B-2 visa for spouse while waiting on I-130 to be processed questions.

[DRAGOY79 0]

Neither have I and I was a C.O. for 24 months in South Korea where we routinely dealt with spouses of service members trying to get their residents cards. I did have the authority to give direct orders to a Soldier to make good on payments especially if it affects their security clearance and ability to be qualified for their jobs. A Company Commander does not have much lead way with a spouse. If they reside on post you can have them banned and removed from all military installations or report them to ICE. If they reside off post and are illegally present in the US there is not much a CO can do about it. They definitely cannot charge a Soldier for a visa that was applied for by her regardless of why it was approved.

I hope the process goes by as quickly as possible but my visa journey did not go any faster and I was on active duty when I petitioned my spouse. Good luck to her....

Sir,

Appreciate the input but if a spouse of the soldier commits a crime, does it not reflect poorly on him/her? Now if you have enough trust in a soldier you are willing to put your signature on a letter and if they overstayed their visa, does it not look poorly on you? These are rhetorical questions, I am not asking for my spouse to break a law nor will I let her. I am requesting a B-2 visitor visa for my wife and asking the consulate in Honduras to allow her to visit me before I deploy next year. My C.O. can make my life a living hell and you know this. Regardless if my wife breaks the law or not, I still have the responsibility of her actions. My c.o. can punish me because I was breaking the law or assisting my spouse into breaking the law so your case differs from my situation.

I was over in Honduras and I see the same situation you are describing but I believe mine might be more unique and different than others in which I am vouching for my wife and my C.O. is vouching for my wife as well. My C.O. has that much trust in his NCO (yours truly) that he is willing to put his good name on a signed letter with the recipient being the Honduras consulate. I think that weighs heavily on the local consulate with about 4-5 active duty attache working there. Again, I was trying to see if anyone went through it before. I thank you for your inputs but I was just looking for prior experiences rather than a lesson.

[DRAGOY79 0]

Your promise to a CO has no more weight to it than a promise made by anyone else...the military cannot and will not chase you down if your wife stays put....there is NO specific law that pertains to an American spouse (military or not) whose foreign born spouse fails to comply with the terms of a tourist visa...there is nothing under the UCMJ stating this....and section 214b is not suspended for military members....while military members may have certain other privileges, there are none when it comes to overcoming immigrant intent. Neither you, nor your commanding officer or sergeant can force you to force your wife to depart the United States....there is no legal mechanism that anyone other than ICE can enforce.

No doubt that over the past umpteen years, more than one foreign spouse married to a military member has 'forgotten' to return as 'promised.' Can you name one military member who is currently doing time in Leavenworth for failure to make their foreign spouse go back home after visiting? I've never heard of one.

At the end of the day, she may well get a visa, but if it is abused, you can only imagine how well that will go over in our embassy in Honduras, and how it might affect future military members and their foreign spouses when it comes time to apply for a tourist visa....you said it yourself in an earlier post about one bad apple spoiling it for others....

You are right C.O. Cannot make my spouse go back. But if I am dumb enough to married a woman that is skipping town once she land then I am going to jail. Take a gander at article 92 here:

http://usmilitary.about.com/od/punitivearticles/a/mcm92.htm

The letter my C.O. wrote states that a direct general order was given to me to have my wife shipped off by expiration date or face the consequence of disobeying his direct order. That can be anything from dishonorable discharge or jail time. Read article 92 yourself, this come straight from legal office.

[DRAGOY79 0]

My spouse is American.

I was only telling you that if she did overstay it was no biggie.

To answer your other comments just google Parole in Place.

PIP does not apply to me if my wife enters the country with a tourist visa. She would be of the other group that gets banned for ten years because she violated the visa laws. Reason being is because she enter the country with inspection so I cannot claim she was already here. PIP is for military member that marries an illegal alien who came here without paperworks after they already entered the country. I married my wife last year and she never once came to the U.S. so automatically we are disqual for it

[MIBEN 83]

Sir,

Appreciate the input but if a spouse of the soldier commits a crime, does it not reflect poorly on him/her? Now if you have enough trust in a soldier you are willing to put your signature on a letter and if they overstayed their visa, does it not look poorly on you? These are rhetorical questions, I am not asking for my spouse to break a law nor will I let her. I am requesting a B-2 visitor visa for my wife and asking the consulate in Honduras to allow her to visit me before I deploy next year. My C.O. can make my life a living hell and you know this. Regardless if my wife breaks the law or not, I still have the responsibility of her actions. My c.o. can punish me because I was breaking the law or assisting my spouse into breaking the law so your case differs from my situation.

I was over in Honduras and I see the same situation you are describing but I believe mine might be more unique and different than others in which I am vouching for my wife and my C.O. is vouching for my wife as well. My C.O. has that much trust in his NCO (yours truly) that he is willing to put his good name on a signed letter with the recipient being the Honduras consulate. I think that weighs heavily on the local consulate with about 4-5 active duty attache working there. Again, I was trying to see if anyone went through it before. I thank you for your inputs but I was just looking for prior experiences rather than a lesson.

If your wife commits a crime while in an overseas command and she is command sponsored yes I can see that reflecting poorly on the spouse as they are expected to be responsible their dependent's actions and she would of course answer to local laws or be subject to early return or dependents depending on the offense. If your CO is vouching for her then he no longer serving his role as a company commander but as an Army Officer who either personally knows her or states that if she fails to comply he will hold you to a certain standard. The reality is she the one applying and will get the visa on her own accord not based on any letter from a company commander. Those letters cannot hurt the process but he/she cannot hold a Soldier responsible for a visa that is issues based on her application. I am much too aware of the attache duties, having been assigned to overseas commands 13 of 22 years and those personnel are helpful but they have very little influence on consulate officers when it comes down to approving a visa.

This is an forum to assist others that going through their visa journey and I like most am trying to be helpful all while wishing everyone a speedy process. I am not one to hand out lessons just provide information and if it helps anyone even better. As stated previously good luck to her and I wish you a quick reunion.

Oh and its Ma'am

v/r,

MAJ Hernandez

[DRAGOY79 0]

If your wife commits a crime while in an overseas command and she is command sponsored yes I can see that reflecting poorly on the spouse as they are expected to be responsible their dependent's actions and she would of course answer to local laws or be subject to early return or dependents depending on the offense. If your CO is vouching for her then he no longer serving his role as a company commander but as an Army Officer who either personally knows her or states that if she fails to comply he will hold you to a certain standard. The reality is she the one applying and will get the visa on her own accord not based on any letter from a company commander. Those letters cannot hurt the process but he/she cannot hold a Soldier responsible for a visa that is issues based on her application. I am much too aware of the attache duties, having been assigned to overseas commands 13 of 22 years and those personnel are helpful but they have very little influence on consulate officers when it comes down to approving a visa.

This is an forum to assist others that going through their visa journey and I like most am trying to be helpful all while wishing everyone a speedy process. I am not one to hand out lessons just provide information and if it helps anyone even better. As stated previously good luck to her and I wish you a quick reunion.

Oh and its Ma'am

v/r,

MAJ Hernandez

Sorry ma'am. I am used to seeing more men on this site applying rather than women lol. You are correct about all of it and definitely your inputs make more sense than some of the others. I was merely stating that my letters and my deployment can only help her attain while not hurting her chance. Also I was clarifying that my C.O. can ruin my life which is true if my spouse skips town. The attache cannot influence them but they can verify the authenticity of the letters I had sent her and that is the only reason why they were mentioned. Thank you for wishing us luck, and I hope it goes well also.

[Harsh_77 718]

Yeah i get that man. It was a joke but apparently you have no sense of humor. The promise to C.O. Means everything because if I failed on the promise by breaking that law. I can be prosecuted under military law. If you didn't know, C.O. In our world is Commanding Officer. He is above my first sergeant, supervisor, section chief, etc. and I got a letter signed by him to state that he is aware of my situation. Simply put, if my wife does not go back, she will be consider a fugitive of sort because she will illegally be here. Harboring a fugitive in this scenario would mean I am soliciting in a version of human trafficking. Therefore, I will be punishable under article 92 of the UCMJ. I check with legal office, and yes I will go to jail if my wife runs.

Sorry guys, my mistake on the interview date. The way Honduras works is sort of like different level tier of customer service. Yesterday she was screened by Honduran employee at the consulate. There's no appointment line because of the overwhelming amount of people that wants to come to the States. She passed that test and now she has to wait for an appointment with a DHS employee. However she was told by the lady that she does have a great chance because she is married to me, a U.S. Citizen military NCO who has been back and forth to Honduras about 3 times a year the past three years. We have no reason to lie, we also have no reason for her to run when she gets here because my paperwork is getting expedited as well due to a deployment in March. Still not convince now that I know my case being expedited but hey 30 days of showing my wife around the U.S. Is better than nothing.

CO in VJ context does not mean commanding officer, another thing is just promising someone does not make it a law.

So if she overstayed her visa only law she would be violating would be immigration law, she would not become a fugutive.

You being active military and your case being expedited are positive thing suring the case, I still believe you should also present other evidence as why she would return back and not just rely on letter and you being active military.

[Boiler 45,733]

PIP does not apply to me if my wife enters the country with a tourist visa. She would be of the other group that gets banned for ten years because she violated the visa laws. Reason being is because she enter the country with inspection so I cannot claim she was already here. PIP is for military member that marries an illegal alien who came here without paperworks after they already entered the country. I married my wife last year and she never once came to the U.S. so automatically we are disqual for it

It was to show that you do not have issues that you were alluding to.

As far as letters of support are concerned you can also ask your Senator. A bit higher up the food chain.

Overstaying is a civil, not criminal issue.

[SennaBrigante 92]

I've seen posts here of tourist visa applicants carrying letters of guarantee from congressmen and senators and they still get denied. Imagine how pissed off they were.

It's still a 50/50 chance for your wife. I've seen many cases of applicants who everyone said have only 2% chance of getting approved for the visa and they still get approved.

[Boiler 45,733]

Letters of recommendation, not guarantee.

Whatever the odds are, 50/50 is the one most mentioned, I have never seen a thread that would give you enough datatto calculate them assuming you had a methodology of doing so.

The vast majority I would expect are a given, yes or no, with only a few that can go either way.

[RhettVoe 282]

Again, 'vouching' for someone or guaranteeing their compliance does NOT exist in the world of tourist visas....it does not matter by whom such 'vouching' is offered....military or not, congressman or not, mayor or not, dog catcher or not, no one, and I truly mean no one can guarantee nor control the actions of another adult who is in tourist visa status. Such letters hit the round file as fast as they are shoved through the interviewing window. There are NO special exemptions from 214b....none....zero....nada....you might think this somehow unfair, but think of the thousands of new visa applicants who would desperately search for someone to vouch for them if they found out that such a thing happened routinely.

[DRAGOY79 0]

So,

As we discuss this to an infinite possibilities just received this in the email:

Application Type: I130 , IMMIGRANT PETITION FOR RELATIVE, FIANCE(E), OR ORPHAN

Your Case Status: Post Decision Activity

On November 8, 2013, we mailed you a notice that we have approved this I130 IMMIGRANT PETITION FOR RELATIVE, FIANCE(E), OR ORPHAN. Please follow any instructions on the notice. If you move before you receive the notice, call customer service at 1-800-375-5283.

I am guessing it would be silly to get her the tourist visa now isn't it? I do not know the process for NVC, so should I even bother with the B-2 now that my I-130 case was approved by the USCIS? If not, anyone got experience in which how long it takes for NVC?

Thanks everyone.

[Boiler 45,733]

You have it going so why change now?

[DRAGOY79 0]

Well,

She hasn't paid the processing fee yet come to find out. Apparently, she has an appointment to go to the consulate on Tuesday to pay and wait for an interview. To be honest, she confuse the hell out of me as well. I thought the process was good to go because I sent the money yaddy yadda but nope, nothing yet. This was all a moot point now because I think this B-2 process takes as long am I correct or no?

[Boiler 45,733]

So she never ever applied!

B2, a few days sometimes a few weeks, depends on appointment availability.

[SennaBrigante 92]

Check out the NVC timelines on the guides and peoples' timelines to get an idea of how long the process takes. Some take 8 months, others take over a year.

I don't know how they do things in Honduras but as far as tourist visas go, you pay, schedule an interview date, show up at the interview and know whether you're approved or not - assuming your case doesn't go through administrative processing.