Visiting Visa While IR1-CR1 Is Pending

[TennMike7 8]

I-130 was approved on the 28th of Feb, 2018. Today my wife went for an interview for a tourist visa and got approved to visit. She told them that the NVC was backed up with petitions and that it would be another 6 or 7 months before she would probably get an interview so she wanted to visit.They gave it to her!!!

[Adeomoba 5]

Well for me, I was planning to visit US, So I decided to share my plan with the Attorney unfortunately his advise made me to change my mind, although he said that there is no law that says I can't enter into the US but the decisions depends on the immigration officer at the port of entry. I decided not to take chances in any form. I called my wife to let us meet in Canada..  

[MissMyHusband 22]

TennMike7 we were told that even if you get a tourist visa, you still may not get through CBP. Did your wife get to visit? Also, when did you first apply for the i130? 

[bcking 3,157]

22 minutes ago, Adeomoba said:

Well for me, I was planning to visit US, So I decided to share my plan with the Attorney unfortunately his advise made me to change my mind, although he said that there is no law that says I can't enter into the US but the decisions depends on the immigration officer at the port of entry. I decided not to take chances in any form. I called my wife to let us meet in Canada..  

It's hard. You have to accept the risk.

 

My wife chose to travel through Dublin thinking that if she was refused at least the flight home to London would be short. Rather than flying all the way to the US to find out you are denied. I believe Montreal does the same thing.

 

However, I think at least in Dublin they are more strict and suspicious, because we had a horrible experience there.

 

It's a tough spot to be in...but you'll make it through eventually! We certainly did. Going on one year living together next month.

[TennMike7 8]

15 hours ago, MissMyHusband said:

TennMike7 we were told that even if you get a tourist visa, you still may not get through CBP. Did your wife get to visit? Also, when did you first apply for the i130? 

Well, we haven't decided to travel yet. But this thread is titled Yes You can visit. It's like 59 pages of people's experiences visiting while having pending CR-1s. Seems legit.

 

I've been told lots of things and believed less than half. So many people are experts and can tell you what this happens or that happens or that this is how it works etc. The only people you can really listen to are the people that recently have been through it and give testimony. That's what you find on this thread. It's backed up.

 

My family harped at me for months about how my wife can just get the next plane and come here cause somebody they work with did it and she's married to an American citizen and that's how it works and such and such said you just get on a plane and they open the door for you, etc. I spent my first six months back in the U.S. explaining daily how immigration laws worked while the "experts" would try to give me wrong advice. I got my Brazilian permanent residency and my wife's petition this far both without a lawyer and all on our own, many times disregarding the expertise of others. The comments on this forum are trustworthy for the most part because they are people involved in the same process and giving actual testimony to their particular situations with immigration.

 

Some things are also common sense. If you are coming to visit a spouse for two weeks and don't have a return flight ticket, no job in your home country and are carrying three large suitcases jam-packed do you really expect passport control to not lift any eyebrows?

[CO_Tonya 55]

My husband has been traveling back and forth under Esta - Visa waiver to visit staying anywhere from 30-60 days.   He always gets picked for secondary screening when going through customs, but he is honest and up front, answers all their questions and we have never had any issues thus far.  It was a risk per what people were saying, but we have been successful. 

[Elrona 101]

On 2/11/2018 at 8:17 AM, Elrona said:

I work as a ski instructor at home and as soon as I got back in January I started 6-day work week with little off time. In March, around the same time for my trip, the snow will probably be gone anyway ("love" living at low altitude, spring comes way too early) and ski instructor job would end. My other work just has a lot of freedom around the time with capability to do some of the work online.

 

And like you guessed - start date in December in Summit is for ski industry. More specifically ski patrol tryouts and as much as I've done research, skiing part of it is pretty much hard skiing on black slopes all day so it will be demanding. I'm not in a bad shape but when I got to Breckenridge in the fall, even walking and talking at the same time would leave me out of breath,  because not really used to altitude.

 

It is quite high risk travel (I try to stay positive but I am very nervous), I still feel like if I wouldn't try I would really regret it later (ski patrol try outs are just once every year and taking part this spring would give me the hope of getting the position in the upcoming winter IF I-130 also goes through nicely). Worse that can happen, is that I just get to take flight back to Europe, as much as I've searched into it.

Just to share my experience that although my entry this time was quite high risk (I was in USA from Oct until Jan, almost maximum on ESTA and wanted to come again for 3 weeks in March) everything went smoothly. I was asked where I am going and why (my answer was primary leisure) and then we discussed how much snow there should be still because its quite warm outside (entered through JFK). I was so nervous but it worked out better than expected. 

[Westdxb 0]

On 3/16/2018 at 11:39 PM, bcking said:

My wife has her green card, lives with  me, and she still can't go to the US Citizen line. When we travel together they tell us both to go to the "Visa or Foreign Visitor" line, or I can go to my line and meet her on the other side.

 

 

If you are getting an IR-1/CR-1, as your profile states, you should be able to just enter on your permanent resident visa after you get it, and then leave if you need to go home. There isn't anything that makes you stay here once you come.

 

My wife "moved" here in late April, but flew back home to the UK in late May, maybe 3-4 weeks later. She stayed for a couple more weeks (had some weddings to go to, and more packing etc...) and then came back. That was all done on her IR-1/CR-1 in her passport. I think she got some questions like "Why did you leave?" when she came back the second time, but there are no rules saying you can't leave the US again.

 

If it's multiple "visits" before you finally move I don't know. I'm fairly certain that it is effective on your first trip after you get your passport back. You can't just choose not to "activate" it or something. But I still don't see why they would care if you are making frequent trips home. You are still a citizen of your home country, and you are permanent resident of this one. So you would be able to go back and forth. 

 

Good to know this  .  I appreciate your taking the time to share this with me. Thank you.

[kosovo 0]

Hey everyone!

We applied on January 2018 for spouse visa I-130.On February we received a letter that they got the receipt.Whats next?

Also before applying for the spouse visa I applied for turist visa so I could go and visit my husband but it was denied..can I apply again know and is there any chance I will get the turist visa?

Waiting is stressful!!!And I really miss my husband😞😞😞😞

[Ryan H 3,818]

13 hours ago, kosovo said:

Hey everyone!

We applied on January 2018 for spouse visa I-130.On February we received a letter that they got the receipt.Whats next?

Also before applying for the spouse visa I applied for turist visa so I could go and visit my husband but it was denied..can I apply again know and is there any chance I will get the turist visa?

Waiting is stressful!!!And I really miss my husband😞😞😞😞

 

You can apply again for a tourist visa but the chances of you being granted one are virtually nil.

[TennMike7 8]

15 hours ago, kosovo said:

Hey everyone!

We applied on January 2018 for spouse visa I-130.On February we received a letter that they got the receipt.Whats next?

Also before applying for the spouse visa I applied for turist visa so I could go and visit my husband but it was denied..can I apply again know and is there any chance I will get the turist visa?

Waiting is stressful!!!And I really miss my husband😞😞😞😞

I'm not exactly sure why people would say that your chances are "nil". This entire thread of 59 pages so far is from people who are saying yes you can visit, yes, we did it and yes you can get a tourist visa. They are telling their personal experiences of having visited and that you can. I would be interested in hearing more details from the few here and there who say comments like "nil"...

 

On the other hand... you were already denied for a tourist visa once. Why in the world why? You have no connections to your actually country? Did you basically show up to your appointment as if you were only trying to get into the U.S. and never leave? There are only so many reasons that a person would get denied for a tourist visa. I know truly sketchy people who don't even speak English who have gotten tourist visas and visited several times. If you've been denied once, there must've been a reason, so maybe your chances are "nil".

Edited April 6, 2018 by TennMike7

[kosovo 0]

2 minutes ago, TennMike7 said:

I'm not exactly sure why people would say that your chances are "nil". This entire thread of 59 pages so far is from people who are saying yes you can visit, yes, we did it and yes you can get a tourist visa. They are telling their personal experiences of having visited and that you can. I would be interested in hearing more details from the few here and there who say comments like "nil"...

 

On the other hand... you were already denied for a tourist visa once. Why in the world why? You have no connections to your actually country? Did you basically show up to your appointment as if you were only trying to get into the U.S. and never leave? There are only so many reasons that a person would get denied for a tourist visa. I know truly sketchy people who don't even speak English who have gotten tourist visas and visited several times. If you've been denied once, there must've been a reason, so maybe your chances are "nil".

Then officer told me that I just moved to Canada,and I had a part time job so he said that it was better to apply for a spouse visa or re-apply for turist visa after some months!

Im just worried if it’s bad for the spouse visa if I do apply again..

[TennMike7 8]

7 minutes ago, kosovo said:

Then officer told me that I just moved to Canada,and I had a part time job so he said that it was better to apply for a spouse visa or re-apply for turist visa after some months!

Im just worried if it’s bad for the spouse visa if I do apply again..

Sounds odd. Told you to reapply after some months. Obviously, English isn't your first language (which means nothing). But there are other details to your case that you probably already know.

 

[Boiler 45,767]

2 hours ago, TennMike7 said:

I'm not exactly sure why people would say that your chances are "nil". This entire thread of 59 pages so far is from people who are saying yes you can visit, yes, we did it and yes you can get a tourist visa. They are telling their personal experiences of having visited and that you can. I would be interested in hearing more details from the few here and there who say comments like "nil"...

 

On the other hand... you were already denied for a tourist visa once. Why in the world why? You have no connections to your actually country? Did you basically show up to your appointment as if you were only trying to get into the U.S. and never leave? There are only so many reasons that a person would get denied for a tourist visa. I know truly sketchy people who don't even speak English who have gotten tourist visas and visited several times. If you've been denied once, there must've been a reason, so maybe your chances are "nil".

How many people in this thread obtained a Visitor Visa after they applied to immigrate?

[TennMike7 8]

11 hours ago, Boiler said:

How many people in this thread obtained a Visitor Visa after they applied to immigrate?

I just did last month. 

 

I’m not gonna go through the pages and count if that’s what you thought.