TOURIST VISA TO AOS

[Juddy 22]

Hello all.am worried.I applied a tourist Visa to come and visit a friend I met online.He was a good friend whom supported me in all I wanted.but then I was staying with the father to my kids whom we were not legally married but just the normal African believe that if you stay with a man you are married.while applying the tourist Visa I wrote married to him. 

I came to America on January while at the port of entry I was going through my phone the officer realized I had saved my host my love...I just loved him though not a husband....it got me into trouble but they called my host and he confirmed that we loved each other as friends.

I had a limited stay of 5 weeks and went back home.again I came back on May to attend a business conference in Texas..since now I got 6 months I went to visit my friend....we started falling in love to what I had not planned .now we are planning to wed and adjust my status.I dk not know how to go about it.I was not legally married from Kenya. 

Kindly advice me.

[britishandusa 446]

10 minutes ago, Juddy said:

Hello all.am worried.I applied a tourist Visa to come and visit a friend I met online.He was a good friend whom supported me in all I wanted.but then I was staying with the father to my kids whom we were not legally married but just the normal African believe that if you stay with a man you are married.while applying the tourist Visa I wrote married to him. 

I came to America on January while at the port of entry I was going through my phone the officer realized I had saved my host my love...I just loved him though not a husband....it got me into trouble but they called my host and he confirmed that we loved each other as friends.

I had a limited stay of 5 weeks and went back home.again I came back on May to attend a business conference in Texas..since now I got 6 months I went to visit my friend....we started falling in love to what I had not planned .now we are planning to wed and adjust my status.I dk not know how to go about it.I was not legally married from Kenya. 

Kindly advice me.

Uh oh. This doesn’t sound easy. They have you on file as marry, if you’re really not, then you lied to them and this is misrepresentation which can bring a permanent ban. You will need to fix this situation ASAP, possibly hiring a lawyer. 

 

Are you in the US right now? If not, you CANNOT go to the US on a tourist visa to attempt to AOS through marriage. That is fraud.

 

Asses your ‘marriage’ situation with the Embassy first before going forward with a spousal visa. 

[Juddy 22]

I am already in the US

[geowrian 22,337]

Agreed. While you likely committed a misrepresentation on your DS-160, I don't believe it would be deemed both willful and material (material being a key one). No way to know until they adjudicate the application, though.

 

That said, I concur that the main issue is they will want to see evidence that the prior marriage was dissolved. That's going to be a challenge when you were never married. You can look into a so-called "Certificate of Singleness" or equivalent, although this is definitely not going to be a simple process.

[mcdull 474]

So a normal African woman believe if you stayed with a man, you are married to him? 

 

I stayed a hotel where Jake Gyllenhaal was also a guest, so I could considered myself married to him?

 

 

Some applicants lie about marital status and believe that would increase chance of approval,  well, little did they know....

 

 

now, how do you tell USCIS a convincing story that you were married but not really married.  

 

[Juddy 22]

35 minutes ago, mcdull said:

So a normal African woman believe if you stayed with a man, you are married to him? 

 

I stayed a hotel where Jake Gyllenhaal was also a guest, so I could considered myself married to him?

 

 

Some applicants lie about marital status and believe that would increase chance of approval,  well, little did they know....

 

 

now, how do you tell USCIS a convincing story that you were married but not really married.  

 

I have two kids with him....aged 4 years and 2 years

[Unlockable 7,314]

10 hours ago, Juddy said:

I have two kids with him....aged 4 years and 2 years

The problem is you have to show that this is no longer a union that is perceived to be marital with your ex. You won’t be able to adjust status or obtain any kind of marriage based visa until you can resolve this. You already documented the “marriage” for the tourist visa. You can’t ignore it now. 

 

You will I’ll likely have to return to your country and get some kind of official document stating you are either divorced or single.

[Highmystic 234]

21 hours ago, Juddy said:

Hello all.am worried.I applied a tourist Visa to come and visit a friend I met online.He was a good friend whom supported me in all I wanted.but then I was staying with the father to my kids whom we were not legally married but just the normal African believe that if you stay with a man you are married.while applying the tourist Visa I wrote married to him. 

I came to America on January while at the port of entry I was going through my phone the officer realized I had saved my host my love...I just loved him though not a husband....it got me into trouble but they called my host and he confirmed that we loved each other as friends.

I had a limited stay of 5 weeks and went back home.again I came back on May to attend a business conference in Texas..since now I got 6 months I went to visit my friend....we started falling in love to what I had not planned .now we are planning to wed and adjust my status.I dk not know how to go about it.I was not legally married from Kenya. 

Kindly advice me.

To get a Travel Visa, one must show that they have "too much to lose" by not going back to their home country,  Great Career, assets such as home(s) etc, and well, a husband and two children.  Did you state that you would return home based on a husband and Kids?   (Ouch).  At any rate,  You will have to petition your home country for a certificate of non marriage or certificate of Divorce, no matter how it is, you have to prove to the USCIS that you are legally allowed to be married. 

[Juddy 22]

Thanks for the advice 

[VisaCode 72]

You have a "common law marriage" to the man in your home country. USCIS does recognize common law marriage, so you are indeed "officially married". So you really don't have a problem there. Your problem is you will have to officially divorce this man before you can move forward. If he is willing to cooperate, then you may be able to accomplish a divorce easily without returning to your home country. If he is not willing to cooperate, it will be more difficult.

[Juddy 22]

I think this is the best advice I have got so far.Thanks though and be blessed

[Amadia 711]

22 hours ago, Juddy said:

while applying the tourist Visa I wrote married to him

THIS is the problem. You will now have to prove that you and your kids' father are not in a legal union/marriage. You will need to provide proof to show that this alleged union/marriage has been dissolved so that you can marry someone else. If they see that you cannot prove this, they can deny your application.

[Tesh 0]

On 7/15/2018 at 3:51 AM, VisaCode said:

You have a "common law marriage" to the man in your home country. USCIS does recognize common law marriage, so you are indeed "officially married". So you really don't have a problem there. Your problem is you will have to officially divorce this man before you can move forward. If he is willing to cooperate, then you may be able to accomplish a divorce easily without returning to your home country. If he is not willing to cooperate, it will be more difficult.

Well said indeed... Get a notarized affidavit - signed by both of you - that you had a common law marriage which was not legally binding.  Then get a letter from the AG stating that your marriage was not legally recognized and no records exists.  As she says, he must be willing to cooperate.  What about your kids?

[C&H12 13]

On 7/14/2018 at 6:51 PM, VisaCode said:

You have a "common law marriage" to the man in your home country. USCIS does recognize common law marriage, so you are indeed "officially married". So you really don't have a problem there. Your problem is you will have to officially divorce this man before you can move forward. If he is willing to cooperate, then you may be able to accomplish a divorce easily without returning to your home country. If he is not willing to cooperate, it will be more difficult.

I realize this is an old post but I am fascinated as I am currently in the midst of an issue.  I was aware that USCIS does not recognize common law marriage but I was not aware that they would actually consider you "officially married."  Could you elaborate on this a bit?  Does this mean that if a woman was unofficially in a common law marriage, that she would be correct in selecting "married" as her marital status when applying for a visitor visa?

[Lil bear 4,219]

3 minutes ago, Allen Crabtree said:

I realize this is an old post but I am fascinated as I am currently in the midst of an issue.  I was aware that USCIS does not recognize common law marriage but I was not aware that they would actually consider you "officially married."  Could you elaborate on this a bit?  Does this mean that if a woman was unofficially in a common law marriage, that she would be correct in selecting "married" as her marital status when applying for a visitor visa?

This is an old post and is unlikely to get answers. Try staring a new thread on the forum .. Effects of major life changes ....