Most efficient green card option

[Tayezz 0]

My girlfriend (30/F/Kuwait) and I (31/M/US) have been dating for 5 years while living most of that time outside the US. The only time we've been here in the US for more than a month was in May 2017 and we've been here since then. She travels here on her visitor visa, which is valid for 6 months at a time. She wants to get her green card so that we can build a life here together. We are considering: Getting married in the US in the next month, low key, then traveling to Mexico for a few days to celebrate/ reset her tourist visa, then returning to the US together using her tourist visa to enter. After which, we will complete the CR-1 marriage visa and wait for processing while in the US. If I recall correctly, she can travel outside the US during the processing time using her tourist visa as long as she doesn't break the rules on overstay etc. Our primary goals are: Ensuring she can repeatedly enter the US while processing marriage visa so we aren't forcefully separated, quick green card issuance, staying legal. It's the above route our best option? Or should we consider doing an adjustment of status? To clarify: We are both currently in the US now. She did not enter the US in May (last entry) with intent to get married. 

Edited September 8, 2017 by Tayezz
Typo

[luv2teach77 41]

Hopefully someone will correct me if I'm wrong but I thought I had read before that applying for a visa such as the CR-1 could lead to the cancellation of any tourist visas.  

 

Additionally, it will likely be frowned upon if your girlfriend spends more time in the US than she does in her home country.  Failure to provide evidence of strong ties to your home country, or appearing to be abusing a tourist visa by stringing multiple long visits together with only short periods of time out of the US, could result in your girlfriend being denied entry or having her tourist visa revoked.  

 

Edited to add:... Marrying in the US and adjusting her status while still in the US on a tourist visa is a risky business which could easily be perceived by the authorities (and quite rightly so) as visa fraud.  With multiple long visits to the states already, it would be hard to prove that there was no intent to marry when she last entered on her tourist visa.  Failure to convince the USCIS that the marriage was entered into with no prior planning could result in being barred from future entry, even via legal visa related routes.

 

You should plan for some extended time apart during this process, whichever path you choose.

Edited September 8, 2017 by luv2teach77

[geowrian 22,337]

There's a couple issues with the stated plans...

 

If you marry, you can apply for AOS now. You cannot travel abroad, re-enter, and then file for AOS. That would be entering with the intent to adjust status, which is fraud. If she applies for AOS, she must wait until AP is obtained (ETA: ~4 months) before she can travel abroad or else AOS is abandoned and she is unlikely to be able to visit due to the recent AOS application creating a strong case for immigrant intent.

 

So option 1 is to marry, AOS, and wait for AP.

 

Option 2 is to apply for a CR-1 visa. She can visit while this is processing, but she needs to interview abroad. However, she can't just keep going to Mexico and coming back. She must not be living in the US...and CBP will catch on very quickly if she's spending more time in the US than outside of it and deny her entry. The general rule of thumb is you should spend at least as much time outside the US as in it - preferably twice as much. There is no fixed timeline here, but returning too soon raises flags.

 

58 minutes ago, Tayezz said:

Our primary goals are: Ensuring she can repeatedly enter the US while processing marriage visa so we aren't forcefully separated, quick green card issuance, staying legal. It's the above route our best option?

There is no such thing as a quick green card, and separation is sometimes part of the process. Personally, I'd suggest doing AOS now and waiting out AP before traveling. You don't need to go on that vacation...

 

30 minutes ago, luv2teach77 said:

Hopefully someone will correct me if I'm wrong but I thought I had read before that applying for a visa such as the CR-1 could lead to the cancellation of any tourist visas.  

Applying for a visa does not cancel anything. It sets a higher bar to show intent to return home at POE to use the visa (or get one if you don't have one), but it doesn't cancel anything. Once the immigrant visa is issued, the other visas are typically cancelled.

Edited September 8, 2017 by geowrian

[Dashinka 24,514]

13 hours ago, geowrian said:

There's a couple issues with the stated plans...

 

If you marry, you can apply for AOS now. You cannot travel abroad, re-enter, and then file for AOS. That would be entering with the intent to adjust status, which is fraud. If she applies for AOS, she must wait until AP is obtained (ETA: ~4 months) before she can travel abroad or else AOS is abandoned and she is unlikely to be able to visit due to the recent AOS application creating a strong case for immigrant intent.

 

So option 1 is to marry, AOS, and wait for AP.

 

Option 2 is to apply for a CR-1 visa. She can visit while this is processing, but she needs to interview abroad. However, she can't just keep going to Mexico and coming back. She must not be living in the US...and CBP will catch on very quickly if she's spending more time in the US than outside of it and deny her entry. The general rule of thumb is you should spend at least as much time outside the US as in it - preferably twice as much. There is no fixed timeline here, but returning too soon raises flags.

 

There is no such thing as a quick green card, and separation is sometimes part of the process. Personally, I'd suggest doing AOS now and waiting out AP before traveling. You don't need to go on that vacation...

 

Applying for a visa does not cancel anything. It sets a higher bar to show intent to return home at POE to use the visa (or get one if you don't have one), but it doesn't cancel anything. Once the immigrant visa is issued, the other visas are typically cancelled.

I think the idea of a visitor visa being canceled is based on what happens to it when either a K1 or CR1 visa is actually issued.  As you know there are stories of people with visitor or other visas that are approved for a K1 or CR1 and think they can pick or choose which visa will be used when they next enter the country.

 

Beyond that, I completely agree with your assessment.

[geowrian 22,337]

10 hours ago, Bill & Katya said:

I think the idea of a visitor visa being canceled is based on what happens to it when either a K1 or CR1 visa is actually issued.  As you know there are stories of people with visitor or other visas that are approved for a K1 or CR1 and think they can pick or choose which visa will be used when they next enter the country.

 

Beyond that, I completely agree with your assessment.

23 hours ago, geowrian said:

Once the immigrant visa is issued, the other visas are typically cancelled.

Covered.

 

[Tayezz 0]

On 9/8/2017 at 0:00 PM, luv2teach77 said:

Hopefully someone will correct me if I'm wrong but I thought I had read before that applying for a visa such as the CR-1 could lead to the cancellation of any tourist visas.  

 

Additionally, it will likely be frowned upon if your girlfriend spends more time in the US than she does in her home country.  Failure to provide evidence of strong ties to your home country, or appearing to be abusing a tourist visa by stringing multiple long visits together with only short periods of time out of the US, could result in your girlfriend being denied entry or having her tourist visa revoked.  

 

Edited to add:... Marrying in the US and adjusting her status while still in the US on a tourist visa is a risky business which could easily be perceived by the authorities (and quite rightly so) as visa fraud.  With multiple long visits to the states already, it would be hard to prove that there was no intent to marry when she last entered on her tourist visa.  Failure to convince the USCIS that the marriage was entered into with no prior planning could result in being barred from future entry, even via legal visa related routes.

 

You should plan for some extended time apart during this process, whichever path you choose.

Thanks for all the comprehensive info. This has really helped us. 

1 hour ago, geowrian said:

Covered.

 

Thank you for your help! 

[Tayezz 0]

12 hours ago, Bill & Katya said:

I think the idea of a visitor visa being canceled is based on what happens to it when either a K1 or CR1 visa is actually issued.  As you know there are stories of people with visitor or other visas that are approved for a K1 or CR1 and think they can pick or choose which visa will be used when they next enter the country.

 

Beyond that, I completely agree with your assessment.

Thanks so much for your help. We really appreciate it!

[Ryan H 3,812]

On 9/8/2017 at 11:32 AM, Tayezz said:

then traveling to Mexico for a few days to celebrate/ reset her tourist visa,

 

Going to Mexico will not reset the clock.