South Africa to USA

[mrsbrook 4]

Yes, I have travelled to the US three times since we filed the i130. I have travelled on the visa waiver program, I stayed for 2 weeks, 2 weeks and 11 weeks. I brought evidence of our petition and my ties to the UK when I travelled but was never asked to produce them. On the 11 week trip I did have a short conversation with the border patrol officer. I confirmed that I understood the rules and didn't intend to overstay, he was satisfied with that.

The rules are that you CANNOT enter the US on a visitor visa if you have shown intent to change status (ie filed for an immigrant visa). However the rules are also that you CAN enter the US on a visitor visa if you do not intend to change status on that visit. It boils down to the discretion of the POE officer. It is a good idea to bring evidence of ties to your home country in order to convince the officer that you do not intend to overstay or attempt to adjust status.

Do you have a visitor visa or is South Africa in the Visa Waiver Program?

We're in the same boat as you in terms of DCF. If only we had understood the process before Nick went to the States. We would have been finished months ago.

You can't DCF at this point, unless your husband returns to live in South Africa as a permanent resident for six months first.

We actually got bad advice from an immigration attorney on the DCF. Nick went to over to the US to job hunt and basically got hired straight off. He didn't come back to the UK! I do wonder if he had whether we could have still done DCF, the attorney who advised me said we couldn't but I'm not convinced. But what's done is done.

We have been very up and down with the process. At times, particularly at the beginning, it was very hard. Recently we have coped much better with it, mostly because we feel that the hump is behind us and the end is just round the corner. It's a classic Kubler-Ross curve situation.

Yes, we feel pretty much the same. Now that the I-130 has been filed, all the hard work has pretty much been done and now all we can do is wait, and make sure we are as prepared as possible to make this big move. Like Nick, my husband landed an awesome job almost immediately after arriving in the States, so this gives me at least a sense that all of this happening for a reason.

Of course the DCF route would have been the best, fastest and easiest route to take, had we done our homework properly before he left. But no use crying over spilt milk, the wheels are turning and all we can do is hope it goes quickly and keep the homefires burning in the meantime.

I wish you guys the same - a speedy reunion and an amazing life together in your new home.

[Nick&Diane 32]

Hi Boiler

What's an 'OP'? Sorry - getting used the terminology on this forum

No, I don't have a visitor visa unfortunately.

My husband is planning to come for a visit in a month or two though, so the drought will be broken a bit.

I also don't understand the 'refusal rate' you quoted above - can you explain a bit?

Sorry...meant "Nick&Diane"

OP - Original Poster (you).

After asking you whether South Africa was in the Visa Waiver Program I checked it out. To be in the VWP the country must have an 'adjusted visa refusal rate' of less than 2% (re-assessed every two years) and have other travel/security agreements in place with the US. I don't known what the rates are adjusted for.

South Africa has a particularly low visa refusal rate but is not in the VWP.

The Visa Waiver Program allows citizens of participating countries entry to the US without applying for a Visa if they fulfil a set of requirements.

You could pursue applying for a visitor visa to the US but since you have shown immigrant intent it might be unlikely that your application would be successful. This I don't know anything about - perhaps more knowledgeable members could comment.

[Nick&Diane 32]

Yes, we feel pretty much the same. Now that the I-130 has been filed, all the hard work has pretty much been done and now all we can do is wait, and make sure we are as prepared as possible to make this big move. Like Nick, my husband landed an awesome job almost immediately after arriving in the States, so this gives me at least a sense that all of this happening for a reason.

Of course the DCF route would have been the best, fastest and easiest route to take, had we done our homework properly before he left. But no use crying over spilt milk, the wheels are turning and all we can do is hope it goes quickly and keep the homefires burning in the meantime.

I wish you guys the same - a speedy reunion and an amazing life together in your new home.

Glad to hear that your husband landed an awesome job so quickly!

It took us quite by surprise as Nick had gone out to see how the jobs market was. He didn't come home!!

I totally agree about the spilt milk. We don't talk about (or think about) DCF.

[Confusedtinybird 41]

OP - Original Poster (you).

After asking you whether South Africa was in the Visa Waiver Program I checked it out. To be in the VWP the country must have an 'adjusted visa refusal rate' of less than 2% (re-assessed every two years) and have other travel/security agreements in place with the US. I don't known what the rates are adjusted for.

South Africa has a particularly low visa refusal rate but is not in the VWP.

The Visa Waiver Program allows citizens of participating countries entry to the US without applying for a Visa if they fulfil a set of requirements.

You could pursue applying for a visitor visa to the US but since you have shown immigrant intent it might be unlikely that your application would be successful. This I don't know anything about - perhaps more knowledgeable members could comment.

This official site http://travel.state.gov/content/visas/english/visit/visa-waiver-program.html

A country may join the VWP:

having a visitor (B) visa refusal rate of less than three percent.

So maybe in the future South Africa will be on the VWP! If the data from the 2.6% is correct.