Okay...I have been around VJ since 2004 but then was gone for over a year and have recently come back. My husband and I have only been married since 12/29/06 but together for almost 4 years. Let me tell you our story up to this point. I promise to try and keep things brief.
10 months after meeting each other in Belize, Dean went and applied for a travel visa to come see me in Texas but was denied due to lack of evidence that he would return. About 4 months after that he was on his second trip to see me at my border of Texas/Mexico. I couldn't always afford to fly to Belize so sometimes he would get a Mexcian Visa from Belize and travel to the border and I would drive down to spend time together. To make a long story short, I convinced Dean that we should try to drive across the border in my car and just hang out in my hometown until it was time for him to go home. That just shows how stupid I was at that time. I really was going to bring him back because I wasn't even thinking about all the future problems he would have in America but rather the problems he would have when he would eventually return back to Belize. We obviously didn't make it past the border. Dean really never wanted to do this but my stupidity at the time talked him into it because I am just too used to watching how easy it is sometimes to get across and I got a bit too confident. Anyway, I told Dean that if they asked him where he is from to just say the U.S. and if they ask what state, say anything besides TX. Trying to please my ignorant persistence, he did so and then they obviously didn't believe us and so we had to pull aside and go talk to the officers. Okay, so the end result was then just had Dean return back and cross the border back into Mexico. He was not deported and there were no criminal charges made. They made a point to tell us that this was not handled criminally but rather administratively. As for me, they seized my car for 6 months and I paid about $1000 total to get it back. I was not given any criminal charges either. Neither one of us has ever been in trouble with the law outside of this. They were very nice and understood our story. They gave us the proper paperwork and told us not to worry because it happens so often and that it shouldn't cause us future problems as long as we don't attempt it again. This was in September 2004.
I filed an I-129F for Dean in November of 2004 and the petition was approved in May of 2005. But when that time came, we had been offered a business opportunity in Belize and didn't want to pass it up. So I ended up cancelling the I-129F and moved down to Belize. I have been living there for most of the time between June of 2005 and now. I am back in the states due to family needs. I'm also working on my teaching certification while I'm here. I was just in Belize this week and Dean and I have done nothing in regards to immigration since 2004. So we went in to try and get him a tourist visa so he could travel back and forth with me while I am going through this with my family. We weren't ready to immigrate here yet because we still have our business and Dean is the only one who can run it. Even though we are married now, I had a small bit of hope that he would get it because we have sufficient proof of strong ties to the country with our business. Well, he was told no under Section 212 for misrepresentation and fraud. The CO told me that I could petition a I-130 for him and then a waiver. That's all he said and then we had to go. I'm assuming that he is saying that we should expect to get denied at Dean's spousal visa interview as long as the I-130 gets approved and then expect to file the I-601. Does anyone know how long waivers take in Belize? Whatever you can tell me about the waivers, please do. I appreicate any help offered. Thanks for taking the time to read this and I look forward to all constructive advice.
Hugs,
Erin
