garebear397

There are dozens of us...dozens!

Great to hear! Congrats!

I obviously second most of what everyone has said here, B2 might be challenging. Though I will say my wife (years before we met and got married) overstayed a tourist visa by like a week or so by accident (she was like 16 and didn't understand the i-94 stamp), she later applied for a new B2 visa and she was granted a 10 year B2 visa. Now, that is not necessarily to "give you hope", just saying that the overstay may not be the biggest issue the consulate will be looking at or potentially rejecting you for. So if you go into a B2 interview, yes you will have to explain the 1 day overstay, but the long trips, boyfriend, lack of ties to your home country will be much more examined -- so you are prepared.

F1/M1 visas are not dual-intent, so there is a very low chance to get a visa because they will clearly know you have intent to move to the US. As long as you are honest I do not think applying would impact your I-130 visa. But the complication is probably not worth it....also I-130s you have to return to your home country for the interview and receiving the visa. I would just wait the year/1.5 years and start your education after entering as a green card holder.

Yeah looks like those with April submissions are starting to receive their approvals...so I wouldn't expect anything sooner than May. Looks like its taking right under or around a full 12 months.

No impact on his immigration. Idk if this is a question about travel? He is still a green card holder, even as he waits for ROC...he can travel to his home country to receive the inheritance etc.

If you have someone that can co-sponsor I think it will be much easier and straight-forward (parents, family member, friend). We are in the same boat, waiting on the I-130, but both living overseas. For proving domicile I don't think you have to have a job-offer but something to show that the US citizen has been applying for jobs. US bank accounts, driver's license, if you have kids starting registration or again contacting schools about registration, contacting places to rent or mortgage companies to buy. I do think the domicile issue is a bigger deal in some countries than others (Cananda you have to prove it very well), I am not sure how it is viewed in Australia...what they are trying to make sure is that you aren't just getting a green card to use for travel or long visits and not end up actually living in the US.

I mean....just get everyone passports. Renew your husband's passport (can do by mail before you go). You are an international family, everyone should always have up-to-date passports, you never know when you need to travel urgently. Your child should eventually get two passports (US and Canadian) -- it isn't super necessary for the trip right now but it doesn't hurt to have dual-citizenship and documentation.

100% agree with this, just have in mind it will be a year (for USCIS part) and if it arrives sooner, great! The "actively reviewing" status many get within the first few months....but it doesn't seem to actually mean anything of consequence. I submitted in June 2023 and got an active review in September...and no news since. And yeah...the USCIS time estimate is almost complete garbage. You will get to "6 weeks" before decision....and then it will go to "Your case is taking longer than expected to process". Which is also not something to worry about...that just seems to be how the notifications go for most people. Good luck with everything I am sure it will all go smoothly in the end!

You are going to know better your own culture of what people considered married or what looks like marriage, but any any any kind of marriage (cultural, religious, legal, etc.) counts as being married and will disqualify you from using the K-1. People in this forum often warn about having "engagement" ceremonies that look too much like marriage. If you are doing typical engagement party things that your country generally recognizes as engagement and not a marriage, you are usually fine. But if you do things that your cultural generally associate with marriage, and you just claim that it is for engagement, that is where there is trouble. For example, in the US if we did an "engagement party" but we exchanged rings, that would look like a marriage that was simply dressed up as an engagement party.

People can be a bit blunt or harsh on here. BUT it is often times necessary. The US immigration process and those that work in it (COs, CBP officers, etc.) can also be harsh and blunt. It is better to hear it on this forum than to hear it from an interviewing officer when it is too late to do anything. People could always be nicer sure, but in the end there is a lot of experience on this forum -- just take the advice and don't take it personal. Also immigrating is an expensive process that requires sacrifice - it takes all the normal time and money that normal moving takes, plus another 200%+. You say you can't pay movers...that you can't move alone....that you can't ask a friend or family to co-sponsor...that your husband won't be able to get vacation time. At somepoint you will have to do one or several of those options. This also needs to be considered when deciding to move and immigrate in the first place. Don't worry we all agree and we all wish the process was easier, cheaper, didn't require living apart from our spouses, etc.....there is total agreement. But it just isn't and therefore we all have sacrificed. I do wish you the best and I am sure you will figure it all out!

Anyone have experience with parents visiting a green card holding son or daughter in the US, relatively frequently? Just cover the first few responses....I know entering the US will always depend on the CBP officer, every case is different, no garauntees, etc. But I just wanted to see if anyone had experiences that were similar to ours -- to know what to expect and plan. Our situation: - Wife had green card previously, we moved back to her home country (Chile) 4 years ago, and now are in process to move back to the US - We all want her mom to be able to visit as much as is resonable (2 times a year? 1-2 months each?), we would also probably split those trips up with my wife going down to visit her mom in Chile - Her mom is a widow and retired. Has two properties in her name: her house that she lives in, and a property on the beach that she rents for her monthly income - Her mom visited us once when we lived in the US before with ESTA, for 6 weeks, and she had no problems - Very likely my wife will sponsor her mom for a green card once she is a citizen So we just want gauge how often and frequent she could make trips up to see us (and grandkids), without getting her ESTA status revoked. We definitely aren't trying to have her "live" in the US, she would still be in Chile at least 9 months year, and even when she would be eligible to immigrate (with sponsorship from my wife when she is a citizen) it would be through the IR5 visa, definitely not having her come in as a visitor and do AOS. So again if anyone has a similar situation or experience I would appreciate to hear it! Most of the posts I see about frequency of visits are about boyfriend/girlfriends or spouses -- so just seeing if there are some examples with parents or family.

I don't believe Peru is a high-fraud country where frontloading (I assume you just mean sending lots and lots of evidence) is super necessary. I think you can send the package with evidence that you have met, boarding passes/passport stamps, a couple pictures, some messages or chats and you will be fine. And that is what most people send no matter the country of origin. I will echo widude and say that you can already go ahead and file, no need to wait until march. You have already compelted the "met within the last two years" requirement. The additional visit will be more relevant and necessary when they have the interview. And I will make the obligatory reccomendation (that is the reccomendation of almost everyone on this forum) that you should really consider the CR-1 spousal visa. K-1 and CR-1 take around the same time to be approved (1.5-2 years), but CR-1 you get residency on arrival to the US, and don't have to do AOS before receiving green card (another 6 months to a year, and april this year they are raising the fees). You could even get married when you visit this March and then file for spousal visa. You can always do some sort of legal marriage and do a bigger ceremony later on.

So if you stay outside the US too long (more than a year) you can lose your green card ( Can a U.S. lawful permanent resident leave the United States multiple times and return?). You can file a I-131 re-entry permit and that I believe lets you stay outside the US for 2 years and return still with your green card, but I think you have to apply for that before you leave or at least shortly after leaving (not a year later). So I think you might have trouble coming back in the US on your green card, now that you have been gone over a year (and especially so in 2-3 years more). In that case I agree with OldUser that you probably should file your I-407 to officially give up your green card. You shouldn't have any trouble filing for the spouse visa again (we are in the exact same situation, going round 2 on a green card for my wife). But I will say when my wife and I have visited the US after moving (both in her B-2 visa interview and at the border) the I-407 has been useful showing that she didn't try to "abuse" the system (living in another country while trying to keep residency in the US). There have been those in this forum that say you should try to keep the green card as long as possible, even if it results in them removing it from you at somepoint for not living in the US. But I have a hard time imagining that wouldn't come back to bite you if you had to apply for a new spousal visa down the road. They could question your intent to remain as a resident in the US. Edited: for clarity and misreading the post a bit.

One thing to mention, since you are considering DCF and I-130. Once you file I-130 you can't later try to file DCF with exceptional circumstances, so consider well if you would have a job offer that would qualify you for DCF, and if not then go for the normal I-130 route that takes 1.5-2 years....so it might be approved before your residence expires. Or maybe you have to move to the US first for a few months.

Yes she mentioned it and it was like one of the first things they asked her. Pretty much every interview she has had with the consulate has asked her about it -- I am sure it pops right up when they look for her record. But everytime she has explained it, they don't ask more and it isn't made a big deal. You can, its online and takes a couple mins. But there is a question about if you have ever overstayed a visa -- and it pretty much automatically rejects the ESTA if you say "yes". I don't think any actual human being looks at an ESTA aplication, its basically an automated system. With the idea that if you need any extra evaluation that requires a human you go through the B2 process.

So our situation while probably not quite as "messy" is pretty similar and worked out for us -- so I think its worth applying. My wife (Chilean) back when she was 18 or so overstayed a few weeks in the US while visiting family -- because at the time didn't understand well the i-94 stamp (she thought she had 6 months with her B2 visa, and was only given 3 months at the time of entry). She applied for another B2 visa afterwards, was initially denied for the overstay...applied again a year later and was approved for 10 years. Many years later we got married, we went through the K-1 visa process, got her green card, lived in the US for a couple years, and then due to health problems of her dad we moved to Chile (been here 4 years). She also gave up her green card (form I-407) after we moved. When we wanted to visit the US with our family she was unable to use the ESTA (like you said its pretty much an automatic rejection if you have an overstay, and she also had been denied a visa at one-point). But she applied for a new B-2 visa, and was approved without many questions. Also one extra layer of complication we had was that she was applying for a B-2 visa during COVID, the Santiago office was closed to B-2 interviews....so we contacted other embassies in neighboring countries, and she eventually interviewed in the La Paz, Bolivia embassy, and like I said she was approved for her 10 year B-2. All this to say that she had a bit of a messy situation as well, but overall she could show a history of trying to do things the right way (previous GC holder, several trips to the US and back as a visitor, gave up her green card when she moved) even if she had made a mistake a long time ago -- which is similar to your case. She had I would say medium-strong ties to Chile (car, apartment rental, job), and she is married to a US citizen (which actually works against you for a B-2 visa). Good luck!

Commenting also to later share how our process goes. I am the US Citizen, we have been living in Chile for the past 4 years, and applied for my wife´s CR-1 visa back in June. Planning to move at the same time as my wife, and use my parents as joint-sponsors. I do have my states drivers license, US bank accounts with statements mailed to my parents house (where we plan to live initially), and we have a daughter that will be school age that I will take steps to register in schools before the interview.

Just adding to all the voices in this forum that say that CR-1 is better. It is better. We have done K-1 and are currently doing CR-1. 2-3 months faster to enter the US on a K-1 is not worth 10-12 months longer processing time where you can't leave the US or work. You say that it wouldn't be a big deal....but what about visiting your family, or if your spouse loses their job, or a whole host of other reasons. 10-12 months is not a short time.

You can go ahead and try the ESTA, it takes like 5 mins online -- but I am fairly confident that a previously denied visa is pretty much an automatic rejection of ESTA (my wife got denied for an ESTA because she had a denied visa 10 years ago, and she had to get a B2 visa instead). Its an automatic system, as far as I know there is no physical person that will look at the situation. Basically the idea of the ESTA is that anyone that has no marks on their records (so to speak) can get it, and any situation that is somewhat irregular has to go through the normal visa process, where a physical person can evaluate the case. Also -- K-1s have maybe a very minimal faster processing speed than CR1 just to be able to enter the country, but the overall process to obtain greencard is longer with a K-1 and more costly, and as others have mentioned during AOS (adjustment of status) in the US you can't work or leave the country for often times 6 months or more. Most everyone in this forum who has experience is going to reccomend a CR1 over K-1. And I would say the same, being someone who has gone through the K-1 route once (succesfully) and is in process for the CR1 visa right now.

Yes, I wouldn't reccomend withdrawing the I-130 even if like on the phone with the consulate they tell you to withdraw and file DCF. Because in the end the consulate agent will be giving their OK or not, and they might deny since you really don't live their yet, and would be specifically moving there to file. If they let you file for DCF without withdrawing the I-130, you can go for it. Like others have said it really varies on the consulate.

Yeah as others have said you most likely need to re-do the whole thing, get a more legitamate divorce to your Ex, and then apply for a spouse visa (through I-130). The K-1 should have never been an option. The K-1 isn't much faster, and creates headaches once the non US citizen is in the US. Also K-1s will be denied for any kind of marraige, including religious ceremonies that have no "legality", let alone an actual marriage in the UK where you even got a spousal visa from. This is why they are asking for a divorce from your current UK husband, because you can't do K-1 if you are any kind of married.

Yeah agreed. Definitely don't withdraw the I-130. Honestly even if you call and you present it like you are already living en Mexico and have a urgent job move (which would be the only reason in your case to file DCF), and then they tell you you can withdraw the I-130 and file through DCF -- I still wouldn't reccomend it. Because the interviewing officer could figure out, pretty easily, that this isn't a valid DCF case. Then you just lost all your waiting time on the I-130 and just have to file again.

Yeah I was going to comment the same -- it seems correct the quote, you are not guaranteed re-entry as a Green Card holder. Obviously the vast majority of the times it is not a problem, but it would also be wrong to say it is guaranteed. Like you said even the some-what "innocent" case of staying out of the country more than a year without filing a re-entry permit, could result in not entering the country.

Honestly if you have a willing relative or friend that easily qualifies for the amount based on liquid income that is usually the most straight-forward and easiest way to go. In general it seems like they prefer liquid assets when possible, and if you are both working professionals it is a pretty low risk that the co-sponsor would ever even be called upon. We are in the same position where we are both living in my spouses country, and will move together using my parents as co-sponsors.