Does wife need GC?

[DiscipleX]

Ok guys, first time poster here, I was pointed in this direction by a friend, so I hope you can help!

Here is my situation:

I am a US citizen living in Japan. I'm marrying a Japanese citizen. After the marriage, we plan to move to the US and live there for a year.

- What should we do?
- How long does it take to get her a visa for this time?
- She wants to work as well, do we need to do something special for this?
- Should we start preparing now, or after we have the official marriage documents?
- Can we move to the US before she has her official GC on a visitors visa, or some other temporary visa?

Any help would be much appreciated!

Thanks,
Brian

 

[Jackolantern]

- How long does it take to get her a visa for this time?

6-12 months for a green card based on marriage to a US citizen, unless there are unusual delays/complications.

- Should we start preparing now, or after we have the official marriage documents?

Of course, start preparing now so you have everything ready to send shortly after you get married. Unless your marriage will be very far into the future.

- Can we move to the US before she has her official GC on a visitors visa, or some other temporary visa?

Yes and no. Entering via a tourist visa and then attempting to transition to a green card is frowned upon and can lead to the green card being rejected, although many people get away with doing it that way. However, there are other temporary visas that explicitly allow doing that ... the marriage/fiance K visas, and the H and L work visas. But those visas have a waiting period of months, so there isn't much of an advantage in applying for them if she already can go directly to a green card in 6-12 months ... unless your wedding is several months into the future so would you file for a fiancee visa now and then get married in the US and pursue the green card process while she is in the US, rather than waiting to get married and then filing for a green card based on marriage.

 

[PraetorianXI]

Your plans are to live in the USA just for 1 year and then what?

It will be an incredible waste of money and time to file for a GC only to lose it afterwards.

 

[Jackolantern]

Your plans are to live in the USA just for 1 year and then what?

Ah, I didn't realize that. I initially thought he meant they were planning to move to the US a year from now, not stay in the US for a year and then leave. To stay in the US for just one year, a green card really does not make sense.

 

[DiscipleX]

Thanks for the replies guys!

If a green card doesn't make sense, what would be the best course of action to take for a one year period?

 

[LucyMO]

a tourist visa (stay for 6 months), exit the US, spend some time in Japan, come back for another 6 months on a tourist visa. The problem is you, however. It's going to be extremely difficult for her to get a tourist visa because you are a US citizen, and being married to you proves her immigrant intent. And she cannot get a non-immigrant visa while exhibiting immigrant intent.

 

[Jackolantern]

a tourist visa (stay for 6 months), exit the US, spend some time in Japan, come back for another 6 months on a tourist visa.

Unless a long time (like 4-6 months) has elapsed since being in the US for 6 months on a tourist visa, they almost surely won't grant another 6 months for the second visit. It would be more like 1 or 2 months.

 

[Jackolantern]

If a green card doesn't make sense, what would be the best course of action to take for a one year period?

Here are some options:

1) Student visa. There are 1-year programs for learning English, or obtaining a Masters degree. Or she could enroll in a regular multiyear degree program and leave the US at the end of year 1.

The problem with this approach is with showing nonimmigrant intent. Being married to a US citizen is seen as evidence of immigrant intent*, even though in her mind she doesn't want to live permanently in the US. Using this route, she should get the visa and enter the US before you marry her, and not leave the US until she's completely done (because she may not be able to return to the US after marrying you).

*Maybe this can be overcome if the US citizen is a permanent resident of a country other than the US.

2) Work visas: H1B and L1 visas don't require nonimmigrant intent, but they are not easy to get. H1B requires a US employer, at least a bachelor's degree (with limited exceptions), and there is a lottery for it because there are many more applicants than the quota. L1 visa is only for transferring a manager or senior specialized employee from a non-US branch to a US branch of a multinational company.

There are other options, but the above are the most common ones and it would take too long to list everything. See this link for a more comprehensive list: http://www.immlaw.com/nonimmigrant.html

 

[bestpal]

japanese citizen has visa waiver, she can enter without a visa and when it's about to expires, maybe visiting Canada for one or two weeks then come back down again, most of the time they will grant you another stay. Hopefully, that'll make up the 1 year period you wanted to stay in the US.

Are you in active military? If you are, then sponsor her for GC. then after you lived in the US for 1 year and going back to your assignment, your GC wife can accompany with you without any issues of the GC resident requirement.

 

[Jackolantern]

japanese citizen has visa waiver, she can enter without a visa and when it's about to expires, maybe visiting Canada for one or two weeks then come back down again, most of the time they will grant you another stay.

No they won't. After staying 90 days in the US with the visa waiver, going to Canada or another country for 1 or 2 weeks won't result in another 90 days being allowed; they will either allow a reduced amount of time like 1 month, or send her away.

 

[LucyMO]

jackolantern, why bother with the student visa? you actually have to go to school for that, and she may not want to. Visa waiver may not be available in her case, since she is married to a USC. The immigration officer may ask her about her husband at the border and turn her away.

 

[Jackolantern]

jackolantern, why bother with the student visa? you actually have to go to school for that, and she may not want to.

I'm just listing the options out there. If she can't get a work visa, student visa is probably the only other option (and it would have to be obtained and used to travel before the marriage).

Visa waiver may not be available in her case, since she is married to a USC.

I agree. That's why I didn't list that option.

 

[DiscipleX]

Once again great info guys, thanks a lot.

It may end up that we are unable to go to America for a full year. In this case, would she still be applicable for the visa waiver program for a 3 month stay?

Seems kind of illogical that if I'm married to a Japanese citizen, they are unable to visit the US in any regard, especially if that purpose is to visit family for instance.

 

[bestpal]

Once again great info guys, thanks a lot.

It may end up that we are unable to go to America for a full year. In this case, would she still be applicable for the visa waiver program for a 3 month stay?

Seems kind of illogical that if I'm married to a Japanese citizen, they are unable to visit the US in any regard, especially if that purpose is to visit family for instance.

If you don't go together, the IO may not even know she's married to a USC and thus, visa wavier can still work out fine.

 

[GotPR?]

Seems kind of illogical that if I'm married to a Japanese citizen, they are unable to visit the US in any regard, especially if that purpose is to visit family for instance.

you should blame on all the abusers who took advantage of the system.

Visa waiver is the best option as you can at least skip visa application at the US consulate. In fact, they won't issue the B visa because she is eligible to VWP, not just because she is married to the USC.

 

[Jackolantern]

Seems kind of illogical that if I'm married to a Japanese citizen, they are unable to visit the US in any regard, especially if that purpose is to visit family for instance.

Yes, but almost every day on this forum there is somebody saying that they entered on a tourist or other temporary visa, they overstayed it or are about to overstay it, and now they're trying to figure out how to get a green card via their spouse. Extrapolate to the world outside of this forum, and you can imagine that it must be thousands of people every year that do this. So if somebody is married to a US citizen or green card holder, US Immigration is logically going to presume they'll overstay the visa (or visa waiver, if applicable).

 

[Jackolantern]

In fact, they won't issue the B visa because she is eligible to VWP, not just because she is married to the USC.

Being eligible for VWP doesn't automatically disqualify somebody from getting a tourist visa. The VWP only allows up to 90 days, and tourist visas allow up to 6 months. So there are some people with a legitimate need for a visa, even though they're eligible for VWP.

 

[DiscipleX]

Ok so to give you guys some more info, basically I called up the number that the Japanese US Embassy lists for visa inquiries (I'm not sure how official it is since they say it's not the embassy, but they are the ones who say to use it in anycase).

My situation was basically, I want to live in the US with my wife for 1 year, what's the fastest way to do that?

She recommended applying for the I-130, using the K3 visa application to expedite the process. In her words:

- Submit I-130
- Recieve I-797 (1-2 months)
- Submit I-129F
- Recieve I-797 (1-2 months)
- Go to interview in Japan
- Receive passport (1 week)

Then what I proposed to her was:

- Submit I-130
- Travel to the US on the visa Waiver program for 90 days
- Submit I-129F from abroad
- Return to Japan for the interview
- Get K3 visa
- Return to America for the remaining 9 months

She seemed to think that it was a good idea and would work. She said I would have to prove to the border dude that we were not intending to overstay our 90 day period, and that in theory a return ticked, as well as any other evidence of that should suffice.

What do you guys think about this? If we brought evidence that we were planning to return to Japan after the 90 days (in the form of a return ticket), should that be enough?

What are some other forms of evidence can we bring? Can we claim her parents house as a residency in some way (which is technically true, as that would be our primary Japanese residency after marriage)? How about Japanese bank accounts and cell phones?

Any comments on this?

 

[bestpal]

The consulate lady's suggestion is acutally better than your plan. Once you submitted I130 for our wife and trying to use visa waiver to enter the US, there's no way you can prove to the POE officer that you have no intent to stay in the US because you already filed I130 for immigrate visa and you'll still ended up fly back to Japan and use the consulate lady's suggestion.

If there's no offense, may I know why you jus wanted to live in the US for 1 year and go back to Japan?

 

[Jackolantern]

She recommended applying for the I-130, using the K3 visa application to expedite the process. In her words:

- Submit I-130
- Recieve I-797 (1-2 months)
- Submit I-129F
- Recieve I-797 (1-2 months)
- Go to interview in Japan
- Receive passport (1 week)

Then what I proposed to her was:

- Submit I-130
- Travel to the US on the visa Waiver program for 90 days
- Submit I-129F from abroad
- Return to Japan for the interview
- Get K3 visa
- Return to America for the remaining 9 months

The above details are for the green card process. You've decided it's worth it to go for the green card instead of a student or work visa? Just to stay for one year and then surrender the card or have it revoked? (normally, if a green card holder leaves the US for more than a year without permission, the card becomes invalidated)

And by the way, the K3 visa is basically useless. It is like going from point A to B to C instead of directly from A to C. Better to go straight for the green card, as it can be obtained in about the same 6-12 months that the K-3 visa would take.

You should also be very careful of what you hear from the people who work at the embassy, or anybody else who works for US immigration. They are very inconsistent; call a different person and you'll get a different answer. People have made the mistake of relying on what they say, only to have their visa or green card rejected for doing things in the wrong way. For example, she should have said your proposal is a bad idea because filing the I-130 will make it more difficult to get entry to the US via the VWP. They don't seem to be concerned about rejections, as they reject lots of people every day ... so they will tell you stuff without caring that you'll have a high chance of rejection. They are only concerned about overstays.