Question about interview

B

Brightsmile81

New Member
I was a F-1 student on OPT when my US citizen fiance and I went abroad, to my home. We performed a religious ceremony with my family and friends there. I came back to the USA on my F-1 visa and then we performed a civil ceremony here in the USA. I filed for Adjustment of Status and we have recieved our interview date.
My question is this:- IS it ok to show pictures of the religious ceremony back
home? WIll it raise questions about me coming back to the USA as a f-1 student?
Our marriage certificate is dated for the marriage here in the USA since we
didnt do any paperwork for the one abroad.
PLease advise. I am in a dilemma and want to make sure I do this right.
THanks.
 
Relax :
It is very common to have a civil wedding before a religious ceremony .
You can show them the photo's , and you can mention that this was before the civil wedding . You will be fine .
Do not volunteer any information during the interview .
 
I don't know whether I would agree with the above poster.

As you know, the F-1 visa is a non immigrant visa and it could be argued that when you entered the US on that visa, following the religious ceremony, you had the intent to reside here permanently; having the intent to remain here when entering on a non immigrant visa is a not allowed and is basis for denial of AOS.

I re-entered the US on 1/1/2006 and married in the middle of March. My attorney warned me that if I stated at the interview that when I entered on 1/1/06 I intended to marry in March, my application could be denied on the basis that I used a non immigrant visa to enter the country where my intent was to remain.

How long between the time you entered the country and the time you had your civil wedding?

In your position I would consider not mentioning the religious ceremony due to the fact that you arguably re-entered the US on a non immigrant visa with the intent to immigrate. If you had done it the other way round, civil here first, then on AP went to your country and had a religious ceremony, I don’t think it would be a problem.
 
After talking with one of my friends who I went to law school with, I have to say that discussing your religious ceremony in your country will cause you serious problems.

If your civil wedding was close to your entry to the US (within 90 days) make sure you establish that it was not your intent to marry when you entered.
 
I wouldn't risk it either. Don't even mention religious ceremony during ur interview. That sounds like a legal Catch22. On one hand, you have quite valid proof on validity of your marriage (ceremony with family/friends) and on the other, they could reject your application for exactly the same reason (entering the country as non-immigrant and then applying for adjustment). If I was you, I would keep my mouth shut about religious ceremony :D
 
This is an interesting discussion,

We had originally planned to get married in Japan, however her parents were not quite "ready" for their daughter to marry a Foriegner :( So She decided to come back to USA with me, Our intentions were to wait to get married when her parents were more ready to accept the situation.

My wife entered the US on a 90 day Visa Waiver program. Jun 2004
We got pregnant :eek: , :D And She had severe Morning sickness, so she ended up overstaying and we decided to go ahead and get married 10/04.

We Just filed for her OAS 6/17/06

So after reading the posts in htis thread I am wandering how many people get denied if they did enter on a non immigrant Visa and then got married, I mean will USCIS deny petitions of those who entered on a non imigrant Visa and then got married here?

Our situation was not planned or intended that way but we did end up marrying sooner than we had planned,

Our relationship is legit and we have a little baby girl so the validity is not a question, But she did enter as a tourist and then got married, I am curious what USCIS will say to this and

How many other people in this forum are in a similiar situation as brightsmile?
 
Addie_Goodvibes said:
T

So after reading the posts in htis thread I am wandering how many people get denied if they did enter on a non immigrant Visa and then got married, I mean will USCIS deny petitions of those who entered on a non imigrant Visa and then got married here?
Click to expand...

I came here as a tourist under Visa Waiver Program to visit my then USC girlfriend (online-/long-distance-relationship), which is a nonimmigrant visa.
I had no original intent to stay here but then we decided to spend the rest of our lives together and eventually got married here. I overstayed my tourist visa and we filed for my immigration as you can see in my timeline.

It did not raise a red flag at USCIS but you'll never know. It depends on the officer and the DO and even more on your personal case.
 
Its ok to form the intent to remain here after you enter with a non-immigrant visa. The problem arises where you enter on a non-immigrant visa and have already planned to remain permanently.

The problem with Brightsmile is that he/she had a ceremony outside of the US then entered on a non-immigrant visa. The outside US ceremony could be used as circumstantial evidence that he/she had the intent to remain in the US when he/she entered on the non-immigrant visa.

Most people are on non immigrant visas when apply for AOS. I read on this forum that the general rule is don't file or get married within the 90 days following your entry into the US. Because you can say you formed the intent to remain here during those 90 days.
 
ndc121 said:
Most people are on non immigrant visas when apply for AOS. I read on this forum that the general rule is don't file or get married within the 90 days following your entry into the US. Because you can say you formed the intent to remain here during those 90 days.
Click to expand...
I heard about this rule. Nevertheless, we got married a couple of days before those 90 days were over. Our officer had no problem with that. But like I said. A different DO, a different Officer might have.
Which leads me to the conclusion, that, whatever people say here, don't take it as written in stone. That includes my own statements here. That said ...

You should be able to prove a genuine marriage not only by wedding pictures. Even a simple wedding here in the US, with or without family members and friends is considered legal and genuine.

When we were being interviewed, our concern was, how they'd consider our online relationship as a start, so we brought tons of pictures and letters of family and friends to prove the genuineness of our marriage, although the wedding was a very simple small one. No big party, no family or friends.
The officer didn't even take a look at one. So I asked him "Don't you want to see any pictures ?" And he replied "Only if you had a hot honeymoon. Otherwise I'm not interested" with a big grin on his face.
Remember, these officers have so many cases on a daily base, that they probably try to make it as simple as possible unless red flags show up.

My point is: Don't raise a red flag by telling them about the religious ceremony before coming back to the US. I, for one, would rather not mention it much less show any pictures since it doesn't serve any purpose other than raising a red flag. If that was the only prove of how you got married and how you live your life as a genuinly married couple you got a problem in the first place.


EDITED TO ADD

THIS IS MY PERSONAL OPINION BASED ON MY VERY OWN EXPERIENCES.
IT IS NOT A LEGAL ADVICE OF ANY KIND
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I have two interviews just to get my Fiance(e) visa to come in the US to be with my husband now. I have another interview also when we got in the LAX International Airport.

I came here through Fiance(e) visa and we got married before the 90 days over.And after we got married I filed for I-485 then we got our interview together, the officer didn't ask the evidence of our relationship and other supporting documents that proves our relationship is for real, and he didn't even say if its approve or denied, after the interview my husband just said to the officer if there's any problems just let us know and then thankfully later on I recieved my Green Card.

I've never travel since I received my green card.

Its hard to guess whats gonna happened next.

I guess it depends the officer.
 
ndc121 said:
I don't know whether I would agree with the above poster.

As you know, the F-1 visa is a non immigrant visa and it could be argued that when you entered the US on that visa, following the religious ceremony, you had the intent to reside here permanently; having the intent to remain here when entering on a non immigrant visa is a not allowed and is basis for denial of AOS.
Click to expand...


You are correct in mentioning a visa with non-immigrant intent, but you should also remember that most AOS / GC Applications have one person to be on a B1 / B2. You will get a slap on the wrist, but it really does not matter.
We have had this discussion before. “Check Thread B2 Anxiety” .

For Brightsmile81 : Get a good nights sleep , Relax . Just dont mention the religious ceremony . You had the Civil cermony and that is all that matters . Dont show photos from religious ceremony , just tell them that you visited your home country . You will have a religious ceremony at a later date .
 
rex1960 said:
I heard about this rule. Nevertheless, we got married a couple of days before those 90 days were over. Our officer had no problem with that. But like I said. A different DO, a different Officer might have.
Which leads me to the conclusion, that, whatever people say here, don't take it as written in stone. That includes my own statements here. That said ...

You should be able to prove a genuine marriage not only by wedding pictures. Even a simple wedding here in the US, with or without family members and friends is considered legal and genuine.

When we were being interviewed, our concern was, how they'd consider our online relationship as a start, so we brought tons of pictures and letters of family and friends to prove the genuineness of our marriage, although the wedding was a very simple small one. No big party, no family or friends.
The officer didn't even take a look at one. So I asked him "Don't you want to see any pictures ?" And he replied "Only if you had a hot honeymoon. Otherwise I'm not interested" with a big grin on his face.
Remember, these officers have so many cases on a daily base, that they probably try to make it as simple as possible unless red flags show up.

My point is: Don't raise a red flag by telling them about the religious ceremony before coming back to the US. I, for one, would rather not mention it much less show any pictures since it doesn't serve any purpose other than raising a red flag. If that was the only prove of how you got married and how you live your life as a genuinly married couple you got a problem in the first place.


EDITED TO ADD

THIS IS MY PERSONAL OPINION BASED ON MY VERY OWN EXPERIENCES.
IT IS NOT A LEGAL ADVICE OF ANY KIND
Click to expand...

whoa.. long time no see... was wondering wassup with you.
 
ndc121 said:
I don't know whether I would agree with the above poster.

As you know, the F-1 visa is a non immigrant visa and it could be argued that when you entered the US on that visa, following the religious ceremony, you had the intent to reside here permanently; having the intent to remain here when entering on a non immigrant visa is a not allowed and is basis for denial of AOS.

I re-entered the US on 1/1/2006 and married in the middle of March. My attorney warned me that if I stated at the interview that when I entered on 1/1/06 I intended to marry in March, my application could be denied on the basis that I used a non immigrant visa to enter the country where my intent was to remain.

How long between the time you entered the country and the time you had your civil wedding?

In your position I would consider not mentioning the religious ceremony due to the fact that you arguably re-entered the US on a non immigrant visa with the intent to immigrate. If you had done it the other way round, civil here first, then on AP went to your country and had a religious ceremony, I don’t think it would be a problem.
Click to expand...

http://www.imminfo.com/articles.html#fb
Look for "Preconceived intent" and immediate relatives"
 
ari4u said:
whoa.. long time no see... was wondering wassup with you.
Click to expand...
I had a hard time coming back here. I guess it was a technical problem of some sort, actually I thought I was banned or something.

Good to see you around :)
 
rex1960 said:
I had a hard time coming back here. I guess it was a technical problem of some sort, actually I thought I was banned or something.

Good to see you around :)
Click to expand...

Good to see you as well. My priorities have shifted big time and its becoming increasingly difficult for me to spend time here. I havent been visiting this forum much in the last two weeks, though i would love to hang around. I will be here once a while, pop in, say hi :)
 
ari4u said:
Good to see you as well. My priorities have shifted big time and its becoming increasingly difficult for me to spend time here. I havent been visiting this forum much in the last two weeks, though i would love to hang around. I will be here once a while, pop in, say hi :)
Click to expand...

Tell me about priorities :D Pretty much the same is true for me.
I want to come back every now and then to share my own experiences in order to payback what I've learned here from you and other contributors.
 
ari4u, it is a very article. I assume basically what it implies is that if the ONLY "red flag" is tha fact that the applicant had a preconcived immigrant intent petition cannot be denied, correct??
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top