Getting married

[Jens79 64]

5 hours ago, Tweety23 said:

They're both filipino citizens. The BF is out of status. He was on a student visa before. The girl wants to go in the US to get married with him and go back in the phil. After. So she was wondering if shes going to have a trouble by the time she going back in the US? 

 

 

 

 

Lots of misinformation here, and even more opinions, that aren’t really relevant for your friend’s case. Yes, of course, he will need to figure out how to obtain legal status in the US if he plans to stay, but as far as I understand that’s not what’s being asked about here. And if two foreigners marry each other in the US, it will not give them any immigrations benefits what so ever anyway. It would be just like two tourists getting married on their vacation and that happens all the time, and it’s perfectly legal.

 

So they way CBP will know that your friend will marry someone in the US is simply by she telling them about it. That’s really the only way for them to know about it. How else would they know? Mind reading? Putting loads of intelligence resources into investigating all visitors' purpose of their visits? No, they ask and the visitor answers the question and should do so truthfully. It is not illegal to travel to the US to marry anyone, regardless of his or her status in the US, and then leave the US. You’re responsible for your own presence in the US, not your partners. However, there is a pretty big risk that they follow up with asking who your friend is going to marry. It could be asked in a very general way, like ”is your partner a US citizen” and it could be enough to answer that question truthfully and that will be it. Or they could ask more and actually ask about the identity of the person who your friend intends to marry and what his status is. However, it’s still legal, but it’s a huge red flag for the CBP if someone says they are getting married to someone who is staying in the US illegal since the risk of your friend ending up staying illegally is pretty high from CBP’s point of view. So it’s definitely a risk of getting turned away, if she's asked about it in detail.

 

When I entered to get married I simply said Hello and the officer just asked me ”vacation?” Yes, I said. She then asked about who’s living at the address I had put on the customs declaration. I truthfully told her that it was my girlfriend’s address. She then asked a little about how often we see each other and I told her that we make short visits every 6-8th week. She was happy with that and stamped my passport. As long as you don’t misrepresent or lie, it’s totally fine to enter, marry and leave. You have to answer all questions truthfully, but you don’t have to volunteer information that isn't asked about. 

 

The city hall, or the marriage official, or where ever your friend choose to marry, don't check immigration status. That is not their job. You need to bring valid identification, of course, and for visitors, that means the passport. But immigration is a federal issue, not up to the city clerk or any marriage official. So I can't see how that should be a problem.

And lastly, like I said above, getting married will not change a thing for the person who is overstaying. It will not grant any immigration benefits at all, it's not a path to a green card. It's just a marriage, period. (Marrying a US citizen is another thing, but that's not relevant in this case.) It's simply not up to me or anyone else to judge if these two people should marry or not, and it has nothing to do with immigration. I hope this answered your questions.

 

 

Edited August 6, 2017 by Jens79

[Jens79 64]

12 minutes ago, Tweety23 said:

Well thats the situation. LOL. I dont know whats they're plan but maybe they do.. 

There are lots of reasons to marry in the US. Most of them are purely romantic ones. It's just a nice thing to do. That's fine. But if your friend has misunderstood things and believes that this somehow is a path to a green card or a legal stay in the US, you better tell him that it's not, and maybe save them a lot of time, money and effort. 

[Boiler 46,086]

26 minutes ago, Jens79 said:

There are lots of reasons to marry in the US. Most of them are purely romantic ones. It's just a nice thing to do. That's fine. But if your friend has misunderstood things and believes that this somehow is a path to a green card or a legal stay in the US, you better tell him that it's not, and maybe save them a lot of time, money and effort. 

The obvious route to stay legally in the US would be marriage to a USC, illegal presence is forgiven, being here out of status the options are otherwise limited to say the least.

 

Living on separate continents does not strike me as obviously romantic.

 

I do not see any misinformation, and in any event misinformation is not against the VJ ToS.

 

 

[Tweety23 2]

3 hours ago, Jens79 said:

Lots of misinformation here, and even more opinions, that aren’t really relevant for your friend’s case. Yes, of course, he will need to figure out how to obtain legal status in the US if he plans to stay, but as far as I understand that’s not what’s being asked about here. And if two foreigners marry each other in the US, it will not give them any immigrations benefits what so ever anyway. It would be just like two tourists getting married on their vacation and that happens all the time, and it’s perfectly legal.

 

So they way CBP will know that your friend will marry someone in the US is simply by she telling them about it. That’s really the only way for them to know about it. How else would they know? Mind reading? Putting loads of intelligence resources into investigating all visitors' purpose of their visits? No, they ask and the visitor answers the question and should do so truthfully. It is not illegal to travel to the US to marry anyone, regardless of his or her status in the US, and then leave the US. You’re responsible for your own presence in the US, not your partners. However, there is a pretty big risk that they follow up with asking who your friend is going to marry. It could be asked in a very general way, like ”is your partner a US citizen” and it could be enough to answer that question truthfully and that will be it. Or they could ask more and actually ask about the identity of the person who your friend intends to marry and what his status is. However, it’s still legal, but it’s a huge red flag for the CBP if someone says they are getting married to someone who is staying in the US illegal since the risk of your friend ending up staying illegally is pretty high from CBP’s point of view. So it’s definitely a risk of getting turned away, if she's asked about it in detail.

 

When I entered to get married I simply said Hello and the officer just asked me ”vacation?” Yes, I said. She then asked about who’s living at the address I had put on the customs declaration. I truthfully told her that it was my girlfriend’s address. She then asked a little about how often we see each other and I told her that we make short visits every 6-8th week. She was happy with that and stamped my passport. As long as you don’t misrepresent or lie, it’s totally fine to enter, marry and leave. You have to answer all questions truthfully, but you don’t have to volunteer information that isn't asked about. 

 

The city hall, or the marriage official, or where ever your friend choose to marry, don't check immigration status. That is not their job. You need to bring valid identification, of course, and for visitors, that means the passport. But immigration is a federal issue, not up to the city clerk or any marriage official. So I can't see how that should be a problem.

And lastly, like I said above, getting married will not change a thing for the person who is overstaying. It will not grant any immigration benefits at all, it's not a path to a green card. It's just a marriage, period. (Marrying a US citizen is another thing, but that's not relevant in this case.) It's simply not up to me or anyone else to judge if these two people should marry or not, and it has nothing to do with immigration. I hope this answered your questions.

 

 

Thank you soo much for this. My friend was not seeking any benefits at all. she is not planning to stay in the US either, they just wanted to get married and thats it. sometimes people do such things for LOVE I should say. or maybe they might have other  plans thats why they wanted to get married. So basically she is not going to have a problem to the CBP/IO once she got married and visit her future husband the next time shes going to visit him?  

[Tweety23 2]

3 hours ago, Jens79 said:

There are lots of reasons to marry in the US. Most of them are purely romantic ones. It's just a nice thing to do. That's fine. But if your friend has misunderstood things and believes that this somehow is a path to a green card or a legal stay in the US, you better tell him that it's not, and maybe save them a lot of time, money and effort. 

She is well aware of that. 

[Boiler 46,086]

Obviously we must be getting close to a ToS issue, my bible, but she intends to 'visit' her to be Husband whilst he stays here illegally?

[Jens79 64]

6 minutes ago, Boiler said:

Obviously we must be getting close to a ToS issue, my bible, but she intends to 'visit' her to be Husband whilst he stays here illegally?

I don't agree with that. All we know is what the OP asked about. Nothing about that is illegal. He / she asked about legally visit the US to marry someone and then leave, just like so many people have done before. The person who is in the US without status will be just as much out of status with our without getting married. It makes no difference. If you don't trust the OP's intentions, that's fine, but the one who's job it is to determine that is the CBP officer at the POE. Nobody has given any advice on how to cheat the system or how to stay in the US unlawfully.
 

[Auds 223]

Maybe 'friend' is pregnant and wants to give child 'legitimacy'... or her parents forcing her to marry someone else - while she wants to wait for bf to come back..  whatever.  Not a good start to life for him to be illegal.

 

and to answer your question if the marry, immigration is unlikely to find out.. but they mau require docs to marry - i had to show passport and will likely get caught at this stage.

[Jens79 64]

39 minutes ago, Tweety23 said:

Thank you soo much for this. My friend was not seeking any benefits at all. she is not planning to stay in the US either, they just wanted to get married and thats it. sometimes people do such things for LOVE I should say. or maybe they might have other  plans thats why they wanted to get married. So basically she is not going to have a problem to the CBP/IO once she got married and visit her future husband the next time shes going to visit him?  

 

Well, if this is the plan, there shouldn't be any legal problems with it. The problem will occur when or if the CBP officer find out that the person your friend is going to marry is unlawfully in the country. That's a massive indication that your friend might stay too, and your friend will most probably be denied entry because of that, not because she intends to marry someone. But again, there's nothing illegal about seeking entry to the US, as long as you're honest about your intentions. The problem is the circumstances and that most CBP officers will evaluate the risk of overstaying as too high in this case to grant entry.

So with all that being said, it's also understandable that in the long run, it seems kind of strange that a couple is choosing to be separated like this, without any legal ways to be together permanently, at least not in the US.

[Boiler 46,086]

53 minutes ago, Tweety23 said:

Thank you soo much for this. My friend was not seeking any benefits at all. she is not planning to stay in the US either, they just wanted to get married and thats it. sometimes people do such things for LOVE I should say. or maybe they might have other  plans thats why they wanted to get married. So basically she is not going to have a problem to the CBP/IO once she got married and visit her future husband the next time shes going to visit him?  

 

14 minutes ago, Jens79 said:

I don't agree with that. All we know is what the OP asked about. Nothing about that is illegal. He / she asked about legally visit the US to marry someone and then leave, just like so many people have done before. The person who is in the US without status will be just as much out of status with our without getting married. It makes no difference. If you don't trust the OP's intentions, that's fine, but the one who's job it is to determine that is the CBP officer at the POE. Nobody has given any advice on how to cheat the system or how to stay in the US unlawfully.
 

Seems you missed it. So what is she going to say when seeking entry to visit her Husband?

[Jens79 64]

10 minutes ago, Auds said:

and to answer your question if the marry, immigration is unlikely to find out.. but they mau require docs to marry - i had to show passport and will likely get caught at this stage.

3

Yes, and so did I when I married in the US. You identify yourself with your passport, but it's highly unlikely that it will be an issue. It's just not their job to check peoples immigration status. It's their job to marry people, and for that you need to be an unmarried adult. As long as you fulfill those requirements you're free to marry, regardless of status. Of course, any person could call ICE, even a city clerk, if he or she wants to, but that's outside of their job.

[Jens79 64]

11 minutes ago, Boiler said:

 

Seems you missed it. So what is she going to say when seeking entry to visit her Husband?

 

 

 

No, I didn't miss a thing. I wrote about that in length. When she enters she has to tell the truth. But there's nothing illegal to marry someone who's out of status. The problem is that there is higher risk of her overstaying because of her BF/husbands immigrations status. That's why she might be turned around, not because she's doing anything illegal. Therefor she needs to be aware of that risk, and present her self in an honest way, and answer the questions truthfully. But if they let her in without extensive questioning, then it's fine, she hasn't done anything wrong in that case. She just has to leave the US in time.

And yes, she will face the same risk on future visits. It' not at all unlikely that she will have problems entering the country sooner or later, if they ask about her husbands legal status. But as long as they don't ask about it, and she's not overstaying, then it's fine. There no law aginst spending time with people who are illegally in the country.

Edited August 7, 2017 by Jens79

[Boiler 46,086]

2 minutes ago, Jens79 said:

No, I didn't miss a thing. I wrote about that in length. When she enters she has to tell the truth. But there's nothing illegal to marry someone who's out of status. The problem is that there is higher risk of her overstaying because of her BF/husbands immigrations status. That's why she might be turned around, not because she's doing anything illegal. Therefor she needs to be aware of that risk, and present her self in an honest way, and answer the questions truthfully. But if they let her in without extensive questioning, then it's fine, she hasn't done anything wrong in that case. She just has to leave the US in time.

What is the purpose of your visit is the usual one, not that extensive.

[Jens79 64]

3 minutes ago, Boiler said:

What is the purpose of your visit is the usual one, not that extensive.

I'm sorry? I don't understand your question.

Edited August 7, 2017 by Jens79

[Tweety23 2]

10 minutes ago, Boiler said:

What is the purpose of your visit is the usual one, not that extensive.

Probably if the IO will ask this question she can just say to visit a place or maybe visit a friend.