Wife currently in US on Tourist visa with me. Looking at options as 6 month deadline approaches

[AmericaAndTurkey 0]

Hello all, 

 

My wife is from Turkey and I'm from the US.  We are currently staying here in the US riding the coronavirus out.  We came here in December, planning to just stay for a few weeks, ended up extending to help with some family issues, and have now extended indefinitely until things cool down.

 

She is on a 10 year multiple entry tourist visa where she can stay 6 months at a time.  We actually just got married officially in January, here in the US.  Her 6 months will run out in June.  We're looking at some options.

 

I've heard that some countries in Europe are waiving necessary-exit dates because they don't want people making Visa runs for obvious reasons.  I haven't heard of anything like that here in the US so far.  We're not sure if it'll be safe to travel by mid-June so we want to start looking at our options now.  Will flying out and coming back to the country be our only option?  Can we extend?  Is the government doing anything to accomodate for situations like this?  Surely there must be others in the same situation.    

 

Thank you for any help.

[JFH 12,191]

Are you planning to stay for good? If so, you can file for adjustment of status. Are you working here? There are strict financial requirements to adjust status. 
 

Otherwise she will need to leave by her max date on her I-94 or she will have overstayed and her visa will be automatically cancelled. So she will need to re-apply if she ever hopes to come back again. Has she checked with the Turkish embassy for repatriation flights? You have left it quite late, to be honest. Back at the beginning of March it was becoming clear where this was heading and flights were still operating a reasonably good schedule then. 

Edited April 24, 2020 by JFH

[AmericaAndTurkey 0]

14 hours ago, JFH said:

Are you planning to stay for good? If so, you can file for adjustment of status. Are you working here? There are strict financial requirements to adjust status. 
 

Otherwise she will need to leave by her max date on her I-94 or she will have overstayed and her visa will be automatically cancelled. So she will need to re-apply if she ever hopes to come back again. Has she checked with the Turkish embassy for repatriation flights? You have left it quite late, to be honest. Back at the beginning of March it was becoming clear where this was heading and flights were still operating a reasonably good schedule then. 

Thank you for the reply.  We are in kind of a difficult spot right now.  Originally we had planned to go back to Turkey and do a marriage ceremony with her family. Then we get quarantined in. We're staying with my parents right now.  When things started picking up with COVID in early March, we were hoping that we could ride it out and be good to go within the six month period of her visa.  Now it seems like that's not the case.  You're right, wish we could have seen the writing on the wall but hindsight is 2020, and we didn't think this would escalate to the level it has.  Most places in China have reopened after about two months.

 

We still have two months left before the 6 months expires - less time than ideal, but it's enough to figure out a plan.  We're now considering just starting the greencard application directly working with someone like Catholic Charities.  The only reason we'd held off on this was to visit her family in Turkey again before we'd started.  If we start the process that's at least another however many months/ year+ before we could see them.  That's what makes it tricky.  Trying to figure out the best way to handle everything.

Edited April 24, 2020 by AmericaAndTurkey

[Jeff and Mei 19]

18 hours ago, AmericaAndTurkey said:

Thank you for the reply.  We are in kind of a difficult spot right now.  Originally we had planned to go back to Turkey and do a marriage ceremony with her family. Then we get quarantined in. We're staying with my parents right now.  When things started picking up with COVID in early March, we were hoping that we could ride it out and be good to go within the six month period of her visa.  Now it seems like that's not the case.  You're right, wish we could have seen the writing on the wall but hindsight is 2020, and we didn't think this would escalate to the level it has.  Most places in China have reopened after about two months.

 

We still have two months left before the 6 months expires - less time than ideal, but it's enough to figure out a plan.  We're now considering just starting the greencard application directly working with someone like Catholic Charities.  The only reason we'd held off on this was to visit her family in Turkey again before we'd started.  If we start the process that's at least another however many months/ year+ before we could see them.  That's what makes it tricky.  Trying to figure out the best way to handle everything.

My wife is in the same situation.  Extend the tourist visa by filing I-539.  There is not enough time to get the actual extension before the 6 months expires but she is legal as long as the extension is pending.  There are discussions here on it.  Costs over 500 bucks.

[SalishSea 18,073]

On 4/24/2020 at 10:39 AM, AmericaAndTurkey said:

We're now considering just starting the greencard application directly working with someone like Catholic Charities. 

Why?  What can Catholic Charities do that you cannot do yourselves?

 

She can apply for AOS.  Keep in mind she won't be able to travel or work for 6-8 months, which may be a drawback if you have unfinished business in Turkey.