Question about Visa for son's girlfriend

[Mimi62 0]

My son (US Citizen through CRBA) and his girlfriend recently went to the US Embassy in Belize to apply for visitor visas for his girlfriend and their 6 month old daughter so they could travel to the USA together to visit me and other family members. Ideally we would all like to spend Christmas 2014 in the USA together with my other sons, my mom and my grandson who live in the USA. The visitor visas for the girlfriend and their daughter were denied. I learned that even though my son doesn't qualify to pass citizenship to his daughter (he didn't live in the USA for 5 years) I can file the N600K form to apply for citizenship as the grandparent. Now that we know the process to enable my granddaughter to travel between Belize and the USA he needs to figure out the best way to apply for his girlfriend to travel since her visitor visa was denied. They had been planning to get married eventually but now they wonder if it makes sense for them to go to the courthouse and get married so they can file for a CR-1 visa.

Is a courthouse wedding and CR-1 visa the best option for them? They do not have any desire to move to the USA. They just want the ability to visit with their US family in the USA.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

CR-1 visa is for living in the US, so it is not a good plan unless they want to live in the US. Unfortunately with a USC spouse and kid, it will be difficult for the gf to show she will not immigrate to the US 9a requirement for the tourist visa). She can try again, emphasizing her ties to Belize and proving that she will come back to Belize after the stay is over.

I am sure they were wondering how a person can travel for 6 months. Does she work?

[Mimi62 0]

Right now she is on her last semester of college. She gets her bachelors degree at the end of this month and will be looking for work IN BELIZE after that.

She is heartbroken that she can't travel with her daughter to the USA. If CR-1 isn't the way for her to go is there any other visa, or is the visitor visa the only thing that she could travel on?

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

So if she is in college how can she leave for 6 months?

Most people, when denied for a tourist visa, apply again. I bet after she has a job (does your son work?) then she will have a better chance.

[Mimi62 0]

I think there is some confusion. She doesn't want to stay in the US for 6 months. She only wants to be able to visit for a week or two. Perhaps you're thinking about the 6 month period because I said the baby is 6 months old.

She finishes her degree in two weeks. In January she will start working.

[Mimi62 0]

My son does work. He works with his father.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

I think there is some confusion. She doesn't want to stay in the US for 6 months. She only wants to be able to visit for a week or two. Perhaps you're thinking about the 6 month period because I said the baby is 6 months old.

She finishes her degree in two weeks. In January she will start working.

Ahh, all right.

So I think the "timing" of the visa request with her wanting to take a trip to the US just as she finishes might have made it seem like she would try to immigrate to the US on a tourist visa. I would just try again with more evidence of her ties to Belize. Did she show her proof of her new job at the interview?

[Mimi62 0]

I think they went to the embassy very unprepared and surprised that the application was declined so quickly. They left dazed and confused and didn't fully understand why the visa was denied. As a lifelong US citizen I didn't know anything about the visa process and wasn't able to give them any advice.

I emailed the embassy hoping to get some answers and that was how I found out about the N600K for my grand daughter. Unfortunately the foreign service officer was not at liberty to discuss my "Daughter in law's" issue with me so I only have information from my DIL and son to go on as far as the reason her visa was declined.

Edited December 3, 2013 by Mimi62

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

It was declined because she did not show enough strong ties to Belize. Any tourist visa seeker has to show that they will use the visa properly, usually by showing why they need to return to their home country after the visit.

Your DIL has a few strikes against her, like she has a USC boyfriend who could file for her immigration papers in the US, she was just finishing school, thus being "free" to leave her country, etc.

She can still theoretically get a tourist visa if she overcomes the assumption that she will remain in the US.

If she did not mention her job before, and she has money to waste on another application fee, she might thing about trying one more time.

[Ryan H 3,828]

Moved from IR-1/CR-1 Process & Procedures to Tourist Visas forum as that is the visa best suited to the circumstances as described by the OP.

[NikLR 13,232]

I think it's best for her to wait until she can show proof of strong ties to Belize. That would include a lease or mortgage, a job she's been at for a bit, bills, etc... things that make it hard to just get up and leave. The child being a USC will make it harder so I don't suggest doing that.

[jan22 3,056]

Don't want to be the negative voice in this -- but I hope they told you that the N600 filing process is a LONG process; starting now, it may or may not be finished by next Christmas. The applying grandparent has to be living in the US; can't tell from your post if you are in the US or with them in Belize. And, once all of the processing is done in the U.S. (with USCIS), the final step is applying for a non-immigrant visa for the child to go to the U.S. for an interview (at her age, it would --of course -- be an interview with the parent(s)) -- if the interviewing officer thinks the intent is to stay in the US even if the N600 is not approved, they can still refuse the visa. Good luck!

[Mimi62 0]

I think it's best for her to wait until she can show proof of strong ties to Belize. That would include a lease or mortgage, a job she's been at for a bit, bills, etc... things that make it hard to just get up and leave. The child being a USC will make it harder so I don't suggest doing that.

From what I gathered the officer at the embassy was pretty emphatic that the way for my grandbaby to be able to travel was through citizenship via the N600K and not a tourist visa. I also got the impression that she encouraged them to return and reapply for my "daughter in law" bringing her proof of ties to Belize.

I lived in Belize for about 15 years while I was married to my son's father. I knew my "DIL" and her family from the time she was a baby. All her family members live in Belize. Right now my son, his girlfriend and their baby are living in a house that I own in Belize. My son has had the opportunity to live in the USA with me (9 months in 2005 as a student) and with his brother (8 months in 2008 working) but prefers to live in Belize and work with his dad. My son has a job and a loan he's been paying for improvements to the house so his girlfriend and subsequently baby daughter could move in with him.

At the moment her strong ties to Belize are her entire family, my son, and the baby. After she graduates she will start working but I'm sure they prefer to see a history of income from working. I have a feeling it will be at least a year before she can be approved for a tourist visa. Is there any particular length of employment that seems best? 6 months? 1 year?

[Mimi62 0]

Don't want to be the negative voice in this -- but I hope they told you that the N600 filing process is a LONG process; starting now, it may or may not be finished by next Christmas. The applying grandparent has to be living in the US; can't tell from your post if you are in the US or with them in Belize. And, once all of the processing is done in the U.S. (with USCIS), the final step is applying for a non-immigrant visa for the child to go to the U.S. for an interview (at her age, it would --of course -- be an interview with the parent(s)) -- if the interviewing officer thinks the intent is to stay in the US even if the N600 is not approved, they can still refuse the visa. Good luck!

jan22, I do live in the US. I moved back to Louisiana in 2004 and have been employed at the same company for the past 9 years. When I emailed the officer who rejected the visa applications at the US embassy in Belize she stated that it could take less than 10 months for the N-600K process as long as I had all the required paperwork. I sure hope she was right but if not, I'll be prepared. At the moment I'm awaiting passport pictures, a copy of the birth certificate and some other paperwork my son is sending from Belize so I can file the N-600K.

I know I can go and visit them in Belize whenever I want. I spent a week there this past summer shortly after she was born and will return to visit for her first birthday. Unfortunately my mom (the great grandmother) is really anxious to meet her first great granddaughter and she isn't able to travel to Belize because the trip would be too difficult for her physically.

My mom and my son's girlfriend are the two saddest parties while we play the waiting game because they are the ones who can't travel freely. I'm learning now after reading so much on this site that it's best for us to be very patient and cautiously optimistic.

[NikLR 13,232]

6 months imho is better, a year is even better for the same company. While the baby is only a Belize citizen that gives her a stronger tie to her home country but if the baby, her child, is a USC that gives her very strong ties to the USA. Especially since the child's father is a USC and they would likely be travelling together.

The embassy, no matter what they say on the phone, doesn't see a man who prefers to stay in Belize; they see a USC, a child of an unwed couple whose father is a USC, and a mother/girlfriend who could possibly want to get married in the USA and stay there. Her other family is not as strong of a tie as you may think. Most of us coming to the USA do so knowing our family visits will be few and we likely will not ever live near them again.

I suggest going to see them vs them coming to you for a little while. Even gifting your home to them (wedding gift maybe?) or selling to them cheap so she has her name on a title and mortgage may help with her proof of ties to Belize. Just a thought.