My Russian Bride already here-on the wrong visa

[Odysseus]

Months ago I met a beautiful Russian woman in the US on a tourist visa. She is now my fiancee. Her visa will run out shortly before the wedding. Do I extend her tourist visa or apply for some kind of immigration status. help!

[krimster2]

that could be a serious problem if she overstays her visa!  you really should get an immigration attorney for this since your situation is not typical.  I would think that your next step is to apply for a K1 visa, this takes a while and means she'd have to return home, I don't know if there's a way around this, hence I'd recommend a lawyer to help, I do know that overstaying a tourist visa is a bad thing for her future in this country!

[SANDRO43]

Partly seriously, how about boarding a cruise ship and getting married aboard? Maybe worth looking into .

[Slumba]

Probably you can file for adjustment of status .

[ML]

Although krimster2 knows a lot about many things, he is wrong in this case.

There is no problem at all in marrying this gal, and she can stay in the USA, if you file the correct paperwork soon.

Although it really isn't fair to those who go through the long k-1 process while living apart, . . .  there is a perfectly legal route to marrying those who are here on tourist visas.

To learn exactly how to do it, go to the below website . . . and read everything there for the next several days.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/forum/130-adjustment-of-status-from-work-student-tourist-visas/

As the title of the website indicates . . . you will adjust her status from the tourist visa to permanent resident.  It takes a lot of time, and a lot of work, and around $2,000 to do this (and you do have to prove you make somewhat over $20,000 per year) . . . but once you do this, she will be legal in USA and her overstay of tourist visa will even be forgiven.

Note to many:  This only works for tourist who marries a USA citizen . . . not for mothers-in-law, brothers, sisters, cousins or anyone else.

[krimster2]

what happens if she overstays during this?

[tfcrew]

Why overstay?
Comply with the visa.
What is the info on her home in Russia?
Needs to go back anyway.
Fly back with her.

Want to get married?
Apply for the K1 anyway.
Do the paperwork for the fiance application.

[LAman]

If she hasn't applied for an extension, do so, she may have another ~6 months legally in US. Extensions are granted quite often. I think you need at least 1 month before expiration.

[BC]

Follow ML's advice and peruse the visajourney site.  They are the best source of this kind of info.  Krimster's advice seek out a good immigration lawyer also is sound.

[CaptB]

I had a friend go through the same thing. As Krimster2 said......she can be sent back.....marriage or not......as did happen with my friend's wife. They did get an immigration attorney who said keeping her here was possibility.......but not a guarantee. She had to go back.....a came back to the US on a K-3 (married visa0. Over the years we have heard of cases where the FSU/W.....was allowed to stay. I would get an immigration attorney.


Capt B

[BillyB]

what happens if she overstays during this?

Nothing as long as the government cashes in the check for an AOS. While AOS is happening, do not let your wife leave the country otherwise she may not be let back in. Get the green card before letting her leave. The biggest challenge Odysseus will face is during the interview for the green card and the interviewer will try to figure out if the marriage is real or a sham. He needs to put her name on his assets, bank accounts and bills.

[tfcrew]

Everything you wanted to know about extending tourist visas...

http://www.visajourney.com/search/?cx=partner-pub-3407508467788263%3A9725800110&cof=FORID%3A10&ie=UTF-8&q=extending+a+tourist+visa&sa=Search&siteurl=www.visajourney.com%2Fforums%2Ftopic%2F608414-can-i-marry-someone-with-greencard-and-file-here-in-america%2F&ref=www.visajourney.com%2Fforums%2Fforum%2F130-adjustment-of-status-from-work-student-tourist-visas%2F&ss=11935j6903461j24

Good luck

[ML]

Please fellas, do not give bad advice here when you are not really familiar with the rules.

When a foreign person living in USA marries a USA citizen, it doesn't matter if they have overstayed their tourist visa . . . even by several years.

Most everything is forgiven when the person marries a USA citizen.

Three things are not forgiven:
1) Entering the USA illegally (but even this is forgiven for some by Obama)
2) Claiming to be a citizen of USA on the I-9 employment certificate.
3) I forgot this one . . . will think of later, or someone else will chime in.

However, there are things that should not be done after marrying the USA citizen.  As Billy has said . . . the person should NOT leave the USA until the AOS process has started and they have received a combo Work-Travel card.
The  person should not try to work in USA until they receive this.
The person should not try to receive any welfare benefits.
The person should not incur an arrest record.

But they DO NOT have to leave the USA, and they don't have to apply for K-1.

It is all laid out very clearly on the Visa Journey website that I posted earlier.

And all these arguments about whether the person will be in trouble for overstaying their visa are brought up there by 'newbies' almost daily and the old timers never tire of setting the record straight (much more thoroughly than I have done here) with other reference websites, etc.

But again . . . this good news only applies to persons who have married USA citizens.  Any others who would just like to arrive on Tourist Visa and adjust their status to gain permanent residency in USA are S.O.L.

[ML]

what happens if she overstays during this?

Doesn't matter.  Visa overstays are forgiven when you marry USA citizen . . . even if you have overstayed by many years.

[ML]

Why overstay?

Needs to go back anyway.

Overstay so that both of you have a warm body in the bed next to you (or on top of you) every night rather than being separated by an ocean and a continent.

NO she does not need to go back anyway.

As I said earlier . . . this ability to marry a person here on tourist visa and go through the AOS process with steady sex is a slap in the face for those who have gone through the lengthy K-1 process without sex on a regular basis . . . but it is perfectly legal and is done by hundreds of couples every year.

[ML]

If she hasn't applied for an extension, do so, she may have another ~6 months legally in US. Extensions are granted quite often. I think you need at least 1 month before expiration.

No need to file for any extension.

Marry and start the AOS process.  As soon as the documents (and money) are received by USCIS, she is legal to be here.

[ML]

Follow ML's advice and peruse the visajourney site.  They are the best source of this kind of info.  Krimster's advice seek out a good immigration lawyer also is sound.

The advice to use a lawyer is NOT sound advice.

No lawyer is needed to file the AOS paperwork.
From reading the VJ website you can see many, many couples who are virtually illiterate (both the USA citizen and the foreigner) and they do it successfully without a lawyer.

Many who have used lawyers are in great anguish because of miscommunications, errors by the lawyers assistants, takes more time because all correspondence goes from USCIS to lawyer who won't timely send it on to you, etc., etc., etc.

Lawyers are only needed if something seriously amiss such as one party has a criminal record, is already in deportation procedures, etc.

[ML]

I had a friend go through the same thing. As Krimster2 said......she can be sent back.....marriage or not......as did happen with my friend's wife.

Over the years we have heard of cases where the FSU/W.....was allowed to stay. I would get an immigration attorney.

Read on VJ.  You will read thousands of experiences before you  ever find a case where a person had to leave USA.

And 'over the years' you will hear of 99.9% cases where . . . was allowed to stay.

And don't get an attorney.

[BC]

The advice to use a lawyer is NOT sound advice.

No lawyer is needed to file the AOS paperwork.
From reading the VJ website you can see many, many couples who are virtually illiterate (both the USA citizen and the foreigner) and they do it successfully without a lawyer.

Many who have used lawyers are in great anguish because of miscommunications, errors by the lawyers assistants, takes more time because all correspondence goes from USCIS to lawyer who won't timely send it on to you, etc., etc., etc.

Lawyers are only needed if something seriously amiss such as one party has a criminal record, is already in deportation procedures, etc.

Yeah.. remember some immigration lawyer horror stories here too for the normal k1 process..  Thanks for the reminder ML.

[odba]

I was an immigrant to this country long time ago (29 years) and having dealt with INS (as called at that time) to adjust status, I can tell you USCIS doesn't take kindly to people who are here on Visitor visa and then apply for change of status. They will assume she came here with intention of applying for adjustment of status here. In their book, that is a no no. There is nothing wrong with what either of you had done but USCIS is suspicious of everyone's intentions unless they cross from Mexico (I know, a cheap shot..). But, using an immigration attorney is a must in this scenario. It will be OK. I would NOT advise you to do this yourself. But then again, I hadn't dealt with them in about 20 years. Good luck.

[BillyB]

the person should NOT leave the USA until the AOS process has started and they have received a combo Work-Travel card.

It's recommended the spouse not leave America until the AOS is done and permanent green card in hand. An interviewer would judge tourist visa to marriage more carefully for fraud over a case of man travelling abroad, meeting woman and doing k-1.

But again . . . this good news only applies to persons who have married USA citizens.  Any others who would just like to arrive on Tourist Visa and adjust their status to gain permanent residency in USA are S.O.L.

Since we last talked, I've met more FSU people who became citizens and then AOS their family that arrived on a tourist visa. More immigration attorney websites post they can help with this. They scare people into thinking an immigration attorney is needed so hire them but the people I talked to did it without an immigration attorney. When my MIL decides to stay here, I will AOS her during a tourist stay and take the short cut.

http://www.immihelp.com/greencard/adjustmentofstatus/

http://www.khurgel.com/b-1b-2-visa-holders-and-adjustment-of-status/

http://www.peerallylaw.com/en/content/view/562

[ML]

Since we last talked, I've met more FSU people who became citizens and then AOS their family that arrived on a tourist visa. More immigration attorney websites post they can help with this. They scare people into thinking an immigration attorney is needed so hire them but the people I talked to did it without an immigration attorney. When my MIL decides to stay here, I will AOS her during a tourist stay and take the short cut.

http://www.immihelp.com/greencard/adjustmentofstatus/

http://www.khurgel.com/b-1b-2-visa-holders-and-adjustment-of-status/

http://www.peerallylaw.com/en/content/view/562

You are still wrong Billy.

None of the websites you show get into the details enough to tell you that your wife is not  going to be able to AOS her mother who arrives on a tourist visa.

The code words you don't know how to interpret are:

"If the priority date is current" and "have an approved family based immigrant visa petition."

These mean that the family member has filed in his/her home country to enter the USA, they have waited (sometimes years) for their priority date to be current, and have been approved.

[ML]

I was an immigrant to this country long time ago (29 years) and having dealt with INS (as called at that time) to adjust status, I can tell you USCIS doesn't take kindly to people who are here on Visitor visa and then apply for change of status. They will assume she came here with intention of applying for adjustment of status here. In their book, that is a no no. There is nothing wrong with what either of you had done but USCIS is suspicious of everyone's intentions unless they cross from Mexico (I know, a cheap shot..). But, using an immigration attorney is a must in this scenario. It will be OK. I would NOT advise you to do this yourself. But then again, I hadn't dealt with them in about 20 years. Good luck.

You are totally wrong.  USCIS doesn't even bother with intent any more . . . unless the person screws up and blurts it out.

The must about the attorney is that . . . you must NOT use one.

[BillyB]

You are still wrong Billy.

So I guess everybody who told me they did this is lying to me and my wife and the Immigration attorney's websites are talking a lot of nonsense since you say the simple answer is "no"? Those sites say as long as the intent was to honor the tourist visa, one is good to go for an AOS.

None of the websites you show get into the details enough to tell you that your wife is not  going to be able to AOS her mother who arrives on a tourist visa.

The code words you don't know how to interpret are:

"If the priority date is current" and "have an approved family based immigrant visa petition."

The first website I provided says to AOS for a family member "you either have an approved family based immigrant visa petition OR filing it concurrently, whenever possible." So you're wrong, you don't need to have an approved family based immigrant visa to begin AOS. Check out the definition of concurrently and you'll understand one can file that family based immigrant visa the same time one does AOS. That means a person can start ALL the paperwork when family is in America on a tourist visa and as long as they had the intention to use the tourist visa for it's intended purpose, they are good to AOS.

[ML]

Billy, no one other than a spouse can file concurrently.

So sure a family member can file concurrently . . . if they are the spouse.

Those websites you show are almost entirely talking about how the spouse of USA citizen goes about the AOS.

They use the term Family Member, but it is really only the spouse they are referring to.

And yes, others who have told you they did this for a non spouse are BSing you.  Why are they doing it.  Can't say for sure, but possibly to hide fact that a relative is staying in the USA illegally.