Hello all! I'm new. Just found you today & desperately hoping for some information.

I am a US citizen by birth. I am engaged to a Jamaican citizen. We plan to marry and live in Jamaica. We would like to spend our honeymoon here visiting friends. His visa to re-enter the US was denied, and the Embassy told him that I need to appeal. Does anyone have any experience in this matter, or advise. Any information would be useful.

Thank you!

Welcome baby girl. We need a little more information. How was he entering...on a visitor's visa) or another type of visa?

After you marry, you can apply for a CR1 for him. I don't see any other way around it.

They see him as marrying and immigrating no matter what you say to them at this point.

Thank you! He entered on a visitors visa which expired after 3 months.

Did he then go to the embassy to reapply and told them he would either be visiting his fiance on it or going on his honeymoon to the US?

Yes, he went to the Embassy and told them he would be going to his honeymoon in the US

Now, who told him to say that? They don't want to hear that when someone is applying for a visitor's visa. Oh, damn... So, they want you to appeal a visitor's visa?

Sorry; but that was a big mistake. The visitor visa is issued with the express intent that someone will return to their home country. No matter what you say at this point, they are not going to believe that is going to happen.

Like I said, for him to come to the US now.....with you marrying in Jamaica.....you will have to file a CR1 after you marry.

You could file a K-1 right now; but then not be able to marry in JA.

ok, whats a cr1?

There is probably a small chance for him to file for a visitor visa after you have married and lived together in JA for a while. Assets, a job(s), owning property, etc. as proof. It would not be in time for a honeymoon, though.

But, again, I think they are probably going to deny cause they will think he will never come back. Not the intent of a visitor visa.

yes, they want me to appeal the visitors visa. I have no idea what that means. do you??

A CR-1 is a visa to immigrate to the US. Check the guides tab on top of this page for more information.

eeek! what a nightmare! thank you for your feedback, though. i appreciate the information.

You will probably have a tough time now with the Embassy on almost anything...they're going to really watch how you all play this out because of the way he came initially and overstayed - they don't take too kindly to that. And now you're saying he wants to come on visitor's visa...they're going to be highly suspicious of anything. Good luck with them...he's in a rock and a hard place. Also know this, the immigration process you all are about to embark on will be a lengthy one...this isn't a quick deal.

Where did it say he overstayed a visa? I think I missed that.

She is right about the long process. If you were to file a marriage visa, you will have to prove your ability to sponsor him in the US. That may prove a big problem if you up and move to Jamaica.

Ooops...I misread the post about visitor visa expiring after 3 months...I thought he had stayed past that. My bad.

Anyways, LBG, welcome to the world of "How much do you love your fiance/husband?", the game show that USCIS will now be playing with your lives. You can get through all this, but you have to come to terms with how you all will want to play this game.

I don't remember reading that either. My advice, the both of you need to really sit down and talk this out to figure out what's the best route to take. Do a little research and remember we're here to help, if we can. Have a good weekend. Besides you're in good hands with JG.

Well, the only issue seems to be whether or not he can come to the US and visit.

If they intend to marry and live in Jamaica together, she doesn't really even have to apply for any kind of visa for him. Except whatever SHE has to apply for to be able to live in JA...visa or citizenship.





Now, see, this is why I really love this girl!!!!

From your lips to God's ears, Tre!

Hi - I'm sorry, I missed ur responses.

I'm sorry if I wrote something that gave you the wrong idea. He didn't overstay his visa - he went back home, set an appointment & was denied. Ok, I'm going to take your advise and figure out how we want to handle this. I've been reading but am sooo confused by the cr-2, fiance visa vs marriage visa, etc. And I'm sorry that you all have had to deal with this too. What a crock!

Thank you, again, for your assistance. And please pardon my ignorance. You said "Besides you're in good hands with JG." "

What is JB?

Hi LBG,
you need to figure out together what you want to do in the future.
If you want to live with him in Jamaica, you need to figure out what you need to live there (assets, permit to live and work) and whether you are eligible because of being married to a Jamaican.

If you want to live in US you have a couple of options but they involve time and a lot of paperwork and even more patience.
You can file for K-1, means he is coming ot get married in US! and then staying here and you are living here.
You can get married (either in US or Jamaica) and file for K-3 or CR-1. Both are immigrating visa meaning to bring a spouse to live in US.

After you are married and living in Jamaica and you can show ties to Jamaica I think it should be possible to get him a visitor visa so at least the two of you can travel to US. But all this is depending on the embassy and how they look at the case.

Try to appeal the denial of the visitor visa (don't know how this works). Maybe you can contact the embassy and ask about it. But you already have to have a plan for the future.

Wishing you luck.
Sib

Not JB.....JG.....that's me!

I am a bit confused as well, this is all history for us, (Thank God, or the USCIS, whichever has the most power on our lives). But when things started getting serious for us and realizing vaguely we were from two different countries decided to learn something about visa's, immigration, and stuff like that. Found it to be very complex with everything else to do, so found a darn good immigration attorney.

Also my wife and I had bad marriages, that chaperon stuff they preached back then may work in theory but certainly not in practice, and only sex after marriage. Ha, as a father of daughters, discouraged them highly from jumping around from bed to bed, but if you meet that guy you are really serious about, live with him for awhile before tying that so-called lifelong knot. Thought I would like to follow my own advice on this.

Wife did get a visa, a ten year one, that was no problem, the big problem was that I-94 limitation, and I think is what you are talking about expiring so quick. And time tends to go by very quickly when you are having fun, and yes, we were having fun. And you do have to keep a close eye on that calendar.

At the good advice from my immigration attorney, we wanted to extend her stay so filed a:

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/men...00045f3d6a1RCRD

that is an extension of her I-94, we needed time to decide whether we wanted to spend our lives together and got that time.

She still had to go back, we got to see each other a couple of times, but were going through that infinitely long USCIS process to get married, that was the longest year of our lives. But that also cemented our relationship, use to be a saying, absence makes the heart grow founder, but can add to that, be absent too long, and the heart will wander.

That long year also had it's series of disappointments, but if you really want to be together, will find ways to work all those problems out, we did.

The big day for us is when she got her permanent resident card, but that came also with a huge disappointment and a shock we weren't aware of, it was conditional. Here we are two very careful adults and being treated like irresponsible kids by the USCIS, besides being a very lengthly process with a high degree of insecurity. But again, Thank God, or the USCIS, whichever has the most power on our lives came through and now that is history. Now we are finally on the last leg for her US citizenship.

Not sure if even a book is available if you find a potential mate in a foreign country, ha, if there isn't, maybe we should write one.