R. Wolfe

I certainly wouldn't want that! It's all hypothetical (and likely years away) at this point regardless. When I read "if someone visiting on a tourist visa gets married then they can stay for the I-130 process without repercussions - but it's better if you marry after they overstay the visa", I thought "that doesn't sound right - for a couple of reasons". So I came by here to check. If I ever do decide to pop the question while she's here then she'll still go home after. That had been my assumption of how things worked anyway, but I would have been kicking myself if we did that and then found out she could have stayed in the US! It would save a lot in travel expenses but it would be a pain logistically given her stuff (and job and family and obligations) back home. Being together every day would be been nice though. Anyway, thank you - everyone - for the help!

In the US.

Thank you. I understand the marriage visa process and paperwork fairly well - I've been through it unsuccessfully a couple of times. I looked over the Step by Step guide though and see that it is very clear that she should return to her country to wait IF she came here on a tourist visa with the intention of getting married. That makes sense. But it sounds like if she came with the intention of returning home, but does end up getting married, then she could (and should) stay in the US. And I believe you are saying it doesn't matter if the marriage is during the approved duration of the tourist visa, vs her overstaying? Re-reading my initial post, a simpler way to pose my question would have been: "If I marry a foreign citizen who came to the US on a tourist visa, can she stay in the US while we go through the I-130 process? Does this affect the chances of the petition being successful? Does it make a difference if she was overstaying when we married?" And I'm reading your response as "Yes, no, no". Thank you, though now I need to go back to the original source and ask about why they think it's better to marry after overstaying (it seems counterintuitive to me - but so does the whole process :). PS: I saw the pinned post about visiting back and forth on a tourist visa while waiting on an I-130, so I understand the implications of that option now.

Suppose that I (a US citizen) have been visiting a woman (Thai citizen) a month or so at a time, a couple of times per year; and she - via tourist Visa - has been visiting me in the US the same way; for a year or two. If, during her current visit, we decide we'd like to spend the rest of our lives together in the US; what's the best way to go about that? My initial assumption was that she'd return to Thailand, we'd file an I-130 etc., and wait a couple of years for the interview and all that before she could return permanently to America. I'm not sure if she could she still visit as a tourist while we wait, but that's not my main question. I read where someone suggested that we could get married while she was in the US and then she would not have to leave while we waited on the I-130 etc.. Is that correct? The same source said it was better to wait for her to be officially overstaying the tourist visa before getting married as otherwise it would look like the tourist visa was fraudulently used to get married; but I would have thought that overstaying a visa would be a serious black mark that would cause problems later on. If anyone has experience with this sort of situation or a good place I could learn more, any information would be much appreciated. I'm not in the situation yet, but I could see it happening someday. It would be wonderful to be able to be together every day during the months/years of waiting on an I-130, but not if that means the petition is going to be rejected because of that.