CR1 - Traveling to the USA once before immigrating later.

[thanhmakeysother 1]

My wife and I are trying to figure out our plans for the next six months.

 

As my wife has never met any of my family, we would like to visit them ASAP and then make our final move a few months later.

I've read that after POE, your passport gets stamped with a temporary green card. (I-551), which should allow her to leave and enter later.

 

Do the following plans sound appropriate? 

 

• August 19th, visa approved.
• October 6th spouse enters the USA
• October 31st spouse leaves the USA
• February 3rd spouse re-enters the USA with the intent to reside there indefinitely.

 

 

Would it be an improvement if she only leaves the USA once her green card arrives?

 

 

The Information I've gathered from search results is rather inconsistent and I can't really tell if there would be any issue.

[payxibka 10,045]

4 minutes ago, thanhmakeysother said:

My wife and I are trying to figure out our plans for the next six months.

 

As my wife has never met any of my family, we would like to visit them ASAP and then make our final move a few months later.

I've read that after POE, your passport gets stamped with a temporary green card. (I-551), which should allow her to leave and enter later.

 

Do the following plans sound appropriate? 

 

• August 19th, visa approved.
• October 6th spouse enters the USA
• October 31st spouse leaves the USA
• February 3rd spouse re-enters the USA with the intent to reside there indefinitely.

 

 

Would it be an improvement if she only leaves the USA once her green card arrives?

 

 

The Information I've gathered from search results is rather inconsistent and I can't really tell if there would be any issue.

Stamp in passport, physical card in hand.  Doesn't matter 

[Just Paul 4,595]

7 minutes ago, thanhmakeysother said:

Would it be an improvement if she only leaves the USA once her green card arrives?

Not an issue.  The stamp in the passport is a green card for a year.

[thanhmakeysother 1]

And so there isn't any concern with travel plans like these?

 

No chance she could be denied entry when she arrives again in February?

[payxibka 10,045]

2 minutes ago, thanhmakeysother said:

And so there isn't any concern with travel plans like these?

 

No chance she could be denied entry when she arrives again in February?

Slightly more than 90 days.  No issues 

[designguy 1,179]

24 minutes ago, thanhmakeysother said:

• August 19th, visa approved.
• October 6th spouse enters the USA
• October 31st spouse leaves the USA
• February 3rd spouse re-enters the USA with the intent to reside there indefinitely.

When you say her visa is approved do you mean approved at USCIS or issued and in her passport? If only approved and not issued then October 6th would be pretty ambitious to go through NVC, intereview etc and have the visa in hand by then. Just wondering

[thanhmakeysother 1]

26 minutes ago, designguy said:

When you say her visa is approved do you mean approved at USCIS or issued and in her passport? If only approved and not issued then October 6th would be pretty ambitious to go through NVC, intereview etc and have the visa in hand by then. Just wondering

We've had the interview at the embassy and she was approved. We're expecting to get her passport returned with the week.

 

Of course, we're not making any solid plans until it's in hand, but supposedly it should be very soon.

[pushbrk 12,897]

5 hours ago, thanhmakeysother said:

And so there isn't any concern with travel plans like these?

 

No chance she could be denied entry when she arrives again in February?

EVERY entry is a judgment call.  That said, I don't see any reason those plans would be a problem.  If the green card arrives, you can always send it to her by FedEX or DHL, etc.

[Ryan H 3,812]

Moved from IR-1/CR-1 Process & Procedures to Working & Traveling During US Immigration forum.

[Mollie09 1,543]

Also, just to be super clear, you wouldn't be "traveling" and then "immigrating later" - as soon as you enter with an immigrant visa, consider yourself to have "immigrated" and act accordingly, even if your plan is to leave and come back later. At that point, leaving is "going on a trip" and coming back is "coming home".
May be just semantics, but it's the kind of thing that can avoid headaches.

[WandY 430]

37 minutes ago, Mollie09 said:

Also, just to be super clear, you wouldn't be "traveling" and then "immigrating later" - as soon as you enter with an immigrant visa, consider yourself to have "immigrated" and act accordingly, even if your plan is to leave and come back later. At that point, leaving is "going on a trip" and coming back is "coming home".
May be just semantics, but it's the kind of thing that can avoid headaches.

Excellent point! With immigration, words matter.

[Nitas_man 3,100]

On 8/21/2019 at 1:36 PM, thanhmakeysother said:

My wife and I are trying to figure out our plans for the next six months.

 

As my wife has never met any of my family, we would like to visit them ASAP and then make our final move a few months later.

I've read that after POE, your passport gets stamped with a temporary green card. (I-551), which should allow her to leave and enter later.

 

Do the following plans sound appropriate? 

 

• August 19th, visa approved.
• October 6th spouse enters the USA
• October 31st spouse leaves the USA
• February 3rd spouse re-enters the USA with the intent to reside there indefinitely.

 

 

Would it be an improvement if she only leaves the USA once her green card arrives?

 

 

The Information I've gathered from search results is rather inconsistent and I can't really tell if there would be any issue.

Pretty much what we did.  Stamped the visa in March, left 3 weeks later, returned permanently end of June.

[Lil bear 4,217]

On 8/21/2019 at 1:36 PM, thanhmakeysother said:

My wife and I are trying to figure out our plans for the next six months.

 

As my wife has never met any of my family, we would like to visit them ASAP and then make our final move a few months later.

I've read that after POE, your passport gets stamped with a temporary green card. (I-551), which should allow her to leave and enter later.

 

Do the following plans sound appropriate? 

 

• August 19th, visa approved.
• October 6th spouse enters the USA
• October 31st spouse leaves the USA
• February 3rd spouse re-enters the USA with the intent to reside there indefinitely.

 

 

Would it be an improvement if she only leaves the USA once her green card arrives?

 

 

The Information I've gathered from search results is rather inconsistent and I can't really tell if there would be any issue.

Won’t be a problem. I

did the same thing with similar times gaps between entering , leaving and reentering.   All

good