The B for a spouse of the US citizen

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mike9278

Registered Users (C)
Hello everybody.

My wife and my child are US citizens. I am not. I used to live and work in the US (legally) but never got a green card or citizenship. My family and I have been living outside of the US for 7 years straight now and I've never visited there. Neither me nor other members of family are thinking of moving to the US. I now want to visit the US by myself just for the fun of it. In the future, I would like to be able to go there with my child (parks in Orlando and other fun destinations). I don't want to go through the whole immigration thing just for that though, as I'm pretty happy where I am. So, my question is, any chance of me getting a B visa? Should I even bother?

I own a sizable property in my country. I have a job with a major international corporation. My wife doesn't work and my child is in elementary school. What do you think my chances are? Is the B visa a definite NO if your spouse is a US citizen, or is there any flexibility on the consulate part? Any thoughts are greatly appreciated.
 
If you explain your situation to the IO at the interview like you did here, you got a very good chance.
In all fairness you are right, why subject you to get a GC when you truly just want to visit the US.
 
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Of course you should bother. Not applying for a visit visa thinking it is not worth it is not the right attitude in my opinion. Show strong ties to country of residence. You may just prevail.

mike9278 said:
So, my question is, any chance of me getting a B visa? Should I even bother?
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Right. It's just that I was under impression that having an American spouse (not to mention child) is an automatic "No B visa for you! Next!" type of treatment. I guess I'll try and see what happens.

But I still don't know what "showing strong ties to country of residence" really means. I don't think that owning real estate, having a good job, and being plain happy is good enough. I mean, it's good enough for me, but may not be good enough for a consular officer. I guess there are a lot of people out there, who easily abandon their property and high paying jobs to go and work (illegally mind you) as pizza delivery guys and construction workers in the US for 5 bucks an hour, while living in a basement with 5 other illegal immigrants sleeping on mattresses they've snatched from the garbage on the street. That's the idea, right? That's exactly the type of the B visa applicants they are trying to filter out at the consulate, aren't they? Those filthy pizza-delivery-boys-wannabes, why do the rest of us have to suffer because of them? :) I'm joking of course. I perfectly understand the reality we live in. Oh well...
 
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One of the many myths floating around. My sister and her 4 kids are all USCs. She lives outside the US on a permanent basis. Her husband of 17 years has held multiple B-2 visas and a J-1 visa during the last 17 years. He never had an issue overcoming 214(b).

mike9278 said:
It's just that I was under impression that having an American spouse (not to mention child) is an automatic "No B visa for you! Next!" type of treatment
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michaelandrews said:
have you ask someone, except in this forum about this matter? what do you think are your other options?
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No, I haven't. My other options? Well, it's not like I *have* to go to the US "by any means necessary", so I guess it's either they allow me to visit or they don't. I can imagine that some people might choose lo lie about their relatives on the visa application to increase their chances, but I'm not even considering this because a) I'm not that desperate; b) I'm old enough to know better.

Obtaining a permanent residency through my wife is not really an option because I would have to move there for at least a few months (or more) until I get the actual plastic card and then there's the whole status maintenance thing...too complicated for my purposes. We are not completely ruling out the possibility of moving to the US in the future, but we are far from even considering it at this point. All I want is to be able to visit it once in a while. I guess nothing is wrong with that )
 
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Triple Citizen said:
One of the many myths floating around. My sister and her 4 kids are all USCs. She lives outside the US on a permanent basis. Her husband of 17 years has held multiple B-2 visas and a J-1 visa during the last 17 years. He never had an issue overcoming 214(b).
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Oh, so nothing is as bad as I thought it would be. That's a good news! Thank you for sharing.
 
I am in the same boat. My wife is a US citizen. We got married in Korea, and our marriage was approved by the US embassy. I am also planning to visit the US this summer. I am am South African, and we are both employed in Korea. I would like to get a tourist visa(B) because I am not planning to immigrate to the US now. Will my application be rejected?
 
richardinkorea said:
I am in the same boat. My wife is a US citizen. We got married in Korea, and our marriage was approved by the US embassy. I am also planning to visit the US this summer. I am am South African, and we are both employed in Korea. I would like to get a tourist visa(B) because I am not planning to immigrate to the US now. Will my application be rejected?
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You are in a favorable position since you live with your USC spouse abroad in a third country and you are both employed in that third country. IF your want to immigrate at some point, she can file for you locally from abroad.
 
I'm about to get on the same board here...

I'm a US citizen living in US, but I'm thinking about moving abroad and working there (maybe remotely for my US company, or maybe for a local company). I will be living there with my girlfriend, and we might get married as well. Our intention is to continue to live abroad and keep visiting US occasionally (couple times a year? couple weeks each time?) for business and pleasure (in her case just for pleasure - to accompany me). She has no interest in immigration, but we are very worried about her chances to keep using her B-2 at the airport, or obtain a new one when the current visa expires.

So it sounds like we just need to try, and hope the officers assess the situation correctly every time we travel?
 
Triple Citizen said:
Not all US embassies and consulates entertain DCFs.
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That is true. USCIS and DOS have recently announced a pilot where I-130 will be accepted at the Chicago Lockbox filed from abroad, but the actual Consular Interviews will continue. Depending on the state of that process at the time of a future application, things are likely to be different that what they are today.
 
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