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Thank you for your responses, she was able to make it through border control in Atlanta without any issue at all last week. We are both very happy, relieved, and enjoying our trip!

Hi Everyone, My wife and I got married back in September 2024 in the United States when she last visited from her home country of Chile, and she was here for about two weeks. This time around, she booked a round trip flight for nearly a month and is arriving next week. She had no problems getting into the country the last time around, and we had a lot of paperwork to show the customs agent just in case there were any issues (they weren't necessary, thankfully), but this time around there are a couple of different factors and I wanted to get the opinion of others if there is anything else we can do to be prepared for when she arrives and goes through customs. We submitted our I-130 and are at the NOA1 stage since October, so I know this might suggest more intent for someone to want to stay in the country instead of return home. She has ties to her home country, such as her lease contract agreement for her apartment, but she no longer is working right now so we cannot show that she has a job to come back to in Chile as we did last time, which I know is a strong tie. She also has the return ticket home, and will have a copy of our marriage certificate, and I intend to write a letter explaining our situation and that she intends to go back home, as I saw someone else on a different thread had recommended. The only other difference is she is flying into Atlanta for the first leg of the trip, whereas last time she flew from Chile to Bogota, and then from Bogota directly to Dulles. I have heard Atlanta customs can give a little more of a hard time as well. If anyone has any thoughts or feedback for our plan and what we should anticipate, I would appreciate it!

This is all good to know, I was hoping that since the US and Chile have a pretty strong relationship from what I hear, that would help things go a bit smoother upon POE. I think it makes sense to just have her say she's here for vacation which is the truth, and if prompted she could say she'll be staying with me and if ultimately necessary to disclose the marriage plan, having something prepared if they question her intent to stay or not. Are there any things in particular when it comes to showing strong ties that people would recommend, or have any experience showing? I imagine paystubs or some other documentation about current work status or her apartment lease/etc. would be helpful, but anything outside the box that would be beneficial to have prepared? As I mentioned in my original post, she has a cat, she has friends and family here, she also just recently got her Master's degree in the country. I just want to make sure we can be exhaustive for whatever might help convince an agent at the POE that she doesn't intend to stay here. I do appreciate all the information so far, it's been very reassuring to hear!

If that is the case are there things to prepare to help her to get into the country without issue? The lawyer I talked to basically said you shouldn’t get married and said the K-1 visa is better to avoid any complications, but we already have made plans and everything. I’m just worried about how things will go and want to ensure we are as prepared as possible for her entering the country.

Thanks, I thought that was the case as well but I actually talked with a lawyer who said that it is risky and you’re basically at the whim of whoever the agent is at the airport asking her questions, and if she says she is planning on marrying her fiancé while she’s on her visa, that would be a red flag. That’s just what I’m worried about more than anything.

Hey everyone! I met my now-fiance while traveling in 2023, and we have been together for some time now. She lives in Chile and I am a US Citizen. Our ultimate goal has been for her to come here permanently sometime in the future, ideally as soon as she'd be able to. We have a trip planned for her to come to the US in September, and when we planned it out the intention was just to have her visit and spend some time together. However, I recently looked into the immigration process, and realizing how long the timeline tends to be we discussed that it might make the most sense for us to get married while she is here in September, and then file for the CR-1 spouse visa to begin that process. I have heard conflicting things about if we were to do this, some people saying it is illegal if she were to come here on a tourism visa and intend to get married, but I've heard that only really matters if her plan is to come here on the visa, get married, and stay here from then on. That was never our intent and she does have ties to her home country (full-time work, an apartment she rents, a cat she takes care of, family, friends, etc), so I am hoping that would factor in, but I wanted to hear what people think regarding the likelihood of her being turned away at the airport for any reason. We do not want to lie about her coming here of course, but the main reason she will be here is not just to get married, it kind of just seemed to make the most sense to do that since we'll be together and we want to begin the CR-1 process as soon as possible. In the eyes of an immigrations officer I imagine that may not mean a whole lot, but I'm curious whether or not it would be considered fraudulent if she does not explicitly state that she will be getting married while here. We don't want to jeopardize the application process or make it any harder for her to get here, but we want to marry and begin that process as soon as we can and this way seems to make sense for us. Any thoughts, or anyone who can share their experience?