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.