B2 visa for wife of Green Card holder

[Mollie09 1,543]

13 minutes ago, tripsul said:

 I have not broken a continuous residency as I mentioned in original post, so and I do qualify for citizenship after 2 years.

I don't think you understand "continuous residency" per USCIS's definition. Just being a green card holder won't cut it.

[Crazy Cat 42,046]

3 hours ago, tripsul said:

Now, the thing is I am also not living in the states for past 7 years since I got good job back home, but keep my continuous residence valid, traveling to states every  months..

Sounds like you are living and working in your home country while visiting the US every couple of months........I think you should expect to any some serious questions upon your next attempt to enter the US.

[tripsul 2]

8 minutes ago, missileman said:

Sounds like you are living and working in your home country while visiting the US every couple of months........I think you should expect to any some serious questions upon your next attempt to enter the US.

I have been questioned everytime I enter and I  always tell the truth that I work abroad and how long I was absent. No issues so far. I am however planning to move back to the USA for good in January.

[ConOfficer 167]

When did your wife's last visa expire? She might be eligible for interview waiver; if so, her DS-160 will get limited scrutiny. Just answer truthfully and she'll probably get a new visa without be called in for an interview. 

 

I would refuse the child 100%. No way you could convince me that child is coming back, but maybe you'll get a bad consular officer.

[ConOfficer 167]

Also, you live in the U.S. USCIS and the consular officer will view it that way. If you say that you state on the child's visa application that she has no family in the U.S. that will be a false statement imputed to your wife. She could be hit with a 6C1 fraud ineligibility.

[Daisy.Chain 317]

You said that you live and work outside of the U.S. and have done so for 7 years. This is not consistent with permanent residency. If you are in the U.S., you may want to apply for a re-entry permit before leaving the U.S. again.

[tripsul 2]

3 hours ago, ConOfficer said:

When did your wife's last visa expire? She might be eligible for interview waiver; if so, her DS-160 will get limited scrutiny. Just answer truthfully and she'll probably get a new visa without be called in for an interview. 

 

I would refuse the child 100%. No way you could convince me that child is coming back, but maybe you'll get a bad consular officer.

 Her last visa expired in Spetember 2015. Is it possible to check if her DS-160 is still valid? Alao isn't it mandatory to attend interwie under Trump's executive order?

[Springrain22 427]

To become a USC, you need to live in the U.S. for at least 180 days every year within the last 5 years. Sounds like you did not meet this requirement by staying overseas almost all the time. So your clock will reset. Just having a greencard is not enough. You have to prove you actually lived in the U.S. But you lived in other country, so no citizenship for you so far. 

[JE57 239]

14 hours ago, tripsul said:

Hi everybody,

 

I am USA permanent resident, and we are planning to apply for B2 visa for my wife and young daughter next month.

 

She had B2 visa twice before, but I know that it might be hard for her now to get B2 visa again, since she is married to USA Green Card holder,  but we will try anyway. She will show her strong ties to home by leaving home her older daughter( my step daughter) from previous marriage.

Now, the thing is I am also not living in the states for past 7 years since I got good job back home, but keep my continuous residence valid, traveling to states every  months..

1)When it comes to visa application for my wife,  the question where they ask if she has any relatives living in the USA, does she answer YES or NO. Yes, I am a permanent resident, NO I only live there few weeks a year. I want my answer to be as much honest as possible, so there will be no issues for my wifes immigration process once I become a US citizen.

2) if she answers YES, am I allowed to attend interview with her, and what supporting documents do I need to show?  Do I need to show them the taxes I have files in the states for previous years?

3) Should she indicate that she will finance her trip herself,  or should I include the bank statement from the USA bank with much larger account balance?

4) Anything else you guys think that might be helpful for us to succeeds?

 

Thanks for taking your time and replying.

 

Ignoring the issues about when you will become eligible for citizenship and rather your visits to the US are sufficient to show you have not abandoned your greencard which I believe you should look at carefully and research more thoroughly.  I would suggest you answer yes to the question relatives living in USA 

and then use the subsequent prompt to list your name and relationship.  She can then explain in interview that you actually reside abroad.  Put a *** next to your name or some brief clever indication that there is something more to ask about.  The idea is that appearing to conceal your PR status will be more a problem than appearing to conceal that you don''t actually live in the USA.  Normally at an interview you only answer the questions asked but in this case she should be up front about the fact that you live and work in _______ .   Your primary goal is avoid future problems with her immigration which makes sense and the way to do that is to make sure that she doesn't give any impression of misrepresentation even if doing so costs her a B2.   CO knows your PR status

-

In my opinion her stating that her daughter will stay and not travel is a pretty weak tie to home.  People can and do leave children behind all the time in the care of others.

-

My suggestion would be that if you live with her and work abroad that you become her reason to return in so much as you can show you have a contract that will necessitate you remaining there.    You then become her compelling reason to return after her trip.   Otherwise house, job, etc is best bet.   With your intent to move permanently back to the USA then  I think her chances are not so good.  But since she's had two previous B2s and apparently not abused them then whatever the compelling reasons were at the time may be sufficient currently as well..   Good Luck 

[tripsul 2]

9 minutes ago, JE57 said:

Ignoring the issues about when you will become eligible for citizenship and rather your visits to the US are sufficient to show you have not abandoned your greencard which I believe you should look at carefully and research more thoroughly.  I would suggest you answer yes to the question relatives living in USA 

and then use the subsequent prompt to list your name and relationship.  She can then explain in interview that you actually reside abroad.  Put a *** next to your name or some brief clever indication that there is something more to ask about.  The idea is that appearing to conceal your PR status will be more a problem than appearing to conceal that you don''t actually live in the USA.  Normally at an interview you only answer the questions asked but in this case she should be up front about the fact that you live and work in _______ .   Your primary goal is avoid future problems with her immigration which makes sense and the way to do that is to make sure that she doesn't give any impression of misrepresentation even if doing so costs her a B2.   CO knows your PR status

-

In my opinion her stating that her daughter will stay and not travel is a pretty weak tie to home.  People can and do leave children behind all the time in the care of others.

-

My suggestion would be that if you live with her and work abroad that you become her reason to return in so much as you can show you have a contract that will necessitate you remaining there.    You then become her compelling reason to return after her trip.   Otherwise house, job, etc is best bet.   With your intent to move permanently back to the USA then  I think her chances are not so good.  But since she's had two previous B2s and apparently not abused them then whatever the compelling reasons were at the time may be sufficient currently as well..   Good Luck 

thank you for detailed explanation. It all clear for me about B2 visa now. Again it was very helpful.

 

Could you please go into more details regarding the eligibility for citizenship? I was not planning on applying for it right after traveling, but instead fulfill the 2.5 years requirement of physically being present in the country.

As I mentioned, I never left the country for longer than 180 days, mainly it was 3-4-5 months maximum. Bank accounts, lease agreement, credit card, filed taxes, owned car till recently, maintained drivers license and etc.

what problems I could possibly have during the citizenship eligibility? Could the PR status being lost then. Thanks again.

[JE57 239]

1 hour ago, tripsul said:

thank you for detailed explanation. It all clear for me about B2 visa now. Again it was very helpful.

 

Could you please go into more details regarding the eligibility for citizenship? I was not planning on applying for it right after traveling, but instead fulfill the 2.5 years requirement of physically being present in the country.

As I mentioned, I never left the country for longer than 180 days, mainly it was 3-4-5 months maximum. Bank accounts, lease agreement, credit card, filed taxes, owned car till recently, maintained drivers license and etc.

what problems I could possibly have during the citizenship eligibility? Could the PR status being lost then. Thanks again.

Three issues.....  Assuming you fall under general immigration you must establish three things to be eligible to apply for citizenship.

a) Physical presence in the USA... Required 30 months (total) of physical presence in the USA in the last 60 months before applying (therefore you might not actually be required to be in the USA for the full 30 months depending on the length of your trips back to USA previously.... Reference this:

https://www.uscis.gov/policymanual/HTML/PolicyManual-Volume12-PartD-Chapter4.html

b) Be in continuous residence for 5 years before application.   This is likely the one that cause you problems.  At your application you will be required to present your passport which will show most of your time spent outside the USA.   While the rule is specifically dealing with periods of absence more than 6 months there is the ability of the office to determine that multiple shorter trips will have been deemed to have broken that residency.  The idea being that the spirit of the law is that you have maintained a life in the USA for 5 years while being outside the USA for other purposes.   Not really what you have done.  Refer to this link...

    https://www.uscis.gov/policymanual/HTML/PolicyManual-Volume12-PartD-Chapter3.html

-

The part of the above that may cause you issues  is this statement:

"An officer may also review whether an applicant with multiple absences of less than 6 months will be able to satisfy the continuous residence and physical presence requirements. In some cases, an applicant may not be able to establish that his or her principal actual dwelling place is in the United States or establish residence within the United States for the statutorily required period of time. [10]"

 If you are denied for this reason you'll need to wait 4 years and 1 day from the time you entered the USA to legitimately reside there to apply.  

c) You must have residence (not physical presence) in the state from which you apply for 3 months.

-

You won't know until you apply after 30 months if you'll have to wait an additional 18 months.  Also, although I have not researched it you might be at some level of risk as to have abandoned your green card although since it hasn't happened yet you may well be safe. 

  

[Hypnos 6,578]

I concur with the above opinions stating that you don't qualify for naturalisation at this time. That isn't the topic at hand, but if your wife applies for a nonimmigrant visa then your history may well come up through discussion of her. 

 

You are skirting the rules on permanent residency. Just because you have had no issues so far doesn't mean this will continue to be the case indefinitely - or even until January. 

 

All it takes is one attentive CBP officer with too much time on his hands and you could wind up with a Notice To Appear in immigration court where you'd be asked to demonstrate all the ways in which you've maintained your status, as well as an accounting of your recent travels. 

Edited October 24, 2017 by Hypnos

[tripsul 2]

1 hour ago, JE57 said:

Three issues.....  Assuming you fall under general immigration you must establish three things to be eligible to apply for citizenship.

a) Physical presence in the USA... Required 30 months (total) of physical presence in the USA in the last 60 months before applying (therefore you might not actually be required to be in the USA for the full 30 months depending on the length of your trips back to USA previously.... Reference this:

https://www.uscis.gov/policymanual/HTML/PolicyManual-Volume12-PartD-Chapter4.html

b) Be in continuous residence for 5 years before application.   This is likely the one that cause you problems.  At your application you will be required to present your passport which will show most of your time spent outside the USA.   While the rule is specifically dealing with periods of absence more than 6 months there is the ability of the office to determine that multiple shorter trips will have been deemed to have broken that residency.  The idea being that the spirit of the law is that you have maintained a life in the USA for 5 years while being outside the USA for other purposes.   Not really what you have done.  Refer to this link...

    https://www.uscis.gov/policymanual/HTML/PolicyManual-Volume12-PartD-Chapter3.html

-

The part of the above that may cause you issues  is this statement:

"An officer may also review whether an applicant with multiple absences of less than 6 months will be able to satisfy the continuous residence and physical presence requirements. In some cases, an applicant may not be able to establish that his or her principal actual dwelling place is in the United States or establish residence within the United States for the statutorily required period of time. [10]"

 If you are denied for this reason you'll need to wait 4 years and 1 day from the time you entered the USA to legitimately reside there to apply.  

c) You must have residence (not physical presence) in the state from which you apply for 3 months.

-

You won't know until you apply after 30 months if you'll have to wait an additional 18 months.  Also, although I have not researched it you might be at some level of risk as to have abandoned your green card although since it hasn't happened yet you may well be safe. 

  

 

1 hour ago, Hypnos said:

I concur with the above opinions stating that you don't qualify for naturalisation at this time. That isn't the topic at hand, but if your wife applies for a nonimmigrant visa then your history may well come up through discussion of her. 

 

You are skirting the rules on permanent residency. Just because you have had no issues so far doesn't mean this will continue to be the case indefinitely - or even until January. 

 

All it takes is one attentive CBP officer with too much time on his hands and you could wind up with a Notice To Appear in immigration court where you'd be asked to demonstrate all the ways in which you've maintained your status, as well as an accounting of your recent travels. 

Ok. Thank you all for the input.

I clearly understand now what I was doing wrong and what problems I might have in future. Things in my life will be corrected asap.

 

Now that I understand that there is a big chance that my "continues residency" countrr might be reset if the officer during Naturalization interview will decide so, and I will have to wait for another 18+ months. Any idea of what are the chances that my LPR status will be considered abandoned at the time of the interview?  Will I have lawyers now be involved in my case and represent me during the interview?

 

Thanks 

 

 

[Daisy.Chain 317]

 

[JE57 239]

4 hours ago, tripsul said:

 

Ok. Thank you all for the input.

I clearly understand now what I was doing wrong and what problems I might have in future. Things in my life will be corrected asap.

 

Now that I understand that there is a big chance that my "continues residency" countrr might be reset if the officer during Naturalization interview will decide so, and I will have to wait for another 18+ months. Any idea of what are the chances that my LPR status will be considered abandoned at the time of the interview?  Will I have lawyers now be involved in my case and represent me during the interview?

 

Thanks 

 

 

My opinion - And it's nothing more than an opinion - is that you wait for the 30 months to stratify physical presence and then do the interview,  At that time you'll be legitimately residing in the USA so there is little to no reason to consider your LPR status previously abandoned..  You then might be approved or you might have to wait another 18 months.  As for your wife applying for a B1 it's probably fine but a safer option would be wait until you return to the USA as again you would then legitimately residing in the USA.   I don't see how a lawyer could help given the material facts of the situation and the stamps in your passport to prove it.     If it comes to waivers or you get summoned before an immigration judge then you would want to lawyer up.