Tourist visa for Kenyan Spouse

[Crazy Cat 41,904]

1.  Recently married to US citizen

2.  Currently traveling in Asia

3.  Could remain in US for 6 months

4.  Does not own real estate in home country

These are some of the red flags the CO will consider....it is very likely to result in immigration intent......

[Lanre30 3]

As people have correctly pointed out, l think living with your husband for 6 months at a stretch in Kenya after getting the Residence permit qualifies you for Direct consular Filing,  as Kenya is the Regional office for East Africa. This is the fastest way to get your husband to live with you in the States if  both of you decided to move to US permanently in the future. 

[JE57 239]

So it seems if DCF is available you do have a potential option of once you are eligible to file for it to file for DCF for your husband,  You'd need to prove domicile or intent to establish domicile in the USA, and it would be expensive but....  If you could then get your Husband a greencard he could go to the USA as long as required and then if you move back to Kenya together he could turn in his greencard and then the chances of him getting a tourist visa shortly after surrendering his greencard would be significantly higher.  But it seems like a lot paperwork, expense and trouble to avoid a some months apart as painful as that would be. 

[NYCruiser 423]

On 3/12/2018 at 4:04 PM, SusieQQQ said:

Is Kenya particularly difficult to get visas from? I was under the impression it was one of the “easier” African countries. Be that as it may, if the husband is able to contemplate an indefinitely timed visit of anywhee between 2 and 6 months, it does imply he won’t be able to show particularly strong work ties and that is a problem no matter where you apply from.

Hey Susie...no actually Kenya is not easy at all...infact, Kenyans complain that due to the high number of denials, that there is something racial about that. Actually, my fiance applied twice for a B1 and got rejected. We were scared it would impact his K1, but it did not

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

10 minutes ago, NYCruiser said:

Hey Susie...no actually Kenya is not easy at all...infact, Kenyans complain that due to the high number of denials, that there is something racial about that. Actually, my fiance applied twice for a B1 and got rejected. We were scared it would impact his K1, but it did not

Actually, I got the numbers, Kenya is not bad for Africa, but yes its not as easy I had thought. If you exclude southern Africa, Kenya is among the lowest B refusal rate in Africa at around 33%.  Many African countries are 40-60% with some even higher than that. https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/Statistics/Non-Immigrant-Statistics/RefusalRates/FY17.pdf 

(I think the difference in Kenya vs rest of Africa  is even wider for immigrant visas, which shows the concern for Kenya is more overstay than outright fraud in terms of documents, green card marriages etc which are very prevalent in some other countries).

[NYCruiser 423]

20 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

Actually, I got the numbers, Kenya is not bad for Africa, but yes its not as easy I had thought. If you exclude southern Africa, Kenya is among the lowest B refusal rate in Africa at around 33%.  Many African countries are 40-60% with some even higher than that. https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/Statistics/Non-Immigrant-Statistics/RefusalRates/FY17.pdf 

(I think the difference in Kenya vs rest of Africa  is even wider for immigrant visas, which shows the concern for Kenya is more overstay than outright fraud in terms of documents, green card marriages etc which are very prevalent in some other countries).

Agreed. I think the other confounding factor is the wide area of coverage for Nairobi. Rwanda, Uganda, Sudan, Somalia are all processed there. The Kenyan government, at least as far as Kenyan Citizens go, does have quite an advance DVS compared to other countries in Africa

[Crazy Cat 41,904]

23 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

Actually, I got the numbers, Kenya is not bad for Africa, but yes its not as easy I had thought. If you exclude southern Africa, Kenya is among the lowest B refusal rate in Africa at around 33%.  Many African countries are 40-60% with some even higher than that. https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/Statistics/Non-Immigrant-Statistics/RefusalRates/FY17.pdf 

(I think the difference in Kenya vs rest of Africa  is even wider for immigrant visas, which shows the concern for Kenya is more overstay than outright fraud in terms of documents, green card marriages etc which are very prevalent in some other countries).

As a side note:  Look at Vatican City's refusal rate....

[Mollie09 1,543]

8 minutes ago, missileman said:

As a side note:  Look at Vatican City's refusal rate....

Micronesia and Western Sahara 

[Crazy Cat 41,904]

Just now, Mollie09 said:

Micronesia and Western Sahara 

Yes, thanks......I actually misread the list..........then typed Vatican city by mistake...sorry...

[Mollie09 1,543]

2 minutes ago, missileman said:

Yes, thanks......I actually misread the list..........then typed Vatican city by mistake...sorry...

 

I was also surprise by the Vatican's. I guess I was expecting it to be lower? Or not exist at all? Who gets NIVs at the Vatican?

[usmsbow 801]

1 hour ago, Mollie09 said:

 

I was also surprise by the Vatican's. I guess I was expecting it to be lower? Or not exist at all? Who gets NIVs at the Vatican?

 

Probably a priest working/living there that is from a non-VWP country. Or even those from VWP countries that need to travel to the US on Vatican business on their official/diplomatic passports.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vatican_and_Holy_See_passports

 

[MaggieD 0]

22 hours ago, JE57 said:

So it seems if DCF is available you do have a potential option of once you are eligible to file for it to file for DCF for your husband,  You'd need to prove domicile or intent to establish domicile in the USA, and it would be expensive but....  If you could then get your Husband a greencard he could go to the USA as long as required and then if you move back to Kenya together he could turn in his greencard and then the chances of him getting a tourist visa shortly after surrendering his greencard would be significantly higher.  But it seems like a lot paperwork, expense and trouble to avoid a some months apart as painful as that would be. 

Thanks to everyone very much for all of the help and assistance. I will go to visit my father alone for short stints and we will apply for the CR-1 so we can freely travel and live between both countries as we choose. 

[az2014 381]

1 hour ago, MaggieD said:

Thanks to everyone very much for all of the help and assistance. I will go to visit my father alone for short stints and we will apply for the CR-1 so we can freely travel and live between both countries as we choose. 

Erm a CR-1 does not let you travel and live between both countries as you choose. It is used to become a Perminent Resident in the US. That means living in the US permenantly with temporary visits abroad. Spend too long out of the US and that PR can be deemed to have been abandonded, then no more travelling to the US.

 

Only with citizenship in both countries can you live in both countries as you choose, which would be many years away.

Edited March 14, 2018 by az2014

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

7 hours ago, MaggieD said:

Thanks to everyone very much for all of the help and assistance. I will go to visit my father alone for short stints and we will apply for the CR-1 so we can freely travel and live between both countries as we choose. 

The CR1 is an immigrant visa. This means it will turn into a green card the first time your husband enters on that, and he will be required to spend at least 6 months a year living in (not visiting) the US, paying taxes etc to keep it. 

[Sunnyland 639]

I'm afraid that the OP is confused and thinks the CR1/GC is a luxury tourist visa. It is not. It is to live in the US, not to go there for a few months and then go to home country to work.  Besides if you file now for the CR1 it won't be approved at least for a year or so so by the time it's approved, OP probably will be back to Kenya. 

Like others said before, you should go to see your father and help him in his recovery. Then there you will see if you need to move back to US or not. Take it step by step. 

 

PS: See if your husband can get a tourist visa to visit US while you are there.

Edited March 14, 2018 by Sunnyland