Vietnamese Wife wants to Visit US

[Stein 276]

I'm a bit ahead of myself here but wondered what the group thought.  We will be married in Vietnam 4/28/19 (marriage will be registered with govt in March).  I live in Vietnam and work for my US-based company in Vietnam only returning to the US a couple of weeks every few months.  I also own a business in Vietnam with a Vietnamese partner.  We plan to stay in Vietnam for several years until I retire.  At that point we plan to spend 6 months in US in the summer and 6 months in Vietnam in the winter.  The problem is I don't want to file for a CR1 visa because we don't intend to immigrate to the US upon approval of the visa.  I don't want to go through the entire process, eventually get the green card for her and then end up losing it in a year or two due to not spending the majority of the time in the US.  Our intent will be to apply for that in a few years when we do plan to make the move.  So that leaves us with the tourist visa.  

 

She did apply for a tourist visa in June and, not surprisingly, was denied.  What I planned to do was to wait a year after marriage and apply again with the hope that I could explain that we really don't intend to immigrate to the US, otherwise we would have applied for the CR1 right away after marriage and that we really do plan to just visit my family and go back home to Vietnam.  What are your thoughts on a married couple (husband US citizen and wife Vietnamese) that own two houses in Vietnam, own my business in Vietnam and leaving behind her daughter with her parents in Vietnam just to visit in the US?  I know Vietnamese tourist visas are extremely difficult to get.  Is it worth the risk waiting a year and trying it?

 

 

[Boiler 45,467]

What is the risk of waiting a year?

 

Leaving children behind would not be a factor, many do that and forget to leave.

 

Your best case is for her to focus on your ties to Vietnam, might mean having to go the immigrant route and then surrender the GC.

[Jho369 13]

From what I heard, once you fail the the tourist visa, it’ll be another 4 years before you can be interviewed again, without special treatments. Your best bet, in my opinion is to just file for marriage. Just that you have to spend 7 months in the US instead? Or you can apply for tourist visa and go on vacation to nearby countries, just to show that you intend to come back. My aunt, she has to go to the philipines, now canada, and hopefully US next. She just couldn’t get a tourist visa to US first try. Hope this help

[USS_Voyager 1,972]

Unfortunately only US citizens are guaranteed entry into the US. Everybody else is sort of at the mercy of either the visa officer or CBP. 

 

 

 

[millefleur 5,046]

3 minutes ago, Boiler said:

What is the risk of waiting a year?

Sounds like she already tried once and was denied. Maybe he's thinking to wait to add credence to their case?

 

1 minute ago, Jho369 said:

From what I heard, once you fail the the tourist visa, it’ll be another 4 years before you can be interviewed again, without special treatments.

Huh? I have never heard of anything like that....source please? It's not like there is some magic waiting period where chances will go up after 4 years. Everything is decided by what is presented at the time of application. What do you mean by "special treatments"?

[Jho369 13]

12 minutes ago, millefleur said:

Sounds like she already tried once and was denied. Maybe he's thinking to wait to add credence to their case?

 

Huh? I have never heard of anything like that....source please? It's not like there is some magic waiting period where chances will go up after 4 years. Everything is decided by what is presented at the time of application. What do you mean by "special treatments"?

My source is my Mom’s friend in VN. She failed the 2nd interview because they stayed longer than said. They didn’t break the rules, they just didn’t leave and stayed until their visa expired. They couldn’t interview again for another 4 years. But this was 5 years ago. And if you dontknow the special treatment, let’s just not talk about it  

[Boiler 45,467]

Sounds like a 5 year bar for overstaying by more than 6 months.

[millefleur 5,046]

**Moved from Vietnam regional subforum to Tourist visas; OP will get more relevant answers there**

 

5 minutes ago, Boiler said:

Sounds like a 5 year bar for overstaying by more than 6 months.

Yeah, a totally different scenario than what the OP was asking about.

[aaron2020 11,651]

10 minutes ago, Jho369 said:

My source is my Mom’s friend in VN. She failed the 2nd interview because they stayed longer than said. They didn’t break the rules, they just didn’t leave and stayed until their visa expired. They couldn’t interview again for another 4 years. But this was 5 years ago. And if you dontknow the special treatment, let’s just not talk about it  

I guarantee you that your mom's friend broke the rules.  Time allowed in the US is not determined by the visa expiration.  Time allowed in the US is determined by the I-94.

Special treatment?  Or you not understanding that your mom's friend overstayed her I-94?  

[Jho369 13]

4 minutes ago, Boiler said:

Sounds like a 5 year bar for overstaying by more than 6 months.

They didn’t over stay their allowed time. They said they were going for only 2 months but stayed for the full 6. Like I said, they didn’t break the rules. But yhen again, that’s what i heard. What actually happened could be completely different. The end result was that whatever they did, they weren’t allowed to re interview for 4 years. I’m not saying that this is the case for everyone though but it will be extremely difficult to re apply for another one right away.

[Jho369 13]

3 minutes ago, aaron2020 said:

I guarantee you that your mom's friend broke the rules.  Time allowed in the US is not determined by the visa expiration.  Time allowed in the US is determined by the I-94.

Special treatment?  Or you not understanding that your mom's friend overstayed her I-94?  

See my response above.

[aaron2020 11,651]

1 minute ago, Jho369 said:

See my response above.

People don't get bans for complying with the terms of their visas.

 

None of this is even relevant to the OP's problem.

 

You are essentially repeating rumors.  Bad rumors.  

[Boiler 45,467]

There is no provision to bar anyone applying to visit, pay your money and you get an interview.

[Ryan H 3,812]

20 minutes ago, aaron2020 said:

People don't get bans for complying with the terms of their visas.

 

None of this is even relevant to the OP's problem.

 

You are essentially repeating rumors.  Bad rumors.  

 

This is correct.

 

**Moderator hat on**

 

***Second hand information about a situation that is not germane to the OP's circumstances is not to be belabored any further in this thread; once such post has already been removed.  Appropriate action will be taken if the direction I have given is not heeded.***

[Jho369 13]

7 minutes ago, Ryan H said:

 

This is correct.

 

**Moderator hat on**

 

***Second hand information about a situation that is not germane to the OP's circumstances is not to be belabored any further in this thread; once such post has already been removed.  Appropriate action will be taken if the direction I have given is not heeded.***

People are still unfamiliar with communist unwrittened rules are beyond me. But according the the law, everyone in VN can just apply AND pass for a tourist visa to the US right?