I have an american friend who is engaged to a girl from UKRAINE. They met in the US, she came in with H1 Visa . They are planning to get married next month. But, she went home last month to visit her mom who is very ill. Can she come back to the US with the same visa considering that she overstayed her visa for 2 months? If not, is it hard to get a tourist visa to return? What other option can she have now?

Maybe someone can help you here, I don't know.

HOWEVER, you should ask this question in the Ukraine forum (europe and eurasia) as Russia is a completely different country then Ukraine, with most likely different circumstances concerning this sort of thing.

hey
im sure that tourist visa is a bad idea, because its almost impossible to get for a girl. i got denied with tourist visa in november and we applied for k-1 visa, probably they should try to do it too?
good luck!
mariya

Is she trying to get a tourist visa to come to the US with the intention of getting married? if yes, that's visa fraud. it seems like they need to file for k-1... it might be better to ask this question in the k-1 forum. that's the fiance/e visa, after all.

If she overstayed her H-1, how the heck could she re-enter with the same (expired) visa?

She can apply for a tourist visa but without a valid reason to come to the U.S., it's not likely that she'll get one. Russia is pretty hard, Ukraine is probably almost as difficult.

What she should've done was gotten married before she went back. She could've applied for AOS and gotten advance parole and then legally been able to travel back and forth. Now, she can't come back until she gets another visa and the quickest way is probably to get another H-1 or file for the K-1. Take a shot with the tourist visa, it's only $100, but it's tecnically "fraud." If she comes here as a tourist and just happens to get married, that's not fraud, but if she uses it to get married that is. Could mess up the AOS later. Who knows.

Probably the best bet for them right now is to apply for another H-1 if possible and if that won't work then to go for the K-1.

The key question here is how long was the H1-B overstay? If it was under 180 days you can apply for another H1-B (specialty occupation), B1/B2 (tourist / business), K1 (fiancee), and CR-1 (marriage). However, if it was over 180 days and under 360 days you have a 3 year ban on re-entry and a 10 year ban if over 360 days. That being said if you are facing a ban you are limited to a K1 or CR-1, at the cost of a successfully approved I-601 hardship waiver. Also the overstay is measured based on your I-94 and not the visa itself. See:
http://www.immspec.com/h-1b-visa-renewal.htm
For some renewal rules on an H1-B

Her H-1 may be multi-entry and if her overstay of I-94 was insignificant, she may try to reenter. However, if they have an intention to marry and adjust status when she returns, they should apply for a K-1; applying for any other type of visa would be considered fraud.

The primary issue here is the overstay which has the same implications worldwide and not a Russian/Ukrainian thing.

H1-B visas are dual intent and you can have the intent to "marry" or "immigrate" as well as the intent to work for your employer.

Wow! So when applying for H-1, one does not have to prove absence of immigration intent?

You can apply for a green card if you have a H-1. I know many people who have done it and eventually became citizens.

Yes, I know such people too (and those who adjusted from tourist visas, too). But I asked a different question. If H-1 is dual intent, does it mean you can ENTER the U.S. on it with obvious immigration intent? And still adjust without problem?

If the OP's friend gets married shortly after re-entry, she'll will have a hard time proving she had no intent to marry and adjust status before she re-entered.

Yes, it's recognized as "dual-intent." So they are not going to question why you want to go to the United States and why you want to go there--i think that it is pretty much given out with the understanding that if your job works out well that you will immigrate.

She overstayed for 2months. So, she can apply another H1 Visa. Thanks for this wonderful info. It helps a lot.

THANKS VJ Family for the Pro's and Con's

OK, in true Russia Forum style, it's time to take this thread off topic.....

Did you and your buddy "search the earth" together to find foreign wives, or was it just one of those things where you just happened to have a wife from the PI and he just happened to find his "true love" while she was here in the U.S. and since you had a foreign wife already he started asking you about his options?

(Not trying to get too personal here, just raising some points.)

First question: "SEARCH THE EARTH"? OUTCH.. ..but, my answer is NOPE.
Second question: I just happen to have an AMERICAN HUSBAND who happen to have a friend, who happen to find his "TRUE LOVE" as you quoted...hmmm...while she is working in the same company that they work for.
Third question: Since I am the foreigner here, he happen to ask me that question.
And since, I always refer my inquiry in this site, I might as well, ask that topic here, knowing other VJ Family are kind enough to share what they knew based from experience.

Anyways, the bottom line of why I post my query is that to know what option the VJ Family can suggest. As you can read the thread, I should not be posting it in Russian Forum coz Ukranian has its own Immigration Law. but, i hope i answered your points.

Based on the current facts presented.... we are really speaking of US IMMIGRATION LAW not immigration law of PI, Russia or Ukraine as that does not appear to be the intention here.

Now this is something truely unique in the Russia Forum.

We have somewhat of a tradition of answering the question quickly (and accurately, I might add) and then stirring the pot a little to get everyone riled up and ready to discuss the finer points of why the American civil war changed history for the better, or some other off the wall topic. Ukraine is pretty much accepted here in the Russia Forum as they're similar in cultural issues and geography. So we see (and welcome) a lot of folks from there.

What we don't see a lot of is foreigners (especially women!) who drop into the Russia Forum, ask an intelligent question, stick around for the replies, thank everyone, and then form an educated response to an off the wall post that could be construed as somewhat taunting. Bravo. I must say seeing your reply was a breath of fresh air. Do come back. And please, feel free to browse through some of our old topics (I recommend the Satellite/Mrs. Satellite 24+pages of mayhem for starters.) and post your replies.

Take care, and do come back!

those were the good ol days.

Great "debate" is hard to find these days.

Oh come on! How dumb does one have to be to ask this question? If one has overstayed a visa, no, one cannot use that same visa to re-enter the country. Duh.

QUOTE

QUOTE(akdiver @ May 14 2008, 11:58 AM)

QUOTE(amy n @ May 8 2008, 07:06 PM)

Can she come back to the US with the same visa considering that she overstayed her visa for 2 months?

Oh come on! How dumb does one have to be to ask this question? If one has overstayed a visa, no, one cannot use that same visa to re-enter the country. Duh.

OUTCH AGAIN.... ....
What is important for me at this time , is that, other VJ members are eager enough to suggest about this matter like Satellite did... and others suggested what is legal and not....and I thank them for being such wonderful people. At least I got intelligent answers from people who made consideration of my inquiry . I spread PEACE... DUHHHH.

QUOTE(Satellite @ May 9 2008, 04:26 AM)

The key question here is how long was the H1-B overstay? If it was under 180 days you can apply for another H1-B (specialty occupation), B1/B2 (tourist / business), K1 (fiancee), and CR-1 (marriage). However, if it was over 180 days and under 360 days you have a 3 year ban on re-entry and a 10 year ban if over 360 days. That being said if you are facing a ban you are limited to a K1 or CR-1, at the cost of a successfully approved I-601 hardship waiver. Also the overstay is measured based on your I-94 and not the visa itself. See:
http://www.immspec.com/h-1b-visa-renewal.htm
For some renewal rules on an H1-B

If she is going to get married her fiancee should apply for K-1. If she overstayed less than 180 days it shouldn`t be a problem.