Do we need to live in the US after receiving spousal visa?

[aaron2020 11,651]

IMHO, leaving children behind is not a problem for many people who have a US fiance.

Let say, a person abused the visitor visa and marries a US citizen and stay. The US spouse could file to adjust the foreign spouse and get AP in about 3 months. The foreign spouse can go back to her child. Or, the US citizen can petition for the child and that would take 6-12 months.

Many Asians that I know have immigrated to the US and left their children behind for years. Some immigrants will even take their babies home so the grandparents can take care of them, while they go back to work in the US.

So, the short separation and cultural norms of leaving a child behind is not a clear indicator that the person has no immigrant intent.

[Cathi 5,755]

The short answer. Yes. A spouse visa is an immigration visa, not a visitor visa. If you were to apply for one knowing you would only be using it for visiting would be material misrepresentation and fraud

[Ryan E 10]

You might want to look into Expeditious Naturalization or whatever it is called. Basically there is an exception to the residency requirements for the greencard and citizenship for spouses of those whos employment meets certain criteria. I don't know all the details, but I know foreign spouses of embassy staff typically get this. I looked into it, but my employment doesn't meet the criteria so I didn't dig deeper.

You might look at the following:

http://www.uscis.gov/policymanual/HTML/PolicyManual-Volume12-PartD-Chapter5.html

http://lawandborder.com/expeditious-naturalization-for-spouses-of-u-s-citizens-employed-abroad/

[LoveMyTico 999]

my husband just entered on Sunday. He was told that he has to live in the US for a minimum of 7 months per year.

[NikLR 13,227]

my husband just entered on Sunday. He was told that he has to live in the US for a minimum of 7 months per year.

CBP are notoriously unreliable about things. When I went for the NEXUS interview (it's a special card that allows you to go through customs really fast between Canada and the USA) the CBP lady told me I wasn't allowed to be visiting my husband after I stated I had. I said "well I told the officer each time what was going on" "oh well that's okay then."

[bestofboston 36]

What I suggest is you get married and be married for two years and then apply for I-130. She will then receive a green card that is good for ten years. You need to be married for two years to get the 10 year green card. I know a Philippine family that lives in the Philippines but has green cards. They told me that they just need to enter the US once per year to maintain their green cards. I don't know how true that is. Just repeating what they told me. They had no desire to live permanently in the USA because they have their own business in the Philippines.

[NikLR 13,227]

What I suggest is you get married and be married for two years and then apply for I-130. She will then receive a green card that is good for ten years. You need to be married for two years to get the 10 year green card. I know a Philippine family that lives in the Philippines but has green cards. They told me that they just need to enter the US once per year to maintain their green cards. I don't know how true that is. Just repeating what they told me. They had no desire to live permanently in the USA because they have their own business in the Philippines.

What they're doing is illegal FYI.

[Boiler 45,525]

What I suggest is you get married and be married for two years and then apply for I-130. She will then receive a green card that is good for ten years. You need to be married for two years to get the 10 year green card. I know a Philippine family that lives in the Philippines but has green cards. They told me that they just need to enter the US once per year to maintain their green cards. I don't know how true that is. Just repeating what they told me. They had no desire to live permanently in the USA because they have their own business in the Philippines.

Not that difficult, Permanent Resident is errr.....

They can try and see how long the one visit a year works, eventually it will not, when who knows.

Every time I have entered one of the questions has been how long I have been gone.

[Hypnos 6,576]

It tends to work right up until the point when it doesn't. With electronic records telling them precisely when you left and how long you have been gone, it would be extremely dumb to keep doing that and think it will work forever.

In the end, a green card is for living in the US. If you aren't living in the US then you aren't entitled to a green card.

[mattawara 19]

What they're doing is illegal FYI.

Not to split hairs, but what they're doing is not illegal - it is however putting them at risk of losing their green cards, as they're not meeting the requirements to maintain status.

[NikLR 13,227]

Point made and agreed with. It is possible they committed fraud or misrepresentation to obtain the green cards initially. However without evidence to such, to directly say they've done something illegal is improper of me.