Hi All!

All of the sudden I am really nervous about this trip I will be taking up to the US with my wife and son. We are married and I lived with her for 3 years in her native Guadalajara, Mexico. While we were there we did go through the whole process of getting a K1, but long story short we went back to Guadalajara and never got to use it and it expired.

So last year I fought long and hard to get her a B1/B2 Tourist visa so we could at least visit while we were living there and I figured we could just do the immigration visa later. It was SUCH a PAIN to get that visitor visa (I had to go through my congressman and the whole bit), but we did Finally get it eventually. As many of you probably know, the consensus is that if the foriegner is married to a US Citizen the ONLY way that they can get into the states at that point is if they immigrate as they are a 'risk of visa overstay.'

Anyway, she has only come to visit the one time and that was last year. I just moved back up to the US a few weeks ago. Tomorrow I am going to fly down there to be with her because she is coming for a visit on Sunday! Yea! But all of the sudden I am REALLY freaked out about going through immigration on our layover for some reason. I could just have her say that she is travelling by herself, or I could still say that I was living and working in Mexico if it comes up. I am just worried that all the same old crap will arise and they will tell us that since we're married she can't get in without an immigrant visa and take her tourist visa away!

Am I freaking out over nothing? Isn't the hard part over now that we have the visa (it IS valid for 10 years and they gave it to her while we were married). Does anyone have any suggestions on how to approach this? Has anyone actually ever heard of a story like that where they denied someone entry at the airport just on a visit?

Dhud: there is something wrong with your post - You can't file for K1 if you are already married. So, I assume you filed for K3. Anyway it seems that it all depends on the POE officer - they can let her in or not - Are you two flying directly into Denver. I would suggest you be with her (or at least close to her in case there is a problem). You can explain to the POE officer and he can then let her in or not. Many people are allowed in on a tourist visa while pending a K1 or K3 and many are not.
When we came back from a visit to Mazatlan - 2 years ago. A woman was very worried (she didn't speak much English either) - my wife (Colombian) told her that we will give her a ride to her boy friend/fiancee's home and we waited for her for almost 1.5 hours in the luggage area - she was denied entry! When the airport people took away her luggage, they told us that she was being held for questioning (they didn't tell us anything more). Good Luck

Thats Craziness!!

Well, thanks for answering. Yeah, you heard me right... It is a long story and maybe I worded it weird, but we DID file for a K-1 way back when (about 3 years ago and Before we were married. But a lot of insanity ensued and although they DID issue her the K1 visa, we abandonded it there in Juarez and it expired.

We married in Mexico in January of 2006 and I called Juarez and after a whole bunch of calls to them they eventually re-issued us the visa and right now we have an approved I-129F in-hand. I think it is pretty much worthless though because, like you said, we can't go for a K-1 now that we're married. We would have to start from scratch and thus, we really do NOT have any other visa pending right now. She just has a B1/B2 and thats it.

They did let her in in June of 2007, on that first and only visit she took to the US. But I wasn't travelling with her, I was already here waiting for her and it was only her and my boy. So I don't know why, but I get all nervous thinking about the three of us coming up together, like it might throw off the officer or something. We really have nothing to hide and she IS just coming for a visit, but I wonder if we split up and state that we are travelling alone (though her with my boy) when we get to immigration maybe it would go more smoothly? We have to go through Houston to get the Denver.

No, don't try to split up as they might catch on and then she will really be in trouble.

Just make sure that she brings sufficient proof of ties to Mexico that will convince CBP that she is going back after a visit. What proof of ties is she taking with her?

Well, the biggest one I had thought of was for me to bring my FM-3 visa that is still valid (until November) and just explain that I reside and work in Mexico with them still. I still have the original documents that we used in June in order to GET the visa somewhere (letter from my employer, letter from my congressman) and I suppose we can bring that stuff too. I could show them her itenerary as well which clearly shows her return ticket for a week later.

Other than that, there's not a whole lot else I could come up with. A child in the mix complicates things some, but he is a US citizen as well. I could probably show our invitation to my Grandmothers birthday party, which is in essence the purpose of our trip. Couldn't hurt!

What do you think? Bank records or property ownership isn't going to happen.

Did you get US citizenship for your son?

Oh Yeah

I got right on that and that was actually really easy to do all things considered. We did that when he was about 9 months old or so and we were able to do the whole shot there at the consulate in Guadalajara.

So of the three of us, she will be the only one travelling as a non-citizen. If only getting her US citizenship was that easy !

I think I will just bring along with me the documents I described above. I hope that she will be able to continue to use her tourist visa when we file her I-130... Is there any way to get like a 'Pre-Clearance' on that so I don't have to worry every time she goes back and fourth? Or do they already have all that information available to them in a computer or something?

Don't lie. Especially if you plan to adjust her status/file for K3.

Bring proof of ownership/rental agreement, a letter from her boss stating when she is due back at work, proof that she has bank accounts in Mexico, etc.

And take a look here: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...amp;page=guides and check out your options under the "if you are married" section if you all want to live in the US in the future.

Good luck.

Thanks Everybody for your responses. Just to update everyone, we took our trip and we didn't have any issues at all going through immigration.

We flew through Houston and then onto Denver. Houston (George Bush Int) is a little bit of a nightmare. But I asked a guard and they told me to go through the 'Non-Resident' with her. There must've been some 400 people in that line, no joke. Anyway so, it didn't hurt that when it was about our turn, they opened up a whole bunch more lines (because on the 'US Citizen' side no one was waiting, so we essentially were able to choose our line and I used that as an opportunity.

I saw what looked like a sweet old lady Homeland Security Officer, so I was quick to choose her line
She turned out e be very nice indeed and just asked the basics, where are you going and for how long, is this your wife and son etc... The only thing was that my wife's passport was about to expire in a couple of weeks so the officer said that my wife would have to return before it expired but that was no problem, that was part of our plan anyway. The officer even went so far as to tell us that when my wife gets a new passport to be sure and keep her old one with the visa in it and to travel with both passports so so could travel to the US.

I don't know if its just the officer you get or luck or what, but it feels like I got all worked up over nothing. We provided all that bank information and ties to home country and ALL that CRAP in getting the visa (which, believe me, was a serious pain to get). So while I really appreciate everyones answers, I don't really see why we'd have to provide that kind of documentation upon entering the US, especially at the airport, considering all the trouble you have to go through just to get the damn B1 visa in the first place.

Has anyone on here actually been asked to provide that kind of information upon arriving at the airport and travelling on only a tourist visa? Please share you story

Yes! I have been asked to provide proof of ties to Canada when entering as a visitor:) And that was when I was just visiting a boyfriend...

That is just crazy. One would think that after all of the craziness they make you go through just to get the B1 Tourist visa in the first place would be proof enough.

Does it even matter if the 'tourist' has always obeyed the rules and never overstayed their visa? Do they even look at that stuff , or does it basically just depend on how the Homland Security Officer is feeling that day?

Well to be fair I didn't have to go through any craziness to get a B visa like you guys did - Canadians can easily pass in and out of the States. I'm sure having no prior bad history with USCIS helps, but I think it is a pretty standard question when visiting a significant other, because a lot of people do abuse the visitor visas. But, this last time when I passed through the border I was intending on visiting for three months, told the officer that, and he barely looked at me, except to comment that he liked my car. So who knows.

My wife has had her B1 visa since she was a child and never had any issues. She always returned her I-94 before it expired. We never had any problems with any of her processes. When she had her interview for her K3 she said they told her that she always did the right thing with her visa and I-94. Her interview was very easy for her except that it took most of the day in Juarez. At her AOS interview it took about 5 minutes.

The only time we had any trouble at all was right after we got married and we were not educated in the immigration process and got bad information from USCIS 800 number. We were told she would have no problems adjusting in the US so when we went to the border to cross we were honest and they said no you cannot do that. They interrogated us both for over an hour and finally decided we were being honest and let us go. They seperated us and tried to accuse her of just wanting a greencard but finally realized that we were both telling the same story and we were honest. After that she could still travel to the US and I went there while we were waiting for her visa.

It all depends on the CBP officer you get. You are smart to look for nice older american woman or an american man, they will not give you any problems. Believe me, my wife has crossed the border a thousand times and knows who will harrass you and who wont.

Have you checked with Juarez to see the time difference between processing a K3 compared to an IR1?

Hi Gaby&Talbert! Thanks so much for your reply, that helps a lot!

I have not checked with Juarez to see the time difference between the two visas. Its hard to get information out of them in Juarez unless you call the 900 'informational' number and none of my US phone companies allow calls to 900 numbers

I did however just get off the phone with the Embassy in Mexico City and the gentleman was very helpful. He gave me a lot of info about DCF and the requirements and so on. I asked him about her travelling on the B1 and he said there should be no problem, even after I file her I-130. Essentially it would be the same situation and that even while after the pre-approval of the I-130 she would still be able to travel to the US on the B1 so long as she does not have the intent to stay (and I imagine, would need to be able to produce ties to Mexico is asked - but I think that is rare). According to him, her current visa would be good up until the actual visa interview in Juarez, at which time they would remove her B1 from her passport I imagine.

Our case is strange because I filed for her K1 before anything else but it expired before we could use it. After that we just married and lived in Mexico. So with the K1 thing plus our being married, they were VERY reluctant in issuing her a Tourist visa to say the least. I had to take it to the government level and they finally gave it to her (just 2 days after denying it to her ). It was like pulling teeth! So you can appreciate why I really don't want to just 'loose' that B1 visa without having her immigrant visa all ready to go.

My wife has only come to the US twice since the B1 was issued a year ago. Though neither visit lasted more than two weeks, she has followed all the rules and always has exited on time.

Do you think I could run into problems as far as her being able to come up on the B1 after we file the I-130? (I really want to feel confident about this)

Do you think a K3 could be more beneficial than an IR-1 ? Or would it just maybe be faster ? As I understand it, it's pretty tough to beat the IR-1, which we should be eligible for.