Need help and advice

[wabus44 0]

Well, new here. An unusual case as well. I am a US citizen and my wife

Is a New Zealand citizen. We have been together 25 years and married for 20 years. We have three children aged 21, 15 and 15 and a 19 month old grandson. We were living in New Zealand for many years, with many visits back to the USA and Canada over the years. No border problems. I started grad school on Canada on 2010. A few

Trips over the border as well. My wife had a B 1 visa in 2008 , but put passports were stolen and so there was no new one in her last two passports. We started the Consular process in 2012, and finally just needed the Affidavit of Support in June 2013. That is when we came across the domicile issue. We had to prove intent to live in the USA. While undergoing my dissertation research primarily in the USA, we were finally able to meet the domicile requirement in March 2014, with my acceptance of a faculty position in September and the enrollment of our twins in high school. For logistical reasons, it would cost the same amount to do the interview on Montreal because of air travel as it would be to do an adjustment of status. To many this would seem unwide but it actually was easier for us and was the same cost. My wife would have had to wait another 9 months but she would be able to travel and work while waiting. So, as her visitor visa expired March 30, we made an appointment with USCIS in Portland, OR to make sure we were filing everything right. My wife was invited as a keynote speaker at a university near Toronto and was scheduled to return on March 24. She is still in Canada, because she was denied entry. I have completed the NVC paperwork and sent it in and I have filed. dHS TRIP. My wife has no arrest has been a ross the border many times and had a valid visitor visa. She also told them we were going to do an Adjustment of Status before the 30th. Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[blest.but.strest 50]

She told DHS/CBP that she was going to adjust status while she was on a visitor/tourist visa, my thoughts are : that was no bueno, entering the USA on a visitors/tourist visa with the intent of adjusting status is actually fraud and that's why she got denied. DHS Trip will not help.

Do you have a specific question to ask VJ members?

[Hypnos 6,578]

Entering the US on a nonimmigrant visa (such as a B-1) with the preconceived intent to remain and adjust status is considered visa fraud; this is why your wife was denied entry. She should not have travelled outside the US until you had filed for her AoS and received her Advance Parole, which would have allowed her to travel without issue until her green card petition was adjudicated. Now she will need to wait in Canada (or somewhere else, probably NZ, since Canada is unlikely to let a non-citizen remain there indefinitely either) until she receives her immigrant visa. If you're at the NVC stage then it will probably be ~2 - 3 months until her interview.

Edited April 8, 2014 by Hypnos