Denied Tourist B-2 Visa, Applying for CR-1 later

[millefleur 5,047]

Hello everyone,

I'm new here. I've been living in SPB, Russia for around three years as an English teacher. My husband and I married about a month ago and we tried applying for a tourist visa here in Saint Petersburg and he was denied. We were planning to visit my family in the States but looks like that's not happening now.

I'm wondering, does this previous tourist visa denial have any chance of affecting our CR-1 application later? We are going to apply directly through the Moscow lockbox as I have a work visa here so I'm qualified to do that.

We're going to apply for the I-130 petition soon, as soon as I get my passport back due to name change and visa transfer (which involves insane Russian bureaucracy). I saw on the website it takes less than a month to get in Moscow, so that's good.

I'm just also wondering if our case as a high chance of denial due to the previously rejected tourist visa? A few other things about us: my husband is 10 years younger than me, and we married very soon after we started "dating"....he was actually one of my former students. I know those two things seem automatically suspicious, but we're planning to apply for the CR-1 much later, sometime in the winter of 2017. So we will have been married almost six months by then.

My mother is going to be the joint-sponsor because I don't make enough money. My husband and I are paranoid of being rejected and we are trying to prepare as much as we can to avoid that. So any advice from anyone would be greatly appreciated!!

[aleful 1,905]

hi

no, a tourist visa denial won't affect the petition, gather as much bona fide marriage evidence as you can

[millefleur 5,047]

hi

no, a tourist visa denial won't affect the petition, gather as much bona fide marriage evidence as you can

Thank you! We have already started gathering as much evidence as we can including receipts, proof of travel together, photos, etc in addition to our wedding photos.

Do you think they will actually review all of the evidence?

[aleful 1,905]

hi

yes of course, your spouse will have to prove that the marriage is real and not a sham for a GC

the more proof that you have, before and during your marriage, the more confident you will be that they will approve the petition and your spouse getting the visa

[TBoneTX 45,659]

Welcome to the forum, and good luck.

[Dashinka 24,649]

Welcome!

My wife (fiance at the time) had two denials for a Tourist visa which had no impact on our K1.

Good Luck!