Marriage questions

Y

Yee Man Chan

Registered Users (C)
I want to know the issues related to marrying a person not in US.

I have a GC since Oct 2002. So I am eligible to become a citizen. But I am not that inclined to Suppose I marry a girl today and also apply for citizenship, approximately ow long would it take to get her to the US?

If I marry a girl today, can I apply V visa for her? The receipt date of my I-140 is Sept, 2000. The V visa page says the girl's I-130 receipt date has to be before Dec 20, 2000. Does that mean V visa is not applicable for my case?

Will it be easier to get her a tourist visa if we are married?

Are there other options to bring her here other than me becoming a US citizen?

Thanks a lot in advance.
 
Yee Man Chan said:
Suppose I marry a girl today and also apply for citizenship, approximately ow long would it take to get her to the US?
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About six to nine months after your citizenship is approved.

The V visa page says the girl's I-130 receipt date has to be before Dec 20, 2000. Does that mean V visa is not applicable for my case?
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Correct. The V visa for all practical purposes is dead.

Will it be easier to get her a tourist visa if we are married?
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Absolutely not, and getting her a B visa only opens her up to problems down the road.
 
Yee Man Chan said:
If I marry a girl today, can I apply V visa for her? The receipt date of my I-140 is Sept, 2000. The V visa page says the girl's I-130 receipt date has to be before Dec 20, 2000. Does that mean V visa is not applicable for my case?
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I think you misunderstand what a V visa is for. You must have filed the I-130 for your wife on or before Dec. 21, 2000. It has nothing to do with your I-140. Sorry.

Will it be easier to get her a tourist visa if we are married?
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Actually, it will be much harder or impossible for her to get a tourist visa if married to you. Since she is married to a LPR, there is a presumption that she has the intent to immigrate to the US. However, a tourist visa requires non-immigrant intent. See where I'm going with that?

Are there other options to bring her here other than me becoming a US citizen?
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There are plenty of other options, but some take time, like you filing an I-130 as a LPR, others require her to have certain skills and employer, like I-140. If you didn't get married, she could get F, H, J, L or whatever nonimmigrant visas.
 
Thanks for your replies.

So if the spouse can get an H1B, then H1B seems to be a good route.

But I guess the best route remains becoming a citizen and then get her in with fiancee visa. Even so, this process is still slow (ie 6-9 mos) for my taste.

What about getting her an F-1 before marriage and then marry her in the US? I am ok with this option too because I might return to my country in a few years.
 
Yee Man Chan said:
What about getting her an F-1 before marriage and then marry her in the US? I am ok with this option too because I might return to my country in a few years.
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Well, no one can advise you to do that because it is essentially fraud. But have people done that before without problem? Yeah, sure.
 
senowen said:
Well, no one can advise you to do that because it is essentially fraud. But have people done that before without problem? Yeah, sure.
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What kind of fraud is that? I heard many stories here that F-1s married with a GC person or a citizen.

Plus, I only want the girl to be by my side. If marrying her will cause immigration problems, I don't even have to marry her.
 
Yee Man Chan said:
What kind of fraud is that? I heard many stories here that F-1s married with a GC person or a citizen.
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Yes, but in many cases they came to the US, then met their future spouse and got married. They did not use the F-1 as a means of entering the US merely to get married. There's a difference.

Out of curiosity, how does your girlfriend plan on demonstrating to the consular office that she has an unabandoned foreign residence, and has the ability to pay the tuition?
 
Yee Man Chan said:
What kind of fraud is that? I heard many stories here that F-1s married with a GC person or a citizen.

Plus, I only want the girl to be by my side. If marrying her will cause immigration problems, I don't even have to marry her.
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It's all about intent. Coming on F-1 (or any other non-immigrant visa) requires that the person have no intent to permanently immigrate the US. If someone came to the US to study on their F-1 and later meets someone and decides to marry them, there is no problem. When they came, they had no intent to stay forever, but they changed their intent after they had already come here. However, if your fiance has an intent to come to the US as an immigrant, then she will have to lie on the I-20 where it requires her to certify that she is ONLY coming to the US on a temporary basis to pursue a specified course of study (or whatever similar thing the form says now).

I'm not saying people don't cheat the system. Plenty of people come on F visas, knowing full well that they are coming with the intent to permanently stay here. And most of them have no problems when they change status in the future. But I can tell you this. If your fiance comes here with an F-1 and you get married a month later, someone in the fraud division will be looking at her I-130/I-485 to determine whether they can prove fraud. The most common mistake people make is assuming that the USCIS is too stupid to figure out that someone is scamming the system. Something to think about.
 
TheRealCanadian said:
Yes, but in many cases they came to the US, then met their future spouse and got married. They did not use the F-1 as a means of entering the US merely to get married. There's a difference.

Out of curiosity, how does your girlfriend plan on demonstrating to the consular office that she has an unabandoned foreign residence, and has the ability to pay the tuition?
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Actually I don't have a gf. I am just curious how this works. It might come in handy if I need to find a non-US wife.

As to your question, I suppose she is likely living with her parents and her parents might be able to show financial support. I just checked a local language school. It only needs to show you have US$9000 (US$1800/mo for 5 mos course) in the bank to get I-20.
 
senowen said:
It's all about intent. Coming on F-1 (or any other non-immigrant visa) requires that the person have no intent to permanently immigrate the US. If someone came to the US to study on their F-1 and later meets someone and decides to marry them, there is no problem. When they came, they had no intent to stay forever, but they changed their intent after they had already come here. However, if your fiance has an intent to come to the US as an immigrant, then she will have to lie on the I-20 where it requires her to certify that she is ONLY coming to the US on a temporary basis to pursue a specified course of study (or whatever similar thing the form says now).
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Since I only plan to stay here for a few more years, so it is not necessary for her to get a GC. So there is no immigrant intent.
 
This is my torn in my flesh. Is it best to get an F1 VISA then marry her and then she maintains that student visa for a period of 5 to 7 years until her I130 is approved? Please someone give me a case scenario
 
Yee Man Chan said:
Since I only plan to stay here for a few more years, so it is not necessary for her to get a GC. So there is no immigrant intent.
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Sorry, maybe I wasn't clear. The only intent must be to pursue a course of study. People have been denied F visas before because they told the visa officer at the consulate that they have an American boyfriend/girlfriend. Unfortunately the USCIS website doesn't have an I-20, but I have seen one before, and the person has to sign something affirming that they are seeking a visa "solely" for the purpose of pursuing a course of study.
 
TheRealCanadian said:
Sure, but what will she do at the end of the five months?
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I think she can keep doing this ESL thing. Then probably after a year or two, she can switch to a Community College which is only about $100/unit for foreign students in my area. That's already three years. Long enough for my purpose. If she wants to stay even longer, she can switch to a four year college for two more years.
 
shefe said:
This is my torn in my flesh. Is it best to get an F1 VISA then marry her and then she maintains that student visa for a period of 5 to 7 years until her I130 is approved? Please someone give me a case scenario
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I think that's doable. But the catch is that she can't leave US because then she might have trouble getting back in because she is married after F-1.
 
senowen said:
Sorry, maybe I wasn't clear. The only intent must be to pursue a course of study. People have been denied F visas before because they told the visa officer at the consulate that they have an American boyfriend/girlfriend. Unfortunately the USCIS website doesn't have an I-20, but I have seen one before, and the person has to sign something affirming that they are seeking a visa "solely" for the purpose of pursuing a course of study.
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I came here thru F-1, too. I don't recall someone asked me whether I have a gf/bf in US. I don't quite remember I signed the thing you mentioned.

But the fact is that there are just too many F-1s marrying in the US. I think this is a gray area. The burden is on the consulate officer to decide whether you have immigrant intent or not. If he/she thinks you have, then they should deny you at the interview.
 
I have been asked before- more than once

Yee Man Chan said:
I came here thru F-1, too. I don't recall someone asked me whether I have a gf/bf in US. I don't quite remember I signed the thing you mentioned.

But the fact is that there are just too many F-1s marrying in the US. I think this is a gray area. The burden is on the consulate officer to decide whether you have immigrant intent or not. If he/she thinks you have, then they should deny you at the interview.
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I have been asked before- more than once at the port of entry so the riwk i up to you.....if you lie it will defineatly bite you in the back when youdo an AOS.....but if you have no intent to have her go from F1 to AOS to GC you shouldnt have to worry......
 
Yee Man Chan said:
I came here thru F-1, too. I don't recall someone asked me whether I have a gf/bf in US. I don't quite remember I signed the thing you mentioned.

But the fact is that there are just too many F-1s marrying in the US. I think this is a gray area. The burden is on the consulate officer to decide whether you have immigrant intent or not. If he/she thinks you have, then they should deny you at the interview.
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I'm not here to argue with you about the correct interpretation of the rules, I'm just telling you, technically, what the rules are and how the USCIS interprets them. Whether most people follow the rules, or how many people get caught breaking them, is another matter altogether. You can do whatever you want, but nobody can ethically advise you to break the rules or tell you how to break the rules.

P.S. - You are right, however, that many people are not asked whether they have a bf/gf in the US by the visa officer. However, the visa officer will often ask where or with whom the student will be staying, and the student will give a stupid answer like, "With my bf/gf/fiance."
 
Yee Man Chan,

I don't want her to go back after she has an F1 Visa. As long as she can maintain her student visa until her I130 gets approved and then she get her Immigrant visa then no problem but i need good strategy model plan that works with no unlawful presence in the country.
 
shefe said:
Yee Man Chan,

I don't want her to go back after she has an F1 Visa. As long as she can maintain her student visa until her I130 gets approved and then she get her Immigrant visa then no problem but i need good strategy model plan that works with no unlawful presence in the country.
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Does she have a BS? I think the safest route is to switch to H1B after F1. I suspect when you switch from one F1 to another F1 and you are married at that point, then there might be a problem. But I have never switched F1, so I am not sure.

If you can switch to H1B and then there will be no problem. I think it is a good idea to study nursing in a college because it is easy to find a job.
 
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