Tourist visa while I-130 processes?

[juliagus 2]

We've applied for the I-130 on August 1st 2022. I just found out that our service center is not what was on the confirmation paper that they sent out but is actually the Vermont Service Center. We were basing our timelines on the Nebraska Service Center and now have had to change gears to the Vermont timelines. I graduate college in Spring of 2024 and would really like my husband to be there to see me walk and be able to spend some time with my family in the U.S. celebrating my achievement. Based on the timelines here and from what I've seen on Reddit, we probably won't have his visa ready to go by the time I graduate, or it will be very close. 

 

So now my question, is it possible to apply for a tourist visa for him to come to the U.S. for a couple of months WHILE the I-130 is processing? Would he even be approved at the time of the B2 visa interview? Would the embassy officials think it's suspicious and that he's going to overstay the B2 visa? Has anyone else applied for a tourist visa and gone to visit while the I-130 was processing?

[Crazy Cat 41,651]

6 minutes ago, juliagus said:

is it possible to apply for a tourist visa for him to come to the U.S. for a couple of months WHILE the I-130 is processing?

Possible to apply?  Yes.

Spouse in US

Immigrant intent established with an I-130

He is free to apply, but I would not expect success.  

6 minutes ago, juliagus said:

Would the embassy officials think it's suspicious and that he's going to overstay the B2 visa?

Absolutely......Many people would like to bypass the long wait for immigrant visas.

Edited March 22, 2023 by Crazy Cat

[juliagus 2]

I should probably add that before we submitted the I-130, we had somewhat decided that we were going to stay in Brazil and build our lives here, etc etc. But then we decided that we should move to the U.S. because of more opportunities for my husband. But during this decision making time we applied for a B2 visa in July 2022 to visit my parents over Christmas and he was denied. He literally got 30 seconds and didn't even speak besides "yes" and "no" and was denied. We had all the proof in the world that we were coming back to Brazil, that he had significant ties to the country and would come back, but was denied. 

 

Is it even worth the money and hassle to go through the process again knowing he was denied once?

Edited March 22, 2023 by juliagus

[Crazy Cat 41,651]

3 minutes ago, juliagus said:

I should probably add that before we submitted the I-130, we had somewhat decided that we were going to stay in Brazil and build our lives here, etc etc. But then we decided that we should move to the U.S. because of more opportunities for my husband. But during this decision making time we applied for a B2 visa in July 2022 to visit my parents over Christmas and he was denied. He literally got 30 seconds and didn't even speak besides "yes" and "no" and was denied. We had all the proof in the world that we were coming back to Brazil, that he had significant ties to the country and would come back, but was denied. 

 

Is it even worth the money and hassle to go through the process again knowing he was denied once?

It doesn't sound like his circumstances have changed.  Good luck.

[Boiler 45,362]

You had all the proof in the world he was going back to Brazil, but you then filed an I 130? 

 

That does not add up.

[powerpuff 6,619]

~~ Topic moved to Tourist Visas forum as the question is about a US tourist visa ~~

[Sammy_2496 116]

He is free to apply for a B2… but i really don’t see him getting one unfortunately :(. The i-130 petition already shows he has immigrant intent. Unfortunately the person at the consulate doesn’t have to look at his documentation which will prove ties to his home country. 
Good luck with the spouse visa, i wish you the best 💗

[Bill Oxner 18]

18 hours ago, Boiler said:

You had all the proof in the world he was going back to Brazil, but you then filed an I 130? 

 

That does not add up.

Sir that is a good point

[carmel34 3,611]

Unfortunately, in the last few years, more and more Brazilians are using a tourist visa to enter the US, overstay, and figure out a way to get a green card via marriage, asylum, whatever they can do.  Some just end up staying and working illegally for years.  There are Facebook groups for these folks, and attorneys who have built their entire practice catering to their needs.  All of this has made it much more difficult for Brazilians to get a B2 even when they have no intention of overstaying.  Your best hope is that the spousal visa gets approved in time.  Good luck!

Edited March 23, 2023 by carmel34

[Gonzalez64069 0]

I am in the same boat, and I did get a B2 Visa for my wife while waiting for her I-130. Before we got married, I applied for her B2 visa and there was a 2-year waiting period in Honduras and our appointment was for 10/31/2023. We got married in August of 2022 and submitted her paperwork in October 2022. Sometime in February of 2023, I got an email stating if I wanted to change my date to an earlier date and we did. Her appointment got changed to mid-March and I flew down to be there with her. We went to the embassy and told her not to lie and to let them know that USCIS is processing her I-130 and that she just wanted a B2 visa so we can spend time together in the states and travel. She went through the interview and answered their questions. She even told them she was married to a US Citizen, and we just wanted to travel and visit family together. They approved her visa,and she is coming in a few days so we can travel around. The key here is not to lie.

[curiousimmigrant3 9]

On 3/22/2023 at 11:39 AM, juliagus said:

I should probably add that before we submitted the I-130, we had somewhat decided that we were going to stay in Brazil and build our lives here, etc etc. But then we decided that we should move to the U.S. because of more opportunities for my husband. But during this decision making time we applied for a B2 visa in July 2022 to visit my parents over Christmas and he was denied. He literally got 30 seconds and didn't even speak besides "yes" and "no" and was denied. We had all the proof in the world that we were coming back to Brazil, that he had significant ties to the country and would come back, but was denied. 

 

Is it even worth the money and hassle to go through the process again knowing he was denied once?

did you end up applying? did it work? we also think of trying the tourist visa again (for me, 2x denied) after submitting the I-130 to hopefully be in the US for Thanksgiving, Christmas or something

[Boiler 45,362]

23 minutes ago, curiousimmigrant3 said:

did you end up applying? did it work? we also think of trying the tourist visa again (for me, 2x denied) after submitting the I-130 to hopefully be in the US for Thanksgiving, Christmas or something

Do you have all the proof you will be returning?

[juliagus 2]

1 hour ago, Boiler said:

Do you have all the proof you will be returning?

We have our 1-year apartment contract, plus my husband has a business here in Brazil that he currently is working at. We really just wanted to have the tourist visa so in case our I-130 takes a bajillion years to process we could spend Christmas or Thanksgiving with my parents this year. 

[juliagus 2]

1 hour ago, curiousimmigrant3 said:

did you end up applying? did it work? we also think of trying the tourist visa again (for me, 2x denied) after submitting the I-130 to hopefully be in the US for Thanksgiving, Christmas or something

We decided against applying again. We're holding out hope that the timeline for our I-130 is correct and if everything goes according to plan we should be in the U.S. for Christmas. If nothing has happened by next year then we'd try the tourist visa again.

[juliagus 2]

On 3/22/2023 at 12:53 PM, Boiler said:

You had all the proof in the world he was going back to Brazil, but you then filed an I 130? 

 

That does not add up.

I guess my original post was a little confusining. Before we even applied for the I-130, we had no plans of going back to the U.S. and were wanting to start a life in Brazil. This is when we applied for the tourist visa so we could at least have the option of seeing my family in the U.S. for Christmas and whatnot. 

 

However, after his denial for the tourist visa we had another conversation. We decided that since he would have no way of going to the U.S. to see my family and therefore my parents would be basically forced to travel to Brazil to see us, we started looking into the I-130. We decided that maybe moving to the U.S. would be better for us in the long run, and that's when we started the process for the I-130. 

 

But when we first applied for the tourist visa, we were already married, have apartment contracts together in Brazil, bank accounts here, my husband was working and had his own business here in Brazil. So to us, we had all the evidence in the world that we (he) would return to the U.S. simply due to the fact that we were married and had no immigration visa process going on, all we wanted was a tourist visa to visit family in the U.S. periodically. We thought that would show the consular officers that we really had no intention of using the tourist visa for any illegal purpose and we would return to Brazil. However that wasn't the case and he was denied. So now we're almost at the one year mark in the I-130 process and we're just hoping something happens soon