Can i change the status from B-1 (tourist visa) into J-2 (dependent on J-1) after getting married in the US?

[honflo 2]

Hello, 

My situation is a little bit complicated. My boyfriend is Canadian and I'm Polish. He is about to move to the US in June to start his medical residency and he will be on J-1 visa. 

We want to get married so we can be together and so I can live with him in America. Unfortunately, we can''t get married in Poland because Canada doesn't provide a No-Impediment document which is necessary to get married. We can go to the court so my boyfriend doesn't have to present it during the wedding but it turned out that there must be a trial and processing it takes min. 3 months. 

We are considering getting married in the US. I can apply for tourist visa, go there with him and get married. After we get our marriage certificate, I would like to change the status to J-2 (as a dependent of my boyfriend's J-1 visa). But I'm afraid that it will be suspicious to the Embassy and it will be denied. 
Can you please advise what we should do (if getting married in the US on B1 visa won't cause problems once I will aply for J-2 visa) and how long would the whole process take? Can I apply for my J-2 visa while being in the US? 

I will be grateful for your responses. 

Kind regards 

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[Californiansunset 336]

6 minutes ago, honflo said:

Hello, 

My situation is a little bit complicated. My boyfriend is Canadian and I'm Polish. He is about to move to the US in June to start his medical residency and he will be on J-1 visa. 

We want to get married so we can be together and so I can live with him in America. Unfortunately, we can''t get married in Poland because Canada doesn't provide a No-Impediment document which is necessary to get married. We can go to the court so my boyfriend doesn't have to present it during the wedding but it turned out that there must be a trial and processing it takes min. 3 months. 

We are considering getting married in the US. I can apply for tourist visa, go there with him and get married. After we get our marriage certificate, I would like to change the status to J-2 (as a dependent of my boyfriend's J-1 visa). But I'm afraid that it will be suspicious to the Embassy and it will be denied. 
Can you please advise what we should do (if getting married in the US on B1 visa won't cause problems once I will aply for J-2 visa) and how long would the whole process take? Can I apply for my J-2 visa while being in the US? 

I will be grateful for your responses. 

Kind regards 

Less 

 

Do a little bit of research on what you are trying to do. When applying for a tourist visa at the embassy you need to be honest and say that you are going to the US to stay with your boyfriend (eventually husband) and want to apply to have your B visa changed to J2. You will have your visa denied because a tourist visa is there to - as the name already implies - do things a tourist would do. Not to immigrate and live there for an extended period of time. If you are not honest at your B visa interview at the consulate you are misrepresenting yourself, which can later cause a life time ban out of the US. Do you really want to risk that?! You are from a VWP country so you have the advantage of being able to visit the US without having to get a visa, which many other people don't have. Go visit your boyfriend, you can also marry if you like. But always go back home in order to comply with your visa status and rules. 

 

That being said.... have you looked at the processing times of converting a B visa to a J2 visa???? It takes forever. The work permission you would have to apply for AFTER your J2 was granted takes currently 4 months. You'd be looking at a year processing time to start working. Does you and your boyfriend really have enough financial back-up to afford this? And this is not even taking into account that you shouldn't change your B visa to a J2 visa immediately after entry because that would make it so obvious that this was your intent all along and very obvious misrepresentation at both consulate and CBP entry. 

 

[ConOfficer 167]

14 minutes ago, Californiansunset said:

You are from a VWP country

Poland isn't a visa waiver country. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/tourism-visit/visa-waiver-program.html.

 

Otherwise agree. OP needs to jump through hoops of getting married in Poland or apply for a tourist visa and get married in the U.S. understanding that she will need to return to Poland (or wherever she lives) until the J2 paperwork comes through. 

[Californiansunset 336]

33 minutes ago, ConOfficer said:

Poland isn't a visa waiver country. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/tourism-visit/visa-waiver-program.html.

 

Otherwise agree. OP needs to jump through hoops of getting married in Poland or apply for a tourist visa and get married in the U.S. understanding that she will need to return to Poland (or wherever she lives) until the J2 paperwork comes through. 

oh whaaaat?! I never knew that. I assumed Poland belonged to VWP as most of Europe is...that's odd. 

 

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

2 hours ago, Californiansunset said:

oh whaaaat?! I never knew that. I assumed Poland belonged to VWP as most of Europe is...that's odd. 

 

Western Europe mostly, not all Europe.

[Roel 7,192]

Unfortunately too many people in Poland still breaks the B2 rules or apply for it for wrong reasons and get denied.

 

I believe when OP will go for her visa interview and say she wants to use her b2 to get married and immediately change status, she'll be one of those denied people. 

 

How about just get married in Canada and go to Us as J2 then. Makes more sense 

[honflo 2]

Hi everyone,

 

Thank you so much for all your responses.

 

Yes, first of all Polish citizens can't visit U.S. without a visa. Our country doesn't belong to VWP.

 

Actually, these are the answers I expected to read. We are considering getting married in Canada (basically I insist on it) because I'm aware of all those consequences. I did a lot of research and I know that it's super risky to get married on tourist visa and then change the status to J-2. As one of you mentioned, it's not only risky and can be denied, but also takes a lot of time.

 

I wrote this post because I think my boyfriend is not aware of all of these factors and he didn't really believe me that it might be so complicated. We are very short on time but apparently we will have to make it to Canada.

 

Many thanks!

[Californiansunset 336]

20 hours ago, SusieQQQ said:

Western Europe mostly, not all Europe.

Yeah I researched it and it said everywhere that Poland is the only central European country who doesn't have VWP (I actually count anything East of Germany as Eastern Europe but I guess this is just a German thinking). Was surprised to read that countries like Hungary and Slovenia apparently comply better to the visa rules than Polish citizens and therefore have VWP but not Poland. Guess I'm learning something new every single day. 

[Orangesapples 1,954]

1 hour ago, Californiansunset said:

Yeah I researched it and it said everywhere that Poland is the only central European country who doesn't have VWP (I actually count anything East of Germany as Eastern Europe but I guess this is just a German thinking). Was surprised to read that countries like Hungary and Slovenia apparently comply better to the visa rules than Polish citizens and therefore have VWP but not Poland. Guess I'm learning something new every single day. 

It doesnt necessarily mean that they're complying with the rules better unless you believe that the process of determining which country is VWP is completely objective. 

[Californiansunset 336]

8 minutes ago, Orangesapples said:

It doesnt necessarily mean that they're complying with the rules better unless you believe that the process of determining which country is VWP is completely objective. 

All the articles I read stated that one of the reasons Poland isn't a VWP country yet is because too many people are overstaying their visas... which leads to a higher tourist visa refusal rate which then again doesn't make them eligible for the VWP. 

Example: 

The refusal rates in Poland are high for a good reason. Poland is one of the top-20 countries of origin of illegal aliens in the United States and has more illegal aliens here than any other European country. Only one VWP country generates more illegal aliens than Poland — South Korea, which was awarded VWP privileges for the wrong reasons (as part of trade agreement negotiations).

Source https://cis.org/Vaughan/Senators-Vote-Allow-Visa-Waivers-Poland

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

This is really digressing but my understanding is the same as Californiasunset, that the principal determination is linked to B refusal rates. 

 

(and I’m a Cold War baby so of course anything east of Germany is Eastern Europe .... = old Warsaw Pact countries)