Can my wife and I go on our honeymoon?

R

romefalls410

Registered Users (C)
Hey all, I appreciate you reading this. I am a US citizen and current resident of NY. My wife is a Canadian citizen who is in her first year of medical school at Cornell. At the time we got married, she had a valid I-20 from Cornell authorizing her to study in the United States. Prior to that, she had an I-20 from our undergraduate institution. We got married 8 months ago. We sent in her 1-130 application ~5 1/2 months ago, in late October, 2008, which we believe to have been complete, valid, etc (though we have not heard anything about the status of the application apart from a brief notice from the USCIS that they had received it). At the time she sent in her application we procured the services of an immigration lawyer to answer some questions about her ability to travel during: a)the period in which the 1-130 was pending and
b)the period after the 1-130 was approved

We were told that roughly 6 months after her 1-130 application she would receive some sort of temporary greencard that would allow her to travel before she received final approval of the 1-130, after our USCIS interview and the completion of the remaining application/authorization steps. We relied on that representation in booking plane tickets for our honeymoon to Paris in early August, 2009.

However, after doing some further research, we are concerned that she may not be able to get back into the country without an advance parole authorization. After that long spiel, I have three basic questions:
(a) assuming we haven't heard anything back about the 1-130 by the time we leave, can my wife get back into the country using her I-20 visa, or did she violate the terms of that visa by marrying me/beginning the green card application process, thereby voiding her student visa and preventing her from coming back into the United States under its aegis?
(b) assuming she does get back into the country using her I-20 documentation, could that cause any problems for her 1-130 application?
(c) if she can't come back in under the conditions in (a), would applying for an AP do us any good?

Best,
Craig
 
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Why you want to put her status in risk? Why dont wait for a little bit until she get her green card?
 
Triple Citizen said:
Did you send just an I-130 or you sent an I-130, I-485, I-765 and I-131?
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Just an I-130. As for risking her status, we had no intention of doing so, which is why we consulted the lawyer, who essentially assured us there would be no issues. Like I said, now I'm not so sure.
 
romefalls410 said:
We were told that roughly 6 months after her 1-130 application she would receive some sort of temporary greencard that would allow her to travel before she received final approval of the 1-130, after our USCIS interview and the completion of the remaining application/authorization steps. We relied on that representation in booking plane tickets for our honeymoon to Paris in early August, 2009.
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Who told you? The I-130 alone gives you nothing. You needed to file the documents Triple Citizen mentioned. Your wife is exceptionally unlikely to be able to return to the US if she leaves, unless she has Advance Parole.

I'd cancel my reservations.
 
romefalls410 said:
Just an I-130. As for risking her status, we had no intention of doing so, which is why we consulted the lawyer, who essentially assured us there would be no issues. Like I said, now I'm not so sure.
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Was it the same lawyer who told you to file I-130 alone who promised you that "temporary greencard?" If so, I would definitely look for another one...

As for your plans, others will correct me if that's not true, but I would think that it's still not too late to file all the other important documents that Triple Citizen mentioned, including I-131 (Application for Travel Document, a.k.a. Advance Parole), which should solve the problem of her return to the U.S. You still have a few months left before your trip, so there is hope...
 
My understanding was that my wife couldn't file a 1-485 until she had a visa number. As for the lawyer, I obviously wish I had handled this---I left this up to my wife, who was either given bad advice or drew the wrong conclusions from what she was told. Would she be able to go if we withdrew the 1-130 application, or is it too late for that? I'd really like to go on the trip---and the tickets were non-refundable, meaning we'd be out $1200...a very large amount of money for two students. Sigh...we paid the lawyer for a quick consult about travel-related issues. She's going to be getting a pretty nasty email if this doesn't work out.

Re: Hawaii - it's very nice, but not really my thing.
 
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Triple Citizen said:
Since you are a US citizen, your wife does not need a visa number. All is not lost. Use your I-130 receipt and file in the other 3 forms I mentioned earlier.
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I will get going on this. Would a honeymoon be enough to qualify for an AP? And I noticed the typical turnaround is ~3 months. Our trip is in ~3 1/2 months. Isn't there a good chance I could apply for the 1-131 and have it come too late for the trip? I can't really afford to throw away any more money...unless I can convince my parents to help out.

What a dispiriting day. I appreciate the advice.
 
Okay. Color me confused.

I just talked to both USCIS and US Border Patrol. USCIS said there are no restrictions on travel if you are already in the US on a valid visa and have only filed the I-130 and/or had it approved. You only run into problems if you've filed the I-485.

US Border Patrol was emphatic that merely filing the I-130 does not constitute an application for a change of status and does not invalidate my wife's student visa. They actually laughed when asked if my wife would be able to come back into the country after filing a I-130 but not a I-485 or other documents.
 
romefalls410 said:
US Border Patrol was emphatic that merely filing the I-130 does not constitute an application for a change of status and does not invalidate my wife's student visa. They actually laughed when asked if my wife would be able to come back into the country after filing a I-130 but not a I-485 or other documents.
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The problem with this answer is that to enter in F-1 status, one must have a foreign residence that they have no intentions of abandoning, and between being married to you and the I-130, it's pretty obvious that your wife intends to immigrate.

Some border inspectors will let it go, others (most?) will deny entrance. Who you get is a crapshoot, but it's not likely to be the person you spoke to on the phone.
 
This is difficult for me to comprehend. Why would Border Patrol been so unequivocal about it? How is it possible that they would give out information that is flat out wrong? If we can't trust the authorities themselves, who can we trust? BP would deny her entrance because of the possibility she might file a I-485 some time in the future? They would prevent her from going back to med school? This, despite having their own personnel tell us it was alright?
 
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romefalls410 said:
This is difficult for me to comprehend. Why would Border Patrol been so unequivocal about it? How is it possible that they would give out information that is flat out wrong? If we can't trust the authorities themselves, who can we trust? BP would deny her entrance because of the possibility she might file a I-485 some time in the future? They would prevent her from going back to med school? This, despite having their own personnel tell us it was alright?
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I haven't had any experiences dealing with the Border Patrol myself (other than, well, at the border), so I can't say much about them, but you'd hope that they know what they're talking about. However, I've had numerous experiences with the USCIS (mis)information line and that makes me very suspicious of the answer you've obtained. On several occasions, my wife and/or I called the aforementioned (mis)information line three times with the very same question, only to receive three different answers. That is dispiriting...

I guess it does make sense that as long as someone has not applied for adjustment of status, their student visa is still valid, but, like somebody mentioned above, the very premise of F1 is a non-immigrant intent, which, in this case, is pretty much impossible to prove.

If I were you, I'd apply for I-131--just to be on the safe side. If that doesn't work out in time, there's always the other option. I know it's a financial issue, but what's worse here?

As for bad lawyer advice, unfortunately, this is all too common. A friend of mine was applying for his green card around the same time I was. He decided to hire a lawyer, which cost him a couple grand. It was really sad to watch him believe everything his laweyer told him, even though I knew that most of those were either a result of ignorance (at best) or plain lies (at worst). Needless to say, my application went through pretty smoothly, and my friend didn't even know he could check the status of his application on-line, until it was almost all over...
 
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