Fiancée threatened with deportation by customs agent after arriving at airport for false accusations. How concerned should we be?

[aerokkaido 0]

Firstly, I want to get some things clear because I know everyone will say this otherwise:

1. We are seeing an immigration attorney for consultation soon

2. We've already printed out several documents to prove that my fiancée is not coming here with the intent to live here for the future until they get the K-1 Visa

Now. Heres the actual story:
 

Recently, when my my Ecuadorian, non US citizen, girlfriend arrived at O'Hare from her flight, an agent threatened to deport her; basically, because she had stayed previously for four months with me previously.
 

The agent was aggressive from the start and insinuated that my girlfriend was working illegally (she was not) because she had previously stayed here for four months instead of a month as it was stated on the original airplane ticket (when that happened, we simply decided to live together before she went back to college to see if the relationship was worth the effort of dating across countries). Also, it's important to note she was here three times after those four months, and that this was about 8 months ago. The agent eventually called me to verify that she lived with me and again was very aggressive.
 

I communicated the basics of our relationship with the agent, that we met in Ecuador, we have been dating for a year, that she's a student at college in Ecuador, and that we did not originally plan to have her live with me for four months but that then she decided to try for longer until she had to start school again.
 

At one point I communicated that I had sent the I-129F form to be reviewed, so that eventually, my girlfriend would need to come to the USA so we could get married, and the agent got extremely upset. She misunderstood what the I-129F form is and believed I was trying to file an adjustment status of citizenship for her (I-1485), instead of getting a K-1 visa. I tried explaining that she had the wrong idea and she told me that she knew more then me, and threatened to deport my girlfriend right then and there. Finally, eventually I got through to her and she let my girlfriend go but stated that she cannot stay any longer then a day after her flight to leave (around 3 weeks).
 

Her leaving then is fine but we are really concerned about what this means in the future for when she is trying to come to the United States from Ecuador to see me in the timeframe before the I-129f is approved and she is able to marry me. Again, we did nothing wrong and I'm really angry/sad that this happening to us.
 

What options should I pursue here? If anything happens the next time she comes here, is there anything we could end up doing? In general, I'm looking for advice on how seriously to treat this, I.E was this one officer who was mad or do we need to be super careful anytime she goes to the US for us to talk before the I-129F is approved.

[NorthByNorthwest 371]

25 minutes ago, aerokkaido said:

Recently, when my my Ecuadorian, non US citizen, girlfriend arrived at O'Hare from her flight, an agent threatened to deport her; basically, because she had stayed previously for four months with me previously.
 

The agent was aggressive from the start and insinuated that my girlfriend was working illegally (she was not) because she had previously stayed here for four months instead of a month as it was stated on the original airplane ticket (when that happened, we simply decided to live together before she went back to college to see if the relationship was worth the effort of dating across countries). Also, it's important to note she was here three times after those four months, and that this was about 8 months ago. The agent eventually called me to verify that she lived with me and again was very aggressive.

 

Assuming she arrived on a B-2 visa? How many days total did she spend in the US in the last 12 months? It is always a good rule of thumb to stay out of the US at least twice as long as recent stays, but admission is still at the officer's discretion.

 

Nothing in all of this poses any issues for I-129F approval, but there's certainly a chance of her not being able to visit the US during the wait time if her visa were to be canceled/not renewed for whatever reason.

 

There are no firm rules to go by, I'd just make sure she keeps her visits short from now on, certainly no longer than 3 weeks.

[aerokkaido 0]

3 minutes ago, NorthByNorthwest said:

 

Assuming she arrived on a B-2 visa? How many days total did she spend in the US in the last 12 months? It is always a good rule of thumb to stay out of the US at least twice as long as recent stays, but admission is still at the officer's discretion.

 

Nothing in all of this poses any issues for I-129F approval, but there's certainly a chance of her not being able to visit the US during the wait time if her visa were to be canceled/not renewed for whatever reason.

 

There are no firm rules to go by, I'd just make sure she keeps her visits short from now on, certainly no longer than 3 weeks.

Combined, she's spent about 5 months in total on a tourist visa. Of that, most of it is 4 months several months ago (the one longer then planned), 3 week long visits, and then this month for 3 weeks. 

Thanks for the advice. 

[TBoneTX 46,217]

1 hour ago, aerokkaido said:

Combined, she's spent about 5 months in total on a tourist visa. Of that, most of it is 4 months several months ago (the one longer then planned), 3 week long visits, and then this month for 3 weeks.

This is a LOT of time.  Have her stay away for optimally a year.  Go visit her in the meantime.

[aerokkaido 0]

1 hour ago, TBoneTX said:

This is a LOT of time.  Have her stay away for optimally a year.  Go visit her in the meantime.

By a year, the I-129f should hopefully (statistically likely) be approved; due to timing with her College, it's likely that we would need to visit each other in some time when the I-129f is approved but the interview has not taken place. Do you know if it's safer or not to travel to the USA on a tourist visa if you have a pending consulate interview? Intuitively I am leaning towards just biting the bullet and waiting at that point. 

I was already planning on visiting after this, but we'll have to wait another 6 months after in that case. Thanks and congrats on your own success from Ecuador. 

[hplusj 160]

1 hour ago, TBoneTX said:

This is a LOT of time.  Have her stay away for optimally a year.  Go visit her in the meantime.

Hear hear.  Want to strengthen the validity of your relationship on paper, so you don't get into arguments with customs?  Maybe time to pack your bags once or twice.  Even the scales.

[SalishSea 18,172]

3 hours ago, aerokkaido said:

Firstly, I want to get some things clear because I know everyone will say this otherwise:

1. We are seeing an immigration attorney for consultation soon

2. We've already printed out several documents to prove that my fiancée is not coming here with the intent to live here for the future until they get the K-1 Visa

Now. Heres the actual story:
 

Recently, when my my Ecuadorian, non US citizen, girlfriend arrived at O'Hare from her flight, an agent threatened to deport her; basically, because she had stayed previously for four months with me previously.
 

The agent was aggressive from the start and insinuated that my girlfriend was working illegally (she was not) because she had previously stayed here for four months instead of a month as it was stated on the original airplane ticket (when that happened, we simply decided to live together before she went back to college to see if the relationship was worth the effort of dating across countries). Also, it's important to note she was here three times after those four months, and that this was about 8 months ago. The agent eventually called me to verify that she lived with me and again was very aggressive.
 

I communicated the basics of our relationship with the agent, that we met in Ecuador, we have been dating for a year, that she's a student at college in Ecuador, and that we did not originally plan to have her live with me for four months but that then she decided to try for longer until she had to start school again.
 

At one point I communicated that I had sent the I-129F form to be reviewed, so that eventually, my girlfriend would need to come to the USA so we could get married, and the agent got extremely upset. She misunderstood what the I-129F form is and believed I was trying to file an adjustment status of citizenship for her (I-1485), instead of getting a K-1 visa. I tried explaining that she had the wrong idea and she told me that she knew more then me, and threatened to deport my girlfriend right then and there. Finally, eventually I got through to her and she let my girlfriend go but stated that she cannot stay any longer then a day after her flight to leave (around 3 weeks).
 

Her leaving then is fine but we are really concerned about what this means in the future for when she is trying to come to the United States from Ecuador to see me in the timeframe before the I-129f is approved and she is able to marry me. Again, we did nothing wrong and I'm really angry/sad that this happening to us.
 

What options should I pursue here? If anything happens the next time she comes here, is there anything we could end up doing? In general, I'm looking for advice on how seriously to treat this, I.E was this one officer who was mad or do we need to be super careful anytime she goes to the US for us to talk before the I-129F is approved.

She is spending WAY too much time in the US, which is seen as abuse of the B2 visa; they think she is using the B2 to live here.  And for good reason - not many can afford to take months and months at a time for vacation, without working.  

 

Treat it seriously.  Have her stop abusing the B2.  Last thing she needs is to be sent back on the very next flight, which is where you're headed.

[SalishSea 18,172]

3 hours ago, aerokkaido said:

Combined, she's spent about 5 months in total on a tourist visa. Of that, most of it is 4 months several months ago (the one longer then planned), 3 week long visits, and then this month for 3 weeks. 

Thanks for the advice. 

Probably doesn't help that she didn't honor the timeframe she told CBP she'd be visiting.  They do documents notes in the computer of what people seeking entry to the US tell them.

[aerokkaido 0]

51 minutes ago, hplusj said:

Hear hear.  Want to strengthen the validity of your relationship on paper, so you don't get into arguments with customs?  Maybe time to pack your bags once or twice.  Even the scales.

I don't think this actually matters because they aren't going to check my records/passport when she's the one flying into the USA. Thanks for the relationship advice. 

Edited 7 hours ago by aerokkaido

[aerokkaido 0]

48 minutes ago, SalishSea said:

She is spending WAY too much time in the US, which is seen as abuse of the B2 visa; they think she is using the B2 to live here.  And for good reason - not many can afford to take months and months at a time for vacation, without working.  

 

Treat it seriously.  Have her stop abusing the B2.  Last thing she needs is to be sent back on the very next flight, which is where you're headed.

How is this an abuse of the B2? The B2 specifically states that your allowed to stay for SIX MONTHS. We did not go past six months or close to six months at any point. In the entire year, over five different trips, it will have been 5 months. It would have been a smaller amount of time if her family in Chicago didn't kick her out because she was dating me, as I already said, we did not plan on having it be this long and we have our reasons. Either way, not an abuse. 

In the B2 tourist visa official page, it has "visiting friends/family" as a valid reason: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/tourism-visit/visitor.html/visa. This is obviously not a paid vacation and no one ever said it was. 

Edited 7 hours ago by aerokkaido

[SalishSea 18,172]

8 minutes ago, aerokkaido said:

How is this an abuse of the B2? The B2 specifically states that your allowed to stay for SIX MONTHS. We did not go past six months or close to six months at any point. In the entire year, over five different trips, it will have been 5 months. It would have been a smaller amount of time if her family in Chicago didn't kick her out because she was dating me, as I already said, we did not plan on having it be this long and we have our reasons. Either way, not an abuse. 

In the B2 tourist visa official page, it has "visiting friends/family" as a valid reason: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/tourism-visit/visitor.html/visa. This is obviously not a paid vacation and no one ever said it was. 

I'm telling you how it is seen by CBP.  Take or leave the advice.

[SalishSea 18,172]

14 minutes ago, aerokkaido said:

I don't think this actually matters because they aren't going to check my records/passport when she's the one flying into the USA. Thanks for the relationship advice. 

The point that poster was trying to make was that visits and time spent in person (both directions), and documentation of such is important for marriage/relationship visas.

[TBoneTX 46,217]

2 hours ago, SalishSea said:

she didn't honor the timeframe she told CBP she'd be visiting

This, too, is a big thing.  "CBP thrives on the truth," as a Port Director once told me.

[Lemonslice 4,977]

2 hours ago, aerokkaido said:

How is this an abuse of the B2? The B2 specifically states that your allowed to stay for SIX MONTHS. We did not go past six months or close to six months at any point. In the entire year, over five different trips, it will have been 5 months. It would have been a smaller amount of time if her family in Chicago didn't kick her out because she was dating me, as I already said, we did not plan on having it be this long and we have our reasons. Either way, not an abuse. 

In the B2 tourist visa official page, it has "visiting friends/family" as a valid reason: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/tourism-visit/visitor.html/visa. This is obviously not a paid vacation and no one ever said it was. 

The thing is that entry is always at their discretion... so they get to decide what is "abuse".  I am not judging your reasoning, just saying that what you think does not matter, really.  

[hplusj 160]

3 hours ago, aerokkaido said:

I don't think this actually matters because they aren't going to check my records/passport when she's the one flying into the USA. Thanks for the relationship advice. 

You're missing the point.  Reducing the instances of her interacting with customs, as well as showing a travel record that goes both ways for your AOS application later, is a win/win.

 

By the way, I'm fluent in written sarcasm.  I was only trying to help, no need to get defensive.

Edited 4 hours ago by hplusj