Adjusting via B2 visa....should the law be changed?

[Crazy Cat 42,198]

4 hours ago, RLA said:

AoSlers are waiting in line like everybody else. 

A tourist can enter the US with intent, lie to CBPO, marry, then AOS .  Yes, they wait in line WITH THEIR SPOUSE INSIDE THE US......while everyone else has to wait out the process separated from our spouses......you really don't see the advantage these people gain by violating the law?

 

[Crazy Cat 42,198]

5 hours ago, RLA said:

It's not like AoSlers are jumping the line and thus making the process slower for all the other people.

Aren't they? A couple who lawfully file a K-1, wait almost a year or more before they can even file AOS. The spouse who entered the US with intent and marries can file AOS almost immediately........In this case, which couple is living together inside the US sooner?  Which spouse receives his/her Green Card sooner?   I'd say the "tourist" who entered the US with intent has jumped in front of the line, and is rewarded for this violation of US law.

[bcking 3,157]

12 hours ago, JayJayH said:

I disagree slightly.

B-1/2 visas are short term visas for people intending to visit the U.S. for vacation or short business trips.

F-1 visas, H-1b visas would require the foreign spouse to quit their current job or significantly delay their college degree if they have to return. Adjustment of status should be an option, especially given that it's entirely plausible to meet, date and marry someone while you're here studying or working for half a decade.

Yes I can agree to that. If you are on a long term visa here and meet/marry you should be able to adjust from one long term visa to a permanent visa (provided your long term visa covers you during the application period).

 

The visitor visas though should still be very clear cut. You marry on one of those, that's fine but you can't adjust and you have to return home to apply. Easy peasy. 

 

 

Edited March 27, 2018 by bcking

[bcking 3,157]

3 minutes ago, missileman said:

Aren't they? A couple who lawfully file a K-1, wait almost a year or more before they can even file AOS. The spouse who entered the US with intent and marries can file AOS almost immediately........In this case, which couple is living together inside the US sooner?  Which spouse receives his/her Green Card sooner?   I'd say the "tourist" who entered the US with intent has jumped in front of the line, and is rewarded for this violation of US law.

When my wife and I finished our "immigration journey" we both, in retrospect, realized we should have just "married spontaneously" at the courthouse and then had the big English ceremony later once her status was adjusted.

 

It would have saved us a lot of time apart, and a lot of money as well (flying back and forth is expensive). 

[Dashinka 24,766]

24 minutes ago, bcking said:

When my wife and I finished our "immigration journey" we both, in retrospect, realized we should have just "married spontaneously" at the courthouse and then had the big English ceremony later once her status was adjusted.

 

It would have saved us a lot of time apart, and a lot of money as well (flying back and forth is expensive). 

A lot of people do this today as I think all of us know.  It can be difficult to see it, but it is a very legal way to AOS at this time since determining intent at the border, or questioning at the AOS stage is very difficult.  I know with us, even if we wanted to do this, it was not an option.  Katya did try to get a B2 a few times, but was denied both times, so we chose to do the K1.  Once the K1 was issued, we took 5.5 months planning for a wedding as well as her taking care of her business/work/family in Russia before she came over, so even if she had been approved for a B2, I don't think we would have taken the marriage AOS route.  I do sometimes envy those from VWP countries, but I do understand that this is political.  Regardless, the law is the law at this time and as this thread has discussed, there does not appear to be an easy answer to the OP question.  It would be interesting to find out the percentage of folks that actually do attempt to AOS from a B2 compared to all the B2s issued.  I know we see it a lot here, but that is to be expected considering the purpose of VJ.

Edited March 27, 2018 by Bill & Katya

[Unidentified 2,930]

17 hours ago, NikLR said:

I agree.  BUT there must be some extenuating circumstances.  Hospitalization for instance (lets the say the beneficiary was pregnant and went into pre-term labor.  I think adjusting status ASAP would be good for those.

 

In all honesty though, the USCIS will NEVER put a stop to AOS.  It's their cash cow, plain and simple.  They make more money from B2 adjustments than they do from K1 or CR1 visas.  With fewer AOS cases they'd have to lay off a lot of people because really, the wait times rarely have been much better than 4-6 months.  

Well let's say we opened that can of worms then I believe more pregnant women would come here on visitor visa's and have their baby here. Lie about when they are due and have their baby here so they can stay. They don't expedite K1's and CR-1's because of pregnancy so I don't think allowing women who have their baby here in the US to AOS from a visitor visa just because they happened to have a baby is a good idea. 

 

I think that if that scenario happened that they would have their visa extended so that they can be with their premature baby for as long as the baby needs treatment. Harsh? Yes, but immigration is a privilege not a right. Last year there was a woman here in the US who could have been saved by getting a kidney from her sister in the Philippines but they're not exactly generous with visas for Philippine women so that didn't happen... 

[Unidentified 2,930]

31 minutes ago, bcking said:

When my wife and I finished our "immigration journey" we both, in retrospect, realized we should have just "married spontaneously" at the courthouse and then had the big English ceremony later once her status was adjusted.

 

It would have saved us a lot of time apart, and a lot of money as well (flying back and forth is expensive). 

Yes, I think a lot of us has thought about it. I know me and my husband did... We had been waiting almost a year on our K1 and I was here visiting him on my ESTA. Luckily we received my NOA2 towards the end of my stay. We wouldn't have gone through with it, but at that time it was tempting. 

[RLA 324]

1 hour ago, missileman said:

you really don't see the advantage these people gain by violating the law?

They gain an advantage, but not at the expense of other people.  Nobody's petition is processed any slower because of people adjusting status (from B2 or other visa).  

 

But anyway, my post was actually meant as a defense of the AoS process in general, not pro AoS-from-B2 specifically. With people trying to adjust status from B2 or ESTA the strong but refutable presumption should be that they committed visa fraud, and they should be made to wait one or two extra years.  

[The Nature Boy 7,659]

1 hour ago, bcking said:

When my wife and I finished our "immigration journey" we both, in retrospect, realized we should have just "married spontaneously" at the courthouse and then had the big English ceremony later once her status was adjusted.

 

It would have saved us a lot of time apart, and a lot of money as well (flying back and forth is expensive). 

its a lot different when your spouse is from a visa waiver country 

[bcking 3,157]

3 minutes ago, Nature Boy Flair said:

its a lot different when your spouse is from a visa waiver country 

Ya I'm sure. In those situations there should be consistency.

 

Either just let people come on a B2 and marry/adjust, or don't. None of this "well if you tell a little white lie, which we won't be able to prove, then you can do it...". 

[RLA 324]

1 hour ago, Bill & Katya said:

It would be interesting to find out the percentage of folks that actually do attempt to AOS from a B2 compared to all the B2s issued.

In 2017, the DOS granted 7,392,803 B2 visas while the USCIS received 365,716 family-based AoS petitions.  So the fraud rate with B2 is definitely lower than 5%.  

 

https://www.uscis.gov/tools/reports-studies/immigration-forms-data/data-set-all-uscis-application-and-petition-form-types

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/visa-statistics/nonimmigrant-visa-statistics.html

[Amica Nostra 4,803]

5 hours ago, Bill & Katya said:

I am sure you did, however, it is a great example of our bloated federal government.  Thanks.

So the two options: Do away with government or fix the gaps. I choose the latter.

[charmander 692]

Does anyone have any statistics on approval rate for B2-AOS?

[Dashinka 24,766]

26 minutes ago, Il Mango Dulce said:

So the two options: Do away with government or fix the gaps. I choose the latter.

We could increase governmental efficiency unless that is what you meant by fix the gaps.  I don't think anyone has ever suggested completely doing away with government.  I certainly understand the need for government, but why do we need agencies that duplicate efforts and never seem to go away?

[Nemeseax 36]

3 hours ago, missileman said:

A tourist can enter the US with intent, lie to CBPO, marry, then AOS .  Yes, they wait in line WITH THEIR SPOUSE INSIDE THE US......while everyone else has to wait out the process separated from our spouses......you really don't see the advantage these people gain by violating the law?

 

Tourists who entered the US might do as you have described but not all and please don't put all of us in the same group. Not just all of us are liars and we need to clarify that at our interview. 

Somehow  ( reading that) I kinda wish they have pulled me to the secondary , question me and inspect my baggage. 

And...what is with K1 fiancees who have met only once during the USC 's exotic vacation? What with people who overstayed their visas for years then has filled for AOS etc? 

Not only we on B2 are " suspicious " - and every AOS on B2 is different- if you would like; I can give you at least 3 different hypotetical cases.