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Arrive before principal DV winner

A

Ausie

New Member
My wife won the DV lottery and plans to arrive in LA on July 1st. I will be arriving a week earlier since I need to attend a course there. Are there any problems with me arriving a week before the DV winner? can I register a week before at LAX or does my wife need to be with me when I register?
Thanks
 
Derivatives have to enter with or after the principal winner. You won't be able to enter on your DV immigrant visa without her there.

If you plan to stay permanently on that trip you can't enter on a non-immigrant visa either. Even if you are planning to go back home and return on your immigrant visa, they may well ask why you are entering on a non-immigrant visa or VWP when you have an immigrant visa. Can't you get your wife to activate with you?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Ausie said:
My wife won the DV lottery and plans to arrive in LA on July 1st. I will be arriving a week earlier since I need to attend a course there. Are there any problems with me arriving a week before the DV winner? can I register a week before at LAX or does my wife need to be with me when I register?
Thanks
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You can't preceed her and enter with your visa. You could do a visa waiver entry then come out and in after she arrived, but honestly you are far better off to enter with her.
 
I think the OP stands the risk of getting his IV cancelled if he decides to come in on a VWP, so I would suggest that. The wife either comes in with him a week earlier or he delays his arrival and come in when the wife is ready.
 
Because my kids are in school until the 27th June, the earliest my wife and kids can leave for the US is 28th June. I have booked to be on a university course starting on 23rd June. I know that it is only a couple of days but it is actually difficult to co-ordinate our travel arrangements due to high school exams. The other way around this that may work is for me to travel to Canada for a few days in mid-July and then re-enter the US and claim my Green Card. Do you think that this will work?
Thanks
 
Ausie said:
Because my kids are in school until the 27th June, the earliest my wife and kids can leave for the US is 28th June. I have booked to be on a university course starting on 23rd June. I know that it is only a couple of days but it is actually difficult to co-ordinate our travel arrangements due to high school exams. The other way around this that may work is for me to travel to Canada for a few days in mid-July and then re-enter the US and claim my Green Card. Do you think that this will work?
Thanks
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As sm1smom said, there is a risk your immigrant visa gets cancelled if you enter as a non-immigrant while it is valid. For people who need visitors visas, they usually cancel any existing visitor visa when they issue the IV. (Sometimes they forget, but it's the usual practice.)
 
Ausie said:
Because my kids are in school until the 27th June, the earliest my wife and kids can leave for the US is 28th June. I have booked to be on a university course starting on 23rd June. I know that it is only a couple of days but it is actually difficult to co-ordinate our travel arrangements due to high school exams. The other way around this that may work is for me to travel to Canada for a few days in mid-July and then re-enter the US and claim my Green Card. Do you think that this will work?
Thanks
Click to expand...


Take the kids out of school a week early. In the big picture, that last few days of school doesn't matter does it. By the way, travelling for emigration is stressful, I am sure your wife and kids would rather travel with you!
 
britsimon said:
Take the kids out of school a week early. In the big picture, that last few days of school doesn't matter does it. By the way, travelling for emigration is stressful, I am sure your wife and kids would rather travel with you!
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In the grand scheme of things even an entire months of absence probably doesn't matter. The kids are going into the American school system anyway, which isn't going to kick the kids out just because they're a week short of a full academic year of their foreign education.

He should pull the wife and kids out early and travel together.
 
britsimon said:
Take the kids out of school a week early. In the big picture, that last few days of school doesn't matter does it. By the way, travelling for emigration is stressful, I am sure your wife and kids would rather travel with you!
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Hexa said:
In the grand scheme of things even an entire months of absence probably doesn't matter. The kids are going into the American school system anyway, which isn't going to kick the kids out just because they're a week short of a full academic year of their foreign education.

He should pull the wife and kids out early and travel together.
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Agree with both of these.

I come from somewhere with the school year the same as calendar year. People emigrating often take kids out of school here to start in time for the new US school year, often missing a month or two of school in the process. As others have said - no big deal.

And I agree with britsimon, it really is much better to do it all together.
 
The other alternative if you really feel strongly about the exams, albeit somewhat more expensive, is for all of you to do a quick activation trip earlier even for a long weekend, then go in separately as per your first email.
 
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