In a twiddle! Need help and advice.

[mommygirl111 0]

Thats exactly what I did, I stayed in Scotland untill my k1 fiancee visa was approved. It took me 3 months all together and my hubby visited me in the uk in the mean time. I suggest you do it this way its fairly easy and fast. Good luck let me know if you need more advice luv.

pauline

[swma76 0]

I too have travelled to the US a good few times in the past two years and have been questioned by customs. They all seemed surprised that the UK have more than the national average of 10 days holiday ! haha

Anyway I had resigned from my job after saving tons of cash, as I wanted to be with my girlfriend on a long holiday ! one/two weeks at a time just wasn't enough for me.... especially after experiencing the tube security incidents in London, expected security scares at my work place in Canary Wharf..... and then Experiencing Hurricane Rita !!....

Anyway after some long and thoughtful thinking and pondering, my girlfriend and I got married at the spur of the moment. ( Yes you will have to get married before the Visa runs out)

And then we had more questions than answers after that.

But anyway I was too on the VWP and am now AOS-ing (if thats a word), after talking to our lawyer , he said that at the start of Jan 2006, the US government had changed the way they do a few things.

Before you had to file for AOS before your Visa ran out, but now you have up to one year from the date you get married to file for AOS.

But please note that once you file for the papers and everything, you can't work until the immigration office paperwork gets done, thats when you're issued a workpermit / greencard.

And in that time from when you file the paperwork you can't leave the country either for 6 months as it'll jeopardise your application.

Hope this information helps !!

SW

But yes double check with your lawyer with the facts in case my lawyer was taking some weird substance before our meeting

[swma76 0]

But yes to summarise as my edit went on the blink..

1) You have to get married before your visa runs out (if thats what you want to go down this route)

2) you have up to one year to file for AOS from the date you get married <-- Due to change in immigration law as from Jan 2006

3) File for AOS

4) Once you have sent for AOS, you should receive a letter 2/3 weeks later from the immigration office stating that they are processing your application.

5) From the date you receive the letter, you can't leave the country for the next 6 months. It'll ruin your application and you can't work until you get your workpermit.

6) Hopefully within maybe 3 months you will receive your workpermit and temporary greencard.

7) If by the end of the 3 months you haven't received your documents you can request a temporary work permit by directly visiting the immigration office downtown.

Hope this helps, Please note that all of this is happening for me in Texas.

So it may not all apply to you.... especially the time it takes to get all of the paperwork from the immigrations office.

Thanks

SW

[zyggy 9]

Does anyone have any good links on reasons for deportation on a VWP? What would be the reasons that someone would get deported on a VWP? What i understand from the description of the VWP, is that you actually waive your rights to appeal deportation. Is this correct?

There two reason why an AOS case can be denied in this instance:

1) The USCIS adjudicator does not believe that your relationship is a valid one and was entered into for the purpose of evading US Immigration laws.

2) The USCIS adjudicator believes that you misrepresented yourself on your intentions to immigration to the CBP at the time that you entered the US. This is where the questions that were asked of you and the answers that you gave are very important. Since you were taken to secondary and interrogated, there very likely are either notes of the interrogation or a possible recording of it. If your actions don't jive with the CBP officers notes, then the USCIS adjudicator could find that you misrepresented yourself to CBP and slap with you with a Deportation Order with a permanent ban on reentering the US.

You do not waive your rights to appeal deportation.. you waive your rights to appeal the USCIS adjudicators AOS denial.

You do waive your right to appeal deportation if you leave the US on Advanced Parole and return to the US before your AOS case is decided.

The second reason is why it is VERY important to talk to an attorney about your case and why what you were asked and the answers you gave are very important. The CBP has some record of the questioning. That is why maeuxna suggested that you write down what was asked and what you said... so that you can get it down on paper while it is somewhat fresh in your mind and can refer to it at a later date...

And to reinforce meauxna's message... Please Please Please do not encourage a tourist adjustment without suggesting that they go have a consultation with an attorney.. these are cases that can very well go wrong on slight differences in the facts behind the case. We are not qualified to give advice on the success of tourist adjustments because each case has a truly different set of circumstances... and unlike a K1 or K3 adjustment case where the facts have already been sorted out in a Consulate interview and a risk of denial is very remote, a tourist adjustment case can easily be turned on a small bit of detail... An attorney is the only qualified individual who can evaluate the facts and make a recommendation...

[Karen_L 1]

Use the rest of your time here to start filling out forms and organizing photos. She could possibly even submit the K-1 petition while you're still here (I think -- please correct me if I'm wrong) so your time apart will be even less (hopefully).

My advice is: don't worry about being separated for a little while. Most of us here have had long distance relationships and it IS difficult, but also very doable, especially since you have a solid plan to be together in the future, and you can talk every day, and she can visit you! It's worth it to be apart for a little while to be together legally in the end! Good luck!

[meauxna 15]

I too have travelled to the US a good few times in the past two years and have been questioned by customs. They all seemed surprised that the UK have more than the national average of 10 days holiday ! haha

Anyway I had resigned from my job after saving tons of cash, as I wanted to be with my girlfriend on a long holiday ! one/two weeks at a time just wasn't enough for me.... especially after experiencing the tube security incidents in London, expected security scares at my work place in Canary Wharf..... and then Experiencing Hurricane Rita !!....

Anyway after some long and thoughtful thinking and pondering, my girlfriend and I got married at the spur of the moment. ( Yes you will have to get married before the Visa runs out)

And then we had more questions than answers after that.

But anyway I was too on the VWP and am now AOS-ing (if thats a word), after talking to our lawyer , he said that at the start of Jan 2006, the US government had changed the way they do a few things.

Before you had to file for AOS before your Visa ran out, but now you have up to one year from the date you get married to file for AOS.

But please note that once you file for the papers and everything, you can't work until the immigration office paperwork gets done, thats when you're issued a workpermit / greencard.

And in that time from when you file the paperwork you can't leave the country either for 6 months as it'll jeopardise your application.

Hope this information helps !!

SW

But yes double check with your lawyer with the facts in case my lawyer was taking some weird substance before our meeting

hi SW,

I wonder if you could do us a favor--you relate a couple of things that I've never heard of, but would like to! If you're in touch with your lawyer and can get this info:

What law changed in Jan 06 affecting filing for AOS? Is it a *law* that you must file for AOS within one year, or is that your lawyer's sensible guideline?

I'm not aware of a law that says you have to marry before your 'visa' runs out. It's good advice to not have any overstay, but it's not a bar to AOS if you do not marry before your approved period of stay ends.

In what way does travel in your first 6 months jeopardize your application? I'm not aware of a law regarding 6 months, but it may be another sensible guideline that attorney recommends.

I know it sounds nitpicky, but I'd like to be sure that others who read this have the correct info, whatever that is. Thanks!

[Joey559 1]

How long would you say I should stay? A month, two months?

I read something somewhere about a method whereby you can slightly expedite the process? I think it is called direct consular filling, can anyone tell me about this? I am not to sure, but i think it mean manually submitting the documents to your nearest branch. Is this an urban legend?

Thanks

Uh, nevermind just realized this had more pages. GOOD LUCK MARTIN!

Edited May 8, 2006 by Joey559

[swma76 0]

hi SW,

I wonder if you could do us a favor--you relate a couple of things that I've never heard of, but would like to! If you're in touch with your lawyer and can get this info:

What law changed in Jan 06 affecting filing for AOS? Is it a *law* that you must file for AOS within one year, or is that your lawyer's sensible guideline?

I'm not aware of a law that says you have to marry before your 'visa' runs out. It's good advice to not have any overstay, but it's not a bar to AOS if you do not marry before your approved period of stay ends.

In what way does travel in your first 6 months jeopardize your application? I'm not aware of a law regarding 6 months, but it may be another sensible guideline that attorney recommends.

I know it sounds nitpicky, but I'd like to be sure that others who read this have the correct info, whatever that is. Thanks!

Hiya,

Tried to contact the lawyer but his busy hummmm. Anyway I'll see what I can get off him... the real law CODE NO. would be useful. Anyway He mentioned that if you came on a VWP you normally get a 3 month visa.

In that time if you get married you must start the application for the Adjustment of Status by the time the 3 months runs out. But now as from 2006 you have up to one year from when you got married to apply for a AOS. But in most cases people do that as soon as possible anyway. Watching Star Trek re-runs of re-runs on TV can start to get to you after a while. And besides majority of people will want to work anyway so you would have to apply for AOS as soon as possible.

I've also asked a lawyer friend here and he said the same thing.

As for Visa running out before marriage, he mentioned that it will have a little affect on what you do in the future. In case you get deported ?!?!?, and even if you don't get married and you leave then come back into the US the customs officer will see that you've overcomed your stay once and may question your motives....

As for travelling in the first 6 months whilst your AOS application is still being processed, he mentioned that in his experience not all, some files have been rejected due to the fact that it's frowned upon. They prefer if you had a clean normal uncomplicated file.

Sorry for the faffle but I'll update you when I can.... yes I'm going through it ....

PLEASE NOTE I'M IN TEXAS, maybe it's a little different here. Because there are so many people coming over here from abroad that the STATE had to send some of the processing to be done in CHICAGO !!!. Hence maybe it's just a new state law?!?!?!?!

But like others said, check with your top notch Attorney !!

Edited May 8, 2006 by swma76

[TracyTN 237]

Hiya,

Tried to contact the lawyer but his busy hummmm. Anyway I'll see what I can get off him... the real law CODE NO. would be useful. Anyway He mentioned that if you came on a VWP you normally get a 3 month visa.

I thought the VWP meant you did NOT have a visa. It is 'waived' since you are visiting from one of the countries that participates in the program. All you need is the stamp in your passport - and THAT is good for 90 days.

I'm not sure this attorney understands the difference.

And Joey, DCF is certainly no 'urban legand.' That's hysterical!!! I'm not sure if it is any more of an 'expedited' process than the K1, though (have never looked at the stats - it may well be faster...meauxna where are you when I need you, LOL). Anyway, there is a section of the forum devoted to DCF - check it out!

Edited May 8, 2006 by TracyTN

[Yodrak 7]

TracyTN,

My guess is that the attorney understands the difference, but that swma is paraphrasing what the attorney said and is using incorrect terminology in the process.

Yodrak

Hiya,

Tried to contact the lawyer but his busy hummmm. Anyway I'll see what I can get off him... the real law CODE NO. would be useful. Anyway He mentioned that if you came on a VWP you normally get a 3 month visa.

I thought the VWP meant you did NOT have a visa. It is 'waived' since you are visiting from one of the countries that participates in the program. All you need is the stamp in your passport - and THAT is good for 90 days.

I'm not sure this attorney understands the difference.

...

[TracyTN 237]

I suppose that could be exactly it, Y.

[meauxna 15]

And Joey, DCF is certainly no 'urban legand.' That's hysterical!!! I'm not sure if it is any more of an 'expedited' process than the K1, though (have never looked at the stats - it may well be faster...meauxna where are you when I need you, LOL). Anyway, there is a section of the forum devoted to DCF - check it out!

lol, right behind you.....

DCF varies widely depending on the country, their workload, security checks ad naseum.

Ours took 33 days from I-130--->visa in hand.

I *think* that's faster than a K-1.

[TracyTN 237]

^^My friend m saves the day again!