Visiting Visa While IR1-CR1 Is Pending

[Auds 223]

11 hours ago, bcking said:

I still wish we had his name and I would have reported him. I was there (he separated us into two windowless rooms and interviewed us separately). He flat out called us idiots (Something like "I've seen your type before. You both think you are so smart with your good jobs, but you really are just idiots when it comes to things like this"). This was before even asking myself (or my wife) what our situation was (So at that point he didn't even know my wife had applied for her green card, that it was approved by USCIS and we were awaiting arrival to the NVC. he hadn't seen her return flight, or let us explain why she was coming with me for 3 weeks).

 

It was also going through Dublin (pre-flight screening) because my wife has anxiety with flying. So in the future I'd say maybe avoid those "pre-flight" screening places because I think maybe their threshold to be a**holes is lower. Maybe they get more fraud than other places, not sure. My wife just didn't want to get on a 10 hour flight, to then have someone turn her away at the end.

I have visited twice in the past 3 months.

 

one was through Abu Dhabi ( pre-flight screening) if anything it was easier.

 

never did i show a single document.  In fact i didnt even have the return flight booked once as i was waiting on a mtg conf in home country and wanted to stay another day or two if that was possible with hubby in US.

 

i do have a spotless history if visiting 8 times in two years and leaving on two weeks or less (once was 4 weeks).

 

i would encourage visits - the distance is horrible for marriages.

 

 

[Auds 223]

On 5/31/2017 at 3:02 AM, Sharif Shakhshir said:

I was just looking into the same thing... about having my wife enter the US under her B-2 visa.  The following suggests that it is not a good idea...

http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/just-married-us-citizen-the-us-can-i-travel-b-2-before-filing-adjust-status.html

This case the person has not already filed theor cr/ir visa

[Bengal 3]

34 minutes ago, Auds said:

I have visited twice in the past 3 months.

 

one was through Abu Dhabi ( pre-flight screening) if anything it was easier.

 

never did i show a single document.  In fact i didnt even have the return flight booked once as i was waiting on a mtg conf in home country and wanted to stay another day or two if that was possible with hubby in US.

 

i do have a spotless history if visiting 8 times in two years and leaving on two weeks or less (once was 4 weeks).

 

i would encourage visits - the distance is horrible for marriages.

 

 

I also visited once after my marriage. They didn't ask me many questions or wanted to see any papers. 

I think I'll just hope for the best and will visit him once my case is completed by NVC. 

Thank you though

[bcking 3,157]

6 hours ago, Auds said:

I have visited twice in the past 3 months.

 

one was through Abu Dhabi ( pre-flight screening) if anything it was easier.

 

never did i show a single document.  In fact i didnt even have the return flight booked once as i was waiting on a mtg conf in home country and wanted to stay another day or two if that was possible with hubby in US.

 

i do have a spotless history if visiting 8 times in two years and leaving on two weeks or less (once was 4 weeks).

 

i would encourage visits - the distance is horrible for marriages.

 

 

My wife had a 3 year history of visiting me, probably around 16 times. Then we married.

 

The bad experience was the only time in 12 months after marrying that she came to visit. It was such a horrible experience she never wanted to do it again.

[Auds 223]

2 minutes ago, bcking said:

My wife had a 3 year history of visiting me, probably around 16 times. Then we married.

 

The bad experience was the only time in 12 months after marrying that she came to visit. It was such a horrible experience she never wanted to do it again.

My horrible experience was replacing a new b1 as my old one got damaged - i was denied a new  after an ordeal.  At thst point my spose visa was not filed.

 

i applied again once USCIS approval came in, got visa and since then no issues visiting.  The only important question has been status of husband - when i said citizen they were cool.

 

maybe the fact that i run a business in Dubai helps... my passport show that i am Director of the business.

[Daneandkathy 53]

Hey all

So brief overview: husband is Macedonian, we are in month 6 of I-130 process waiting for the next step to NVC.

 

My dad is going on a business trip and my mom has MS, so we are hoping to go home for a few months to help her. 

 

Now good news: husband was just approved for a 10yr visitor visa, YAY!!

We have booked tickets which have us stay for around 5mths (August to Early Jan). 

Any suggestions of documents (such as the letter from the Doc stating my mom's condition and the letter from dad of invitation)

 

I have heard it is usually a max of 6mths at a time, can anyone confirm that (otherwise I need to quickly change my tickets). The info we got with the visa only said "duration of stay will be decided by officer at port of entry". 

 

Thanks for any advice and support we will keep you all updated of how it goes. 

 

K&D

[Boiler 45,557]

1 hour ago, Daneandkathy said:

The info we got with the visa only said "duration of stay will be decided by officer at port of entry". 

Correct

 

As always focus on why he needs to go home, letter from his employer saying when he is expected back at work etc.

Edited June 1, 2017 by Boiler

[bcking 3,157]

7 hours ago, Auds said:

My horrible experience was replacing a new b1 as my old one got damaged - i was denied a new  after an ordeal.  At thst point my spose visa was not filed.

 

i applied again once USCIS approval came in, got visa and since then no issues visiting.  The only important question has been status of husband - when i said citizen they were cool.

 

maybe the fact that i run a business in Dubai helps... my passport show that i am Director of the business.

I think it depends completely on who you happen to get at the desk.

 

The guy we got asked us no questions, refused to take any of the documents we had prepared to show her plan to return to the UK. He just entered her passport information and then sent us to secondary. The officer in secondary, similarly, called us up, separated us immediately (again no questions asked first) and then proceeded to grill me for 20 minutes before he let me speak (He essentially said "I want you to answer my questions exactly as I ask them, and if you hesitate or if you try to lie to me, believe me I will know about it". He then asked rapid fire repetitive questions like my birthday, her birthday, where we were married, and he would repeat the questions I guess hoping I would "slip up" or something.

 

So it wasn't anything we gave them that was a red flag, or anything we didn't give them because still 30+ minutes in we had never been able to give anyone anything other than our passports. As I said she has no red flags on her passport (many of her friends, since she is in Oil and Gas, have been places like Iran but she has not. She had travelled as I said more than a dozen times to the US to see me, and more times before that on business trips with her company).

 

We were also traveling together, which some people have said seems to make them unhappy for some reason.

[Auds 223]

3 hours ago, bcking said:

I think it depends completely on who you happen to get at the desk.

 

The guy we got asked us no questions, refused to take any of the documents we had prepared to show her plan to return to the UK. He just entered her passport information and then sent us to secondary. The officer in secondary, similarly, called us up, separated us immediately (again no questions asked first) and then proceeded to grill me for 20 minutes before he let me speak (He essentially said "I want you to answer my questions exactly as I ask them, and if you hesitate or if you try to lie to me, believe me I will know about it". He then asked rapid fire repetitive questions like my birthday, her birthday, where we were married, and he would repeat the questions I guess hoping I would "slip up" or something.

 

So it wasn't anything we gave them that was a red flag, or anything we didn't give them because still 30+ minutes in we had never been able to give anyone anything other than our passports. As I said she has no red flags on her passport (many of her friends, since she is in Oil and Gas, have been places like Iran but she has not. She had travelled as I said more than a dozen times to the US to see me, and more times before that on business trips with her company).

 

We were also traveling together, which some people have said seems to make them unhappy for some reason.

Aaha so maybe it is the travelling together!  Did you havr a lot of luggage?

 

togetherness is not good!  Newly weds must be seperated for a year or two - suffering, anxiety, pining and more is how married life must start...

[bcking 3,157]

11 minutes ago, Auds said:

Aaha so maybe it is the travelling together!  Did you havr a lot of luggage?

 

togetherness is not good!  Newly weds must be seperated for a year or two - suffering, anxiety, pining and more is how married life must start...

Nothing unusual for our travel history. We had just been in Indonesia for 6 weeks so I had my kit from that, plus she had stuff for the 3 weeks she was going to spend in Houston.

 

They didn't see our baggage though, since we checked it all. Unless behind the scenes they do?

 

It might well have been us traveling together combined with flying through Dublin despite my wife being from the UK. When I was allowed to speak I explained to the officer it was because of my wife's anxiety with flying, which at least to me is reasonable but I they likely don't care. I can't imagine anyone would like to fly for 10 hours only to be turned away. Better to fly 1 hour first, get screened, then fly the rest.

[Boiler 45,557]

There is a mega thread about visiting during the process, many people do, the vast majority without issue.

 

I did.

 

Hopefully a friendly Mod will merge the threads.

[Sharif Shakhshir 5]

6 hours ago, Boiler said:

There is a mega thread about visiting during the process, many people do, the vast majority without issue.

 

I did.

 

Hopefully a friendly Mod will merge the threads.

Can you please share link to this other thread?

 

Tonight, I was dropping off my daughter at Los Angeles International Airport and I spoke to two immigration officers and explained the situation of being in the middle of the i-130 approval for my Jordanian wife and the likelihood that my wife would be able to enter the country.  They both said that she would probably be denied.

 

This is so very confusing because all of the people on visa journey have spoken of multiple entries, but when I speak to immigration officers at Customs and Border Patrol, they counsel that it would be a very bad idea to attempt entry before obtaining a full immigrant visa.

[Daneandkathy 53]

@Boiler at the moment these are our documents for proof of ties: letter stating we are building a house from the city, letter saying he is employed (but nothing about when he is expected to return), letter from the government office saying  the business he works at is real, proof showing we bought a years worth of health insurance here

 

the reason we are going is to help my mum (she has MS) while my dad is away, so we have a letter of invite from my dad, a letter from the doctor stating her condition and that i am her usual caregiver. 

 

what do you think. We are going for 5mths because we get to celebrate both their birthdays before my dad leaves and the christmas with them once he gets back. 

 

K&D

[Boiler 45,557]

He recently obtained a visa on the basis of his situation and wanting to go for 5 months so that is a big positive.

 

As I said they are not that interested why he wants to come in, more why he needs to leave. Accompanying you to visit Parents your mother having MS etc is more than enough.

[Daneandkathy 53]

@Boiler thanks, been hearing so much negative was getting nervous... it is good to hear something positive. We knows its a risk but we are going for an honest reason and we are expecting our interview to be right when we return so another reason for coming back.

 

K&D