Visiting Visa While IR1-CR1 Is Pending

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

Please add this nice report to this new thread: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/479894-yes-you-can-visit-ir1-cr1-version/

[À Montréal 14]

Please add this nice report to this new thread: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/479894-yes-you-can-visit-ir1-cr1-version/

Good point. Done.

[Ryan H 3,819]

Good point. Done.

***Separate thread merged into this one.***

[NikLR 13,231]

Hey if anyone has visited on their B1/B2 visa as well please post. We know it's really hard to get this visa after you are married or after you start the immigration process but are you able to POE normally without issues?

[Ryan H 3,819]

***One post contributing nothing to the topic has been removed.***

[Amber and Cande 0]

My husband is in Mexico, he doesn't have any type of visa. I am the american citizen and yes I go back and forth with no problem so far. Just because you are in a pending situation they can not take away rights. If one officer shoots you down try again with another one. Normally it is just a matter of being nice and respectful to them and very important, HONEST. They are human too and most of them are not that bad. You just need to explain you miss your other half and you are just visiting.

Edited February 11, 2014 by Amber and Cande

[scienceworks 64]

Hey if anyone has visited on their B1/B2 visa as well please post. We know it's really hard to get this visa after you are married or after you start the immigration process but are you able to POE normally without issues?

My wife (who is in Germany, but Indian Citizen) had applied for B2 a year after our marriage and way way before Cr1 process started. She had stated my name in her visa application. She submitted various documents including her PhD work contract and a letter from her adviser that she is midway of her research. During the interview, the CO thought I was an LPR, until my wife pointed out my passport copy. The CO didn't really care about it. The ties were more important I suppose. She was on AP for a month since she does bio research. Visa was granted with a validity of a year and she got 6 month at POE. I was 90% pessimistic about getting it. If she had applied in India, I am pretty sure they would have rejected.

[emelielindgren 3]

I'm here in the US now, me and my husband flew in last week and Re waiting out the last of the process here, they didn't ask me anything really.. What were we doing and have a great trip.. So I moved here on the VWP and are flying home for the interview.. We are at the very last stage of the Nvc so I should have an interview before my 90 days are up.

We have our kids who are dual citizens as well

[Ivy. 113]

Kudos for the thread, we needed this. Here's my personal experience, with information of my flights since becoming engaged (a fact that was known both to the officer issuing my visa and to the people interviewing me at POE), since the marriage and since submitting I-130.


Engaged in September 2011, I requested a new B-1/B-2 visa while we were planning a wedding in Croatia. Approved, 10 years.
✈ US | Feb - Mar 2012 ➝ 3 weeks

Married in July 2012 in Croatia. Note: I-130 not submitted at this point. I get asked why, I say it does not fit our plans yet because of my Graduate school.

✈ US | Aug - Sept 2012 ➝ 4 weeks
✈ US | Feb - Mar 2013 ➝ 3 weeks

I-130 submitted in June 2013.

✈ US | Aug - Sept 2013 ➝ 5 weeks

Purpose of the trip: to visit my husband, will go back to school in Croatia. No questions about I-130, no additional documentation to show ties to my home country. I had to show my return ticket for the first time since 2011.

✈ US | Dec 2013 - Jan 2014 ➝ 3 weeks

This time I was asked why I was not moving here on an immigrant visa, I said we submitted I-130 and that I had my NOA1 if he wanted to see it. He said he knows I have everything, so he is not asking me for anything. I did not have to snow my NOA1 or return ticket or any other documentation (I had none, so good, lol).


Do keep in mind that my last trip was my 7th trip to the US, I never overstayed, have been getting maximum stay allowance the last 5 trips, am on my third B-1/B-2 visa and the visa itself is valid for 10 years. All of those things go in my favour, so I travel around with my marriage certificate, NOA1 and return ticket, no ties to home except my word that I attend a university in my country.

I am not saying you should travel without strong ties to your home country, I am just saying that those were not necessary in my case.

[quitepainful 56]

Any canadians have something to contribute? canadian/VWP are similar, except canadians dont have to go online and are usually give 6 months... IVY, you said they saw in the computer you have a pending i-130? and they jsut wanted to know that you would return? usually thats the risk... i mean as long as you are going back to your home country, they dont mind. its if they feel you are a risk and wont leave in time, then they are not so sure and send you to secondary is my understanding.

[Ivy. 113]

IVY, you said they saw in the computer you have a pending i-130? and they jsut wanted to know that you would return? usually thats the risk... i mean as long as you are going back to your home country, they dont mind. its if they feel you are a risk and wont leave in time, then they are not so sure and send you to secondary is my understanding.

Not quite.

He asked me why I was not moving to my husband, why I was just visiting for Christmas. I said I am still in school in my home country, but I want to move to the US after I finish school in Fall 2014. I told him I had my a photocopy of my notice of action if he wanted to see it, he said he knows I have everything, so he is not asking me for anything.

I do not know if he meant "I see you have submitted I-130 in the computer" or if he meant "I see you always had the documents required of you when other officers interviewed you". In Dec 2011 I told the officer interviewing me for my B1/B2 visa the 6 year plan including: marriage, grad school, CR-1/IR-1 and filing for citizenship. I figure she made a note of it in the system, as this is the second time they refused to look at my documents referencing to whatever was written in the computer.

It is quite possible he could also see a pending I-130, but I just do not have enough information to conclude that is the case.

[angeldaemon13 42]

Border control does not have access. I asked a us diplomat when I got CRBA for my son. Last week I went to the border from Canada to US to take my hubby and son to the airport. I had a friend drive and we got pulled. My hubs and son are USC. They asked why I wasn't going. I told them I was in the process and waiting on paperwork. I showed them my NOA1. I said I just wanted to see them off and I had no intent to stay. They checked their luggage and plane tickets and I had to sign a form. I was cleared to go.

[quitepainful 56]

Border control does not have access. I asked a us diplomat when I got CRBA for my son. Last week I went to the border from Canada to US to take my hubby and son to the airport. I had a friend drive and we got pulled. My hubs and son are USC. They asked why I wasn't going. I told them I was in the process and waiting on paperwork. I showed them my NOA1. I said I just wanted to see them off and I had no intent to stay. They checked their luggage and plane tickets and I had to sign a form. I was cleared to go.

what form did you sign? that is interesting... do you remember?

[angeldaemon13 42]

I don't know the title. I had to fill out my name, birth date, where I was going and how long. At the bottom it said I would not Adjust Status, a bunch of legal stuff about being truthful and that was it

They were very good to me, no issues. I came back 4 hours later.

[NikLR 13,231]

Any canadians have something to contribute? canadian/VWP are similar, except canadians dont have to go online and are usually give 6 months... IVY, you said they saw in the computer you have a pending i-130? and they jsut wanted to know that you would return? usually thats the risk... i mean as long as you are going back to your home country, they dont mind. its if they feel you are a risk and wont leave in time, then they are not so sure and send you to secondary is my understanding.

I visited my husband twice during the immigration process (once before we started) but I also had a job and stayed short periods of time. But people have and do get denied entry from Canada. Saylin was denied twice.

Btw we don't "get 6 months" but as a rule we can generally stay up to 180 days in the USA (that is per 365, not per calendar year.) But I was always asked how long I was staying whenever I flew to see my husband, where I worked and sometimes where he worked and how we met. I was not asked for proof of my ties but I brought them with me. I also ALWAYS said I was visiting my husband, because that was the truth.

Never lie.

Always be polite.

Always be friendly. (Smile!)

Don't be nervous.

Don't babble.

Answer all questions concisely.