biggish data

Help me, I am marrying an eu citizen

I would add that later on you will ask on numerous occasions to swear under oath that you have not broken any US immigration laws. Lying is perjury and is heavily sanctioned in the event you're caught.

Just do the right thing.

Edited by jeangab75, 11 May 2009 - 11:16 AM.

jeangab75

Not Telling

France

2009-05-11 11:15:00

Help me, I am marrying an eu citizen

To all, You are not supposed to enter the US on a Tourist Visa if you don't have the intention to visit the US as a TOURIST.
This is plain and simple.

I would not play with this rule as there are some serious consequence. You can always try to adjust your status afterward but you have no guarantees that this is right will be granted to you and on top of this you might need to pay for a specialized attorney.

There are LEGAL ways. If you intent to marry your partner in the US, get a fiance visa. Or easier, (I did this myself) marry your partner in your home country and then apply for an immigrant visa in his/her country of origin. It does not take this long.

I understand your desire to be fast, but welcome to the US immigration process, it takes time, effort and money, but don't break the law, you might regret it later.

Good luck.

Edited by jeangab75, 11 May 2009 - 11:12 AM.

jeangab75

Not Telling

France

2009-05-11 11:11:00

Thanks so much for your thoughts and for the information about importing pet birds! One good thing is that my son's bird is a cockatiel and not a larger parrot, as larger parrots apparently require a CITES permit (see www.parrottravel.org/), while cockatiels do not. I don't know if I should go ahead and get a veterinary health certificate here in Ontario and THEN make a future vet appointment at the border crossing? I'll plan to call the border crossing and find out the exact procedure and requirements.

Yes, I'm very concerned that we'll be denied crossing in July! By then, we'll have our possessions in storage ready to move, which can't happen until after I cross the border. Our move is being done in my name and the moving company (U-Haul) won't transport our belongings until I'm actually in the US. Do you think it would be a better plan to have my husband fly down to NC from Toronto in August with a return ticket to Ontario around October? That means I would drive from Ontario to NC by myself with our kids (and a travel letter from my husband so I could take the kids into the US), but at least we would only have to worry about the bird being denied entry and not my husband...

This would also give him time to finish up with our house closing and his business matters. He owns his own incorporated business and will be talking to his accountant and lawyer about the best way to proceed. After our house is sold, he can use his mother's house as his temporary residence and mailing address until the US immigration plans come through. It feels weird that we're going to have to repeat the back-and-forth travel that we did 11 years ago before I moved to Canada to live with him!

robinde

Female

Canada

2013-05-17 09:31:00

Thanks so much Niki! Our house contents will travel separately from us (shipped in my name), but we're probably still going to have a large carload of stuff with us, and our 9-year-old son's pet bird. So it will be pretty obvious that we are moving to the US and not just visiting. We do want to be straight-up with the CBP about our intentions, and I hope we don't get turned away. Good idea about bringing food and entertainment for the kids... it could be a long wait at the border! I'll visit the Canada forum as you suggested.

robinde

Female

Canada

2013-05-16 09:33:00

http://montreal.usco...isas/steps.html

Thanks for both of your replies! I really appreciate your advice. I used our Canadian home address on the I-130 form, except for in Question 18 (Address in the U.S. where your relative intends to live), for which I put my parents address in North Carolina. When I get the notification back from the Chicago lockbox that the I-130 has been received, will they tell me which office/service center (or NBC) is processing the petition?

Also, is there any point in doing the I-129F process directly through Montreal as in this page?

Or is this going to interfere with my I-130 petition processing? Someone on another forum told me that K3 spouse visas are no more... does that mean they are not being regularly processed?

Our plan was to sell our house this summer, move our belongings down to the US in July via a moving company, and drive our two cars down (declaring my husband's visitor status at the border and my intent to return and re-establish residency in the US). It sounds like this could be problematic if my husband isn't able to demonstrate that he still has strong ties to Canada. Now I'm thinking that we should only drive one car down to the US, and buy him a return one-way plane ticket back to Canada, leaving one of the cars in Ontario for him to drive down on a future trip. It will also be helpful to have that car in Canada in order to get to Montreal for the eventual visa interview. Thanks again for the advice about bringing proof of ties to Canada - it sounds like that will be very helpful in crossing the border.

robinde

Female

Canada

2013-05-15 09:27:00

I'm a dual American-Canadian citizen living in Ontario with my husband, a Canadian, and our two kids, both dual American-Canadian citizens. We've been living in Canada for 11 years (married for almost 9 years) and we are planning to move down to the US this summer. Unfortunately I didn't research the lengthy process for getting an immigrant visa earlier, and I foolishly assumed that we would be able to do DCF at Toronto (not an option now). I just filed the I-130 form at the Chicago lockbox earlier this week. Based on what I've read on these forums, it sounds like the IR-1 visa will take several months in processing and isn't going to be available by this summer.

We don't want to live apart, but I also have the problem of re-establishing my US domicile and finding employment in order to qualify for the I-864, Affidavit of Support. We would like our kids to be able to start school in September in the US. We're also starting the process of selling our house in Canada in order to be able to afford a house in the US. My parents live in the US (in the same city where we are moving) and can help as my husband's joint sponsors, if necessary. My husband's mother lives in Ontario, and he plans to use her address as his Canadian residence until getting permanent residence/green card in the US.

My question is - can my Canadian husband legally enter the US in mid-July as a 3 month visitor (without a visa)? Is this at the discretion of the US border guards? He isn't planning to work in the US until he gets a green card. He would also be returning to Canada for short periods (two weeks or less) to finish up his business matters here. Can we file the forms for his permanent residence/green card while he is staying with me as a visitor in the US? As I understand it, Canadians are legally allowed to enter the US as short-term visitors without filing for a visa. We have Canadian friends who temporarily reside in the US for the winter months, and return to Canada during the summer. But we're concerned that we could be denied at the border if it appears that he is moving down to the US to actually live there, and not just staying as a temporary visitor with intent to return to Canada.

Also, would it expedite the process to get the medical exams/police certificates completed before we travel down to the US?

thanks for any advice you can give me!

robinde

Female

Canada

2013-05-14 21:24:00

Any way to expedite the IR-1 process?

Thanks for all of your replies! I guess I'm looking for any suggestions that *might* help speed up this process (calling the USCIS? using an immigration lawyer? or maybe there is nothing to do but wait...) or advice on a legal way to extend my husband's visitor status. My relatives keep suggesting that I call an immigration lawyer, but it seems like that would be a waste of money. I do understand that this is a long process, and we're all stuck in the same boat waiting to be together with our loved ones.

Right now, we're waiting to receive the NOA2, but the Nebraska service center is still processing applications from March 2013 (we applied in May 2013). So it appears that we're likely 2 months away from even the NOA2, and then the rest of the process still has to happen. If there is a way to legally extend my husband's visitor status (for example the I-539 visa) for a few more months, I would like to try pursuing that option. I have made an appointment at a local USCIS field office to try to get some advice.

robinde

Female

Canada

2014-01-26 18:18:00

Any way to expedite the IR-1 process?

I'm an American citizen with a Canadian spouse. We have been married for 10 years and have 2 children. I started my husband's green card IR-1 process in May, and we moved back to the US in August. My parents and grandparents are aging and they need our help (I am an only child), and we wanted our own children to be able to start school in the US in September. I mistakenly assumed that the green card process for a spouse would take only 6-9 months to finish. After all, spousal visas for American citizens are supposed to be immediately available according to the USCIS website, and "family unity" is supposedly one of their priorities.

Well, as of now we have received the NOA1 but we are still waiting for the initial forms to be processed. In early December, our forms were sent from the National Benefits Center to a processing office in Omaha, Nebraska (because the NBC was apparently overloaded with applications and experiencing delays). My husband is now in a state of limbo. He has been returning to Canada every 3 months, but now the US Border guard who interviewed him this time said that he can only stay for 1 month in the US (he has been in the US as a visitor since August, but he did return to Canada in October for several weeks). She told him that he has done nothing wrong, but after this 1 month visit is over, she said that he must go back to Canada and not return to the US again, UNTIL HIS GREEN CARD IS FULLY PROCESSED, which could take some unknown amount of time (6 months? another year?). She said that after this visit, he will have been in the US for 6 months - adding up all the time from August through January - and that he isn't allowed to stay any longer as a visitor. According to her, this 6 month duration does not reset after each trip back to Canada and it does not reset with the start of the new calendar year in 2014.

This seems ridiculous to me. This is the only border guard who has told him this information. A previous border guard at the same crossing station told him in October that he could continue coming into the US as long as he was only a visitor and only stayed for 3 months at a time. So I'm feeling very frustrated.

He is currently living in the US only as a visitor, not working, and we need him as part of our family. Do you have any suggestions about what I can do to expedite his IR-1 process? Does anyone have any experience in asking a local congressman or congresswoman for help?

I have scheduled an appointment at my local USCIS field office to try to get further information. I also wanted to ask if anyone knows about the I-94 visa and whether he could get one of these temporary visas until his green card process is complete. Thanks for any advice you can provide!

robinde

Female

Canada

2014-01-26 11:33:00

We want to marry in the US but no green card - yet!

Thank you very much for the link! That looks promising.

semmle

Not Telling

Germany

2013-07-27 07:40:00

We want to marry in the US but no green card - yet!

OK. I just want to be sure in case I want the green card later there won't be a problem if I got married on a student visa.

By the way: We are both gonna go to Germany for that time. We definitely don't want to be separate!

semmle

Not Telling

Germany

2013-07-27 07:13:00

We want to marry in the US but no green card - yet!

I already got an internship position there and wanted to combine my stay with doing an internship for 5-6 months.

So are you all positive I can get married on a J1 visa (as an intern)? Do you have any reference for that?

The whole K1 process would seem a little pointless to me if you could just get married on a normal visa and do the CR1/IR1 process later.

semmle

Not Telling

Germany

2013-07-27 06:39:00

We want to marry in the US but no green card - yet!

I want to stay 3 months after the wedding. But I was planning on coming to the States a couple months before our wedding.

semmle

Not Telling

Germany

2013-07-26 06:11:00

We want to marry in the US but no green card - yet!

Thank you so much! That actually saves us a lot of stress with the whole K1 visa!

semmle

Not Telling

Germany

2013-07-26 06:06:00

We want to marry in the US but no green card - yet!

Thanks for the answers! I just read multiple times it is not wanted to get married without a K1 visa. But you say that's ok in case I don't want to stay longer?

That is great news! And makes it a little complicated as well. Because I was planning on staying 6 months and doing an internship ( I'm still a student) during that time. Do you think I can then apply for a student visa and get married while I am a student?

semmle

Not Telling

Germany

2013-07-26 06:03:00

We want to marry in the US but no green card - yet!

Hello everyone,

I am a German and my fiancée American. We plan to get married in May 2014 and start the whole K1 visa process right now.

Our plan is to stay in the US (after the wedding) for three more months and then move (at least for 6 months) back to Germany. We might want to have the option of moving back to America later. However we don't think it makes sense for me to apply for AOS and pay that much money if I'm not even gonna stay there yet. So my questions:

1) Can I legally stay in the US for this three more months after the wedding without applying for AOS or anything else?

2) Will I be able to travel back and forth the US on VWP after the wedding?

2.1) Can we leave the country for our honeymoon right after the wedding and come back to the states for 2.5 more months? I would travel as a tourist on VWP since without an AOS application I guess I can't apply for advance parole (plus the application takes up to 90 days).

3) Is it possible to apply for AOS maybe 1-2 years later from Germany?

Thank you so much for your help in advance!

semmle

Not Telling

Germany

2013-07-26 05:47:00

Middle East and North Africa

Cario Embassy

Closed on Monday, again.

Medo123

Not Telling

Egypt

2013-07-07 13:12:00

Middle East and North Africa

Transfer case from Cairo embassy

What about the F-1 visa?

I was interviewed on May 5th, and my case is still undergoing administrative processing. Does closing the embassy cause more delay in the case?

Medo123

Not Telling

Egypt

2013-07-10 06:21:00

Middle East and North Africa

AP in Cairo embassy

What about F1 visa ?

I was interviewed on May 5th, the CO has told me that my application is great! But it would take some time for AP. Till now, my case is still pending.

Wish you all the best.

Medo123

Not Telling

Egypt

2013-05-20 12:34:00