Does she need to return to her home country???

[doz180 0]

I'm not sure what to do, any help would really be appreciated.

My wife is from Honduras. We met three years ago when she came to the United States for a vacation(she has a lot of family here). We fell in love and decided to start a long distance relationship. At the time she was a university student in Taiwan. She had a full scholarship and just graduated in June. Every semester break she would come and live with me here in NYC(she has a B1/2 visa). During her winter break in February we decided to get married, which we did here in New York. She then returned to Taiwan to finish school. She then had a chance to stay in Taiwan to go to graduate school but decided to return to New York to start a new life here with me. She is currently here with her B1/2 visa which says she can stay until december, at that point she needs to leave the country. We are trying to figure out how to file the paperwork so she can stay here as my wife. Does she need to return to Honduras while I file the paperwork? Or can she stay here with me? Any help would be appreciated greatly. I want to do this properly so she doesn't have any problems. I fear it was a big mistake not to start the paperwork immediatly after we got married in February.

[Urge To Race 2]

I'm not sure what to do, any help would really be appreciated.

My wife is from Honduras. We met three years ago when she came to the United States for a vacation(she has a lot of family here). We fell in love and decided to start a long distance relationship. At the time she was a university student in Taiwan. She had a full scholarship and just graduated in June. Every semester break she would come and live with me here in NYC(she has a B1/2 visa). During her winter break in February we decided to get married, which we did here in New York. She then returned to Taiwan to finish school. She then had a chance to stay in Taiwan to go to graduate school but decided to return to New York to start a new life here with me. She is currently here with her B1/2 visa which says she can stay until december, at that point she needs to leave the country. We are trying to figure out how to file the paperwork so she can stay here as my wife. Does she need to return to Honduras while I file the paperwork? Or can she stay here with me? Any help would be appreciated greatly. I want to do this properly so she doesn't have any problems. I fear it was a big mistake not to start the paperwork immediatly after we got married in February.

Hi Doz180,

Welcome to VJ. If you were able to file in Feb after you got married, she would have been able to stay with you. Since at that time it appears from your posting that your marriage was spontaneous when it happened, the fact that she entered on a non-immigrant visa would not have been a problem in terms of visa fraud. You could have filed for AOS (adjustment of status) and she could have stayed with you. However, since she had to go back to Taiwan quickly (winter break isn't that long I assume), that may not have been a suitable option, as she needed to leave quickly, and you wouldn't have been able to file for AOS and then gotten advanced parole fast enough for her to return to complete school.

So, now she may be able enter on the B1, but you can't do AOS. She will have to leave again in December. You will have to choose from the CR-1 or K3 paths. Of course, you would have been further along those paths had you started in Feb instead of now, but thats besides the point.

Good Luck

[pushbrk 13,114]

I'm not sure what to do, any help would really be appreciated.

My wife is from Honduras. We met three years ago when she came to the United States for a vacation(she has a lot of family here). We fell in love and decided to start a long distance relationship. At the time she was a university student in Taiwan. She had a full scholarship and just graduated in June. Every semester break she would come and live with me here in NYC(she has a B1/2 visa). During her winter break in February we decided to get married, which we did here in New York. She then returned to Taiwan to finish school. She then had a chance to stay in Taiwan to go to graduate school but decided to return to New York to start a new life here with me. She is currently here with her B1/2 visa which says she can stay until december, at that point she needs to leave the country. We are trying to figure out how to file the paperwork so she can stay here as my wife. Does she need to return to Honduras while I file the paperwork? Or can she stay here with me? Any help would be appreciated greatly. I want to do this properly so she doesn't have any problems. I fear it was a big mistake not to start the paperwork immediatly after we got married in February.

You should at least have one consultation with a qualified Immigration Attorney in your case.

There are likely to be some other opinions here and in this case I wouldn't take mine as gospel if I were you, but I think she may qualify to stay and adjust status. This is based on a literal interpretation of your statements above and that they are accurate in every detail. My interpretation is that she was already in the US when you decided to get married. She did not enter the US with the intent of marrying and staying to adjust status. She entered to spend her winter break with her boyfriend and while here, decided to get married. Further, she left the US and went back to school. The sticking point could be that she entered the US, this time, on a tourist visa, with the intention of staying and adjusting status. I know she's willing to leave if that is what is needed and it may be.

One option is for her to find a job with a US employer who will sponsor her for a visa that allows her to stay and adjust status. (Is that H1B or H2B?)

In any event, there are probably options in your case that will allow her to stay but you'll want to evaluate them all very carefully.

[Yodrak 7]

doz180,

I agree with pushbrk. You will probably like what you hear and learn from the attorney.

Yodrak

I'm not sure what to do, any help would really be appreciated.

My wife is from Honduras. We met three years ago when she came to the United States for a vacation(she has a lot of family here). We fell in love and decided to start a long distance relationship. At the time she was a university student in Taiwan. She had a full scholarship and just graduated in June. Every semester break she would come and live with me here in NYC(she has a B1/2 visa). During her winter break in February we decided to get married, which we did here in New York. She then returned to Taiwan to finish school. She then had a chance to stay in Taiwan to go to graduate school but decided to return to New York to start a new life here with me. She is currently here with her B1/2 visa which says she can stay until december, at that point she needs to leave the country. We are trying to figure out how to file the paperwork so she can stay here as my wife. Does she need to return to Honduras while I file the paperwork? Or can she stay here with me? Any help would be appreciated greatly. I want to do this properly so she doesn't have any problems. I fear it was a big mistake not to start the paperwork immediatly after we got married in February.

You should at least have one consultation with a qualified Immigration Attorney in your case.

.....

[doz180 0]

I would like to thank you all for your prompt, informative replies to my question.

I will contact an immigration attorney as soon as possible to find out if there is any alternative to her leaving again. We got married on a spur of the moment type of thing and soon after that she had to return to Taiwan to start her semester. I didn't know what I should do since she is a Honduran who had a scholarship to a University in Taiwan and therefore had special permission from the Taiwanese government to be in that country living/studying and I didn't want to do anything to cause her problems with that. I work fulltime and study fulltime at night and I'm less than a year away from earning my degree so I don't want to leave New York without completing my studies. So, if she has to return to Honduras for a while we will just have to be strong and deal with it.

I will also explore the possibility of a US employer sponsoring her, she just completed a B.S. in Fire Science and she is trilingual(Mandarin/English/Spanish) so maybe somebody will hire her.

Once again, thank you for your guidance.

[Kez/JWolf 6]

Do not do anything until you have spoken to an immigration lawyer..... there is a good chance that she may be able to do AOS and not have to leave.... go and check it out before you do anything else.....

Kez

[andi598d 0]

I normally speak out against the "AoS on tourist visa" route of immigration based on my own experience with it, but based on your description of your situation, it sounds like this is viable and appropriate in your case. I would, however, recommend speaking to an immigration attorney before doing anything, just like all the other good folks did.

[Kez/JWolf 6]

I normally speak out against the "AoS on tourist visa" route of immigration based on my own experience with it, but based on your description of your situation, it sounds like this is viable and appropriate in your case. I would, however, recommend speaking to an immigration attorney before doing anything, just like all the other good folks did.

Why would you speak out against other doing AOS from a tourist/VWP visa.... if you meat the conditions then it is a legal way to do AOS.... what about your case makes you speak out against it???

Kez