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Filed: AOS (pnd) Country: India
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We are married for 20 years and I became US citizen few years ago. Since then we have been living in a third country.

Now came on a visit to US on a return ticket, with a plan to go back to home country. Have joint property, more than half my life's savings in home country bank.

Now after 2 months of arrival on visitor visa, we are planning to stay back and apply for AOS in Detroit.

Any comments if there could be an issue at the interview about entering on visitor visa?

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Filed: Citizen (apr) Country: Ireland
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Probably not, unless you were asked about it when you entered the USA.

Bye: Penguin

Me: Irish/ Swiss citizen, and now naturalised US citizen. Husband: USC; twin babies born Feb 08 in Ireland and a daughter in Feb 2010 in Arkansas who are all joint Irish/ USC. Did DCF (IR1) in 6 weeks via the Dublin, Ireland embassy and now living in Arkansas.

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According to my lawyer, the 30/60/90 day rules and the perceived intents people usually talk about do not apply to those couples who are married already by the time he or she entered on a visitor visa because it is assumed the foreign spouses of USC always should always have the intents of immirgation and it is fine. As long as you did not lie at the custom and they allowed you to enter, the burden would shift to their side and you would be fine. The visa fraud is usually against those AOS filers who were not married nor had a visitor visa yet at the time; and obtain a visitor visa by hiding some determining facts, and then come here on visitor visa and get married, stay, and AOS. I mean this may happen in some case you fall in love with someone during your trip and marry, but normally there is time frame for these romance to happen. That's why there is 30/60/90 guide line. But like I said, as an USC spouse, as long as you didn't lie at the custome and they did let you in legally, you shouldn't have too much trouble for AOS.

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Filed: Citizen (apr) Country: Hungary
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According to my lawyer, the 30/60/90 day rules and the perceived intents people usually talk about do not apply to those couples who are married already by the time he or she entered on a visitor visa because it is assumed the foreign spouses of USC always should always have the intents of immirgation and it is fine. As long as you did not lie at the custom and they allowed you to enter, the burden would shift to their side and you would be fine. The visa fraud is usually against those AOS filers who were not married nor had a visitor visa yet at the time; and obtain a visitor visa by hiding some determining facts, and then come here on visitor visa and get married, stay, and AOS. I mean this may happen in some case you fall in love with someone during your trip and marry, but normally there is time frame for these romance to happen. That's why there is 30/60/90 guide line. But like I said, as an USC spouse, as long as you didn't lie at the custome and they did let you in legally, you shouldn't have too much trouble for AOS.

The whole 30/60/90 day stuff does not apply to immediate relatives of USCs, anyway.

Entry on VWP to visit then-boyfriend 06/13/2011

Married 06/24/2011

Our first son was born 10/31/2012, our daughter was born 06/30/2014, our second son was born 06/20/2017

AOS Timeline

AOS package mailed 09/06/2011 (Chicago Lockbox)

AOS package signed for by R Mercado 09/07/2011

Priority date for I-485&I-130 09/08/2011

Biometrics done 10/03/2011

Interview letter received 11/18/2011

INTERVIEW DATE!!!! 12/20/2011

Approval e-mail 12/21/2011

Card production e-mail 12/27/2011

GREEN CARD ARRIVED 12/31/2011

Resident since 12/21/2011

ROC Timeline

ROC package mailed to VSC 11/22/2013

NOA1 date 11/26/2013

Biometrics date 12/26/2013

Transfer notice to CSC 03/14/2014

Change of address 03/27/2014

Card production ordered 04/30/2014

10-YEAR GREEN CARD ARRIVED 05/06/2014

N-400 Timeline

N-400 package mailed 09/30/2014

N-400 package delivered 10/01/2014

NOA1 date 10/20/2014

Biometrics date 11/14/2014

Early walk-in biometrics 11/12/2014

In-line for interview 11/23/2014

Interview letter 03/18/2015

Interview date 04/17/2015 ("Decision cannot yet be made.")

In-line for oath scheduling 05/04/2015

Oath ceremony letter dated 05/11/2015

Oath ceremony 06/02/2015

I am a United States citizen!

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The whole 30/60/90 day stuff does not apply to immediate relatives of USCs, anyway.

Yes, that's what I was trying to say. If you are not married at the time of entry and then later one get married and filed for AOS, the guidance rules may apply; on the other side, if you are already married as the immediate relative when you enter the US on whichever visa And the custom lawfully let you in, the rules mostly don't apply.

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Filed: Citizen (apr) Country: Hungary
Timeline

Yes, that's what I was trying to say. If you are not married at the time of entry and then later one get married and filed for AOS, the guidance rules may apply; on the other side, if you are already married as the immediate relative when you enter the US on whichever visa And the custom lawfully let you in, the rules mostly don't apply.

They may not apply even if not married at the time of entry because the moment the marriage takes place the alien becomes an immediate relative of the USC.

Entry on VWP to visit then-boyfriend 06/13/2011

Married 06/24/2011

Our first son was born 10/31/2012, our daughter was born 06/30/2014, our second son was born 06/20/2017

AOS Timeline

AOS package mailed 09/06/2011 (Chicago Lockbox)

AOS package signed for by R Mercado 09/07/2011

Priority date for I-485&I-130 09/08/2011

Biometrics done 10/03/2011

Interview letter received 11/18/2011

INTERVIEW DATE!!!! 12/20/2011

Approval e-mail 12/21/2011

Card production e-mail 12/27/2011

GREEN CARD ARRIVED 12/31/2011

Resident since 12/21/2011

ROC Timeline

ROC package mailed to VSC 11/22/2013

NOA1 date 11/26/2013

Biometrics date 12/26/2013

Transfer notice to CSC 03/14/2014

Change of address 03/27/2014

Card production ordered 04/30/2014

10-YEAR GREEN CARD ARRIVED 05/06/2014

N-400 Timeline

N-400 package mailed 09/30/2014

N-400 package delivered 10/01/2014

NOA1 date 10/20/2014

Biometrics date 11/14/2014

Early walk-in biometrics 11/12/2014

In-line for interview 11/23/2014

Interview letter 03/18/2015

Interview date 04/17/2015 ("Decision cannot yet be made.")

In-line for oath scheduling 05/04/2015

Oath ceremony letter dated 05/11/2015

Oath ceremony 06/02/2015

I am a United States citizen!

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Filed: Country: Vietnam (no flag)
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Yes, that's what I was trying to say. If you are not married at the time of entry and then later one get married and filed for AOS, the guidance rules may apply Incorrect.; on the other side, if you are already married as the immediate relative when you enter the US on whichever visa And the custom lawfully let you in, the rules mostly don't apply. Incorrect.

Current status is what matters - they are married.

Whether they were married or not when they entered the US is irrelevant.

Plenty of unmarried people have entered the US on visitor visas, married US citizens, and successfully adjusted status as Immediate Relatives of a USC for a green card.

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They may not apply even if not married at the time of entry because the moment the marriage takes place the alien becomes an immediate relative of the USC.

well, then in your case, whom should these 30/60/90 day rules apply to? Cause everyone needs to be married already or to get married after entering the US to become immediate relative in order to file AOS based on marriage. In your saying, the rules could not apply to anybody then cause everyone would be the immediate relative eventually anyway; and why such rules are even exist and imposed by USCIS?

Like I said earlier, my understand ing is that most relationships take time to develop to the stage of marriage. Of course, there may be some exceptions. But in general, if you claimed you didn't know your spouse and was not planning to stay at the time of entry and then within 30 days, you met this person, got engaged, applied for marriage certificate, planned for wedding and held a wedding, and then within a very short time, you prepared all the legal documents ( like birth certificate from your home country; I doubt a regular tourist would carry his/her birth certificate during a trip) you might need for AOS, and applied for AOS shortly after, what would you think of this case if you were the immigration officer?

The guidance rules show if you were not married at the time of entry and then pulled all these things together and applied within 30 days based on marriage, the USCIS could assume visa fraud or you lied at the custom and might deny your AOS; within 60, they would likely have doubts about your perceived intention and would likely asked you to prove otherwise to convince them you didn't plan all of these at visa application or at custom; within 90 days, the burden would be shifted back to USCIS, they might still doubt your marriage, but it'd be their responsibilities to find evidence to back up their doubts instead of asking you to do so.

My understanding is whether the rules apply or not very much depends on if you are an immediate relative ALREADY at the time of entry. Cause if you were married already for a while, then you didn't have to go through all those engagement, wedding stuff plus you should have lots of evidence already, it's more likely something happened, you changed your mind, stayed and applied for AOS within 30 or 60 days or any short period of time rather than the other "not married" case; and that's why the rule is not applied to so called "immediate relatives".

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Filed: Country: Vietnam (no flag)
Timeline

We are married for 20 years and I became US citizen few years ago. Since then we have been living in a third country.

Now came on a visit to US on a return ticket, with a plan to go back to home country. Have joint property, more than half my life's savings in home country bank.

Now after 2 months of arrival on visitor visa, we are planning to stay back and apply for AOS in Detroit.

Any comments if there could be an issue at the interview about entering on visitor visa?

Hi,

There is no issue with your spouse entering on a visitor visa and adjusting status. Plenty of people like your spouse have successfully gotten their green cards.

Ignore the chatter.

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Current status is what matters - they are married.

Whether they were married or not when they entered the US is irrelevant.

Plenty of unmarried people have entered the US on visitor visas, married US citizens, and successfully adjusted status as Immediate Relatives of a USC for a green card.

Of course the current status matters. That's why I said it should be fine for OP's AOS cause they are married for 20 years.

And true, many people have come here and successfully adjusted and that's totally fine. We were just talking about the 30/60/90 rules and guidance for filing. It would be more ideal and would likely bring your less potential problem during the AOS process if you filed beyond the 90 days.

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Current status is what matters - they are married.

Whether they were married or not when they entered the US is irrelevant.

Plenty of unmarried people have entered the US on visitor visas, married US citizens, and successfully adjusted status as Immediate Relatives of a USC for a green card.

"The Department of State developed the 30/60-day rule which applies when, "an alien states on his or her application for a B-2 visa, or informs an immigration officer at the port of entry, that the purpose of his or her visit is tourism, or to visit relatives, etc., and then violates such status by ...Marrying and takes [sic] up permanent residence." Id. at § 40.63 N4.7-1(3)."

https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/err/H2%20-%20Waiver%20of%20Inadmissibility%20-%20Criminal%20-%20212%20(h)/Decisions_Issued_in_2007/Oct312007_02H2212.pdf

This quote from USCIS shows that the status of whether you are married or not and what you told the officers at the visa application or custom is relevant and matters. So if you were not married at the entry and then married for AOS, the guidance rules apply; on the other hand, if you were married already at the time of entry and were honest with the custom, the rules do not apply. Anyway, after all it's just a guidance.

Again, OP should be fine with his/her AOS.

Edited by eric1225
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Filed: Country: Vietnam (no flag)
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Of course the current status matters. That's why I said it should be fine for OP's AOS cause they are married for 20 years.

And true, many people have come here and successfully adjusted and that's totally fine. We were just talking about the 30/60/90 rules and guidance for filing. It would be more ideal and would likely bring your less potential problem during the AOS process if you filed beyond the 90 days. Wrong again.

The rule is a guidance. It's not the law.

Furthermore, Matter of Batista and Matter of Cavazos has rendered this guidance useless.

In addition, the burden of proof of fraud is on USCIS.

Google and find a case of visa fraud based on the 30/60/90 rule in the recent years. You are not going to find any.

Read this;http://www.hooyou.com/familybased/exceptions.html

Edited by aaron2020
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Filed: Country: Vietnam (no flag)
Timeline

"The Department of State developed the 30/60-day rule which applies when, "an alien states on his or her application for a B-2 visa, or informs an immigration officer at the port of entry, that the purpose of his or her visit is tourism, or to visit relatives, etc., and then violates such status by ...Marrying and takes [sic] up permanent residence." Id. at § 40.63 N4.7-1(3)."

https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/err/H2%20-%20Waiver%20of%20Inadmissibility%20-%20Criminal%20-%20212%20(h)/Decisions_Issued_in_2007/Oct312007_02H2212.pdf

This quote from USCIS shows that the status of whether you are married or not and what you told the officers at the visa application or custom is relevant and matters. So if you were not married at the entry and then married for AOS, the guidance rules apply; on the other hand, if you were married already at the time of entry and were honest with the custom, the rules do not apply. Anyway, after all it's just a guidance.

Again, OP should be fine with his/her AOS.

A USCIS memo from 2007 is not the current state of the law.

You should read the link in my last post.

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The rule is a guidance. It's not the law.

Furthermore, Matter of Batista and Matter of Cavazos has rendered this guidance useless.

In addition, the burden of proof of fraud is on USCIS.

Google and find a case of visa fraud based on the 30/60/90 rule in the recent years. You are not going to find any.

You are absolutely right that it's just a guidance. But whether if the USCIS will likely pull out this guidance for your case and doubt your marriage depends on whether you are married or not at the entry. What I am saying is just that fact is relevant and it matters.

Again, as long as your marriage is genuine,USCIS can not prove your fraud or you can prove it's a real marriage which most of AOS filers have to prove anyway, you should be fine after all. Love wins, right? lol

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Filed: Country: Vietnam (no flag)
Timeline

You are absolutely right that it's just a guidance. But whether if the USCIS will likely pull out this guidance for your case and doubt your marriage depends on whether you are married or not at the entry. What I am saying is just that fact is relevant and it matters. The only fact that is relevant is being an Immediate Relative of a USC exempts a person from the 30/60/90 days guidance. Your point about being married or single when entering is irrelevant.

Again, as long as your marriage is genuine,USCIS can not prove your fraud or you can prove it's a real marriage which most of AOS filers have to prove anyway, you should be fine after all. Love wins, right? lol

Please just stop.

Do you even know what Matter of Battista and Matter of Cavazos are about?

Those decisions makes the 30/60/90 guidance irrelevant to anyone filing as an Immediate Relative of a USC.

Read the freakin' link above. Then Google "30/60/90 Matter of Battista."

Edited by aaron2020
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