderwasher 0]

All, Thanks for your reassurance! My mom and dad did throw us a wedding shower about two months ago. I know my mom has pictures from that, and we also received lots of little notes of congratulations. Some of them even came later in the mail, so they are addressed to both of us at our current address.

[h13rma 35]

I kept all of those as well for our evidence,

[vashka 0]

I'm the US Citizen. My wife is from South Korea. She entered the US on an F1 and is currently legally here waiting for an AoS based on our marriage. We were married in January of this year after dating for approximately 4 years, all of it long distance. For the first two years, she was in Korea. In 2011, she obtained a student visa and came to the US. Her university was on the other side of the country, so our relationship continued to be long distance. During the summer of 2012, we began to seriously discuss marriage. She came to meet my family for the first time at Christmas. A few days later, I formally asked her to marry me, and two or three days after that, we got married before a judge. There were no other witnesses, which is allowed in my home state. She graduated from school in May 2013, and she came to live with me in early June. A few days after she moved in, we filed the AoS paperwork. Our interview is in approximately a week.

The reason we got married before a judge instead of having a more traditional ceremony was to get the green card process rolling. We would have liked to have a 'real' wedding, but we were worried that we wouldn't have time to plan it properly before her student visa expired and she was forced to leave. (She was busy finishing up school, and I was also finishing school and needed to start looking for a job.) We are still planning on having a more traditional ceremony and reception, probably next spring.

Here's my concern, if it isn't already clear: If the immigration officer asks us why we chose to get married before a judge, the true answer is, we wanted to hurry and do it before she had to leave the country. To me, that sounds suspiciously close to "We got married so she wouldn't have to leave the country," which would be fraud, I think. In reality, we got married because we love each other, and it was only the timing and way we got married that was motivated by immigration concerns. I'm worried that the officer who interviews us won't be impressed by such a fine distinction.

Are we in trouble?

Thanks!

I wouldn't worry about it. My ex told me she was on an F-1 visa when we got married. What she didn't tell me was that she NEVER attended a day of school and instead worked illegally for three years before finding some sucker to marry her. Before the marriage happened though, she was also arrested for shoplifting (before she had a green card) and her conviction on this offense didn't trigger anything from USCIS either. Unfortunately I found out she had never attended classes 3 years later when she was applying for student aid (and got it!).

After the green card, and shortly after getting the conditions lifted on her initial 2 year card she got convicted of another shoplifting charge. Since then she has acquired three additional shoplifting convictions.

So you see, the current administration is not checking anything anyway. At our interview, my ex was never asked about her school attendance or any previous arrests. Instead, she was able to pull this over on USCIS the same way she was able to pull it over on me.

So I really wouldn't worry about the interview anyway. Its obvious they don't check anything anyway.

Edited September 24, 2013 by Ryan H

[Ryan H 3,834]

Post #7 merged together from separate posts containing only the quote and the reply.