Recent divorce and AOS status

[RedSavant 2]

Hey guys,

 

Just starting this journey and need some help and opinions.....just gonna throw it all out there and see what everyone thinks.

 

My guy friends and I take a yearly guy trip as my ex wife did not have alot of vacation time nor willingness to travel. Was always 3-4 of us and traveling to different countries and this year was the Philippines. Second time we had been. I meet a girl who owned the bar my friends and I visited. It was strictly friendship and I imagine marketing for the bar to get us to spend more money.  I added her on Facebook as she owned the bar the friends and I were visiting and used her FaceBook to stay connected on what was the booking for that night while we were in town.

 

Fast forward to end of July, and my ex-wife and decided to get divorced however before doing so she messaged all the girls on my FB she didnt know and basically reconnected this girl and I as she wondered what was going on. We started talking and told her my friends and I were scheduled to come back in September and would see her then. My friends backed out and I already had my vacation time booked. Decided since my company has an office there, I would just move my trip up and go for my birthday as opposed to stay and sulk for events happening. I stayed there for two weeks, she ended up coming here in December for 2 weeks, and I went back for 2 weeks in January. She's just came back for another visit 2 weeks ago and while we were talking about work schedules and timing for the next trip to just stay and get married.....

 

My concern is, my divorce just finalized a month ago(drawn out due to fighting over money and custody schedule.) My fiancee has meet my kids, my kids love her, they skype so nothing "fake" there. Just wondering if during any filings this would look bad or look like it was not a bona fide marriage? I know its a rush and kind of overlapping time line as the divorce was happening but the only reason for that delay was due to fighting over assets and kids vs trying to work anything out.  We also debated on hiring a lawyer vs doing the paperwork based on the VJ guides cause it seems not to hard but didn't know if my situation would complicate things. A lawyer I had emailed mentioned it was like doing taxes, yea you can do it yourself but if its complicated hiring a professional helps.

 

And also as she came in on a B1 tourist, What would be our steps? Was following this guide(http://www.visajourney.com/content/i130guide2) but not sure how we go about starting other things, such as drivers license or bank account or adding her to credit cards/auto loan to get her a car here or should we wait for her SSN(which I dont think we can get until her EAD comes in a few months?) or even just adding her to my cell phone plan to get her a US cell now as well or health insurance once we do marry in a few weeks.

 

 

Any suggestions? 

[neilsqueen 433]

41 minutes ago, RedSavant said:

Hey guys,

 

Just starting this journey and need some help and opinions.....just gonna throw it all out there and see what everyone thinks.

 

My guy friends and I take a yearly guy trip as my ex wife did not have alot of vacation time nor willingness to travel. Was always 3-4 of us and traveling to different countries and this year was the Philippines. Second time we had been. I meet a girl who owned the bar my friends and I visited. It was strictly friendship and I imagine marketing for the bar to get us to spend more money.  I added her on Facebook as she owned the bar the friends and I were visiting and used her FaceBook to stay connected on what was the booking for that night while we were in town.

 

Fast forward to end of July, and my ex-wife and decided to get divorced however before doing so she messaged all the girls on my FB she didnt know and basically reconnected this girl and I as she wondered what was going on. We started talking and told her my friends and I were scheduled to come back in September and would see her then. My friends backed out and I already had my vacation time booked. Decided since my company has an office there, I would just move my trip up and go for my birthday as opposed to stay and sulk for events happening. I stayed there for two weeks, she ended up coming here in December for 2 weeks, and I went back for 2 weeks in January. She's just came back for another visit 2 weeks ago and while we were talking about work schedules and timing for the next trip to just stay and get married.....

 

My concern is, my divorce just finalized a month ago(drawn out due to fighting over money and custody schedule.) My fiancee has meet my kids, my kids love her, they skype so nothing "fake" there. Just wondering if during any filings this would look bad or look like it was not a bona fide marriage? I know its a rush and kind of overlapping time line as the divorce was happening but the only reason for that delay was due to fighting over assets and kids vs trying to work anything out.  We also debated on hiring a lawyer vs doing the paperwork based on the VJ guides cause it seems not to hard but didn't know if my situation would complicate things. A lawyer I had emailed mentioned it was like doing taxes, yea you can do it yourself but if its complicated hiring a professional helps.

 

And also as she came in on a B1 tourist, What would be our steps? Was following this guide(http://www.visajourney.com/content/i130guide2) but not sure how we go about starting other things, such as drivers license or bank account or adding her to credit cards/auto loan to get her a car here or should we wait for her SSN(which I dont think we can get until her EAD comes in a few months?) or even just adding her to my cell phone plan to get her a US cell now as well or health insurance once we do marry in a few weeks.

 

 

Any suggestions? 

Are you saying when she comes to the US to visit you will get married?  You cannot do that if so.  If she is coming on a B1 tourist visa and then you get married, that is considered fraud.  The B1 is strictly for tourist and then they must leave after time is up.  You will have to either file for a fiance K1 visa or go the IR1/CR1 married visa route. 

[neilsqueen 433]

Also, if you do get married here, she will have to go back home to finish the process to not have it considered fraud.

[RedSavant 2]

No... She's been here 3 weeks with a return ticket booked for June and we decided we wanted to pursue her staying vs doing long distance anymore where were on opposite shifts basically, I wake up she goes to sleep. etc.

[geowrian 22,335]

16 minutes ago, RedSavant said:

No... She's been here 3 weeks with a return ticket booked for June and we decided we wanted to pursue her staying vs doing long distance anymore where were on opposite shifts basically, I wake up she goes to sleep. etc.

If she's in the US already, then you can file for AOS. You will need to prove a bona fide marriage. The overlapping timelines will probably add scrutiny to your case. There are others cases on VJ of people who have met with...resistance...in similar cases. But many others who have done so without any issue. Either way, gather your evidence and make your case.

 

Normally AOS is a DIY process. In more complicated matters, having a good immigration lawyer is preferable. I personally wouldn't say your case is overly complicated...it just needs sufficient proof to show a bona fide marriage. I'm not sure how a lawyer would help with that aspect. Then again, there's something to be said for taking the advice of somebody who doesn't have to live with the consequences of that advice.

 

I'd suggest reading through the guides here, reading through the forms and instructions, asking questions, and then seeing how you feel about it. If the only concern is the short time from divorce to marriage, then consider DIY.

 

Good luck.

Edited March 18, 2017 by geowrian

[RedSavant 2]

1 hour ago, geowrian said:

If she's in the US already, then you can file for AOS. You will need to prove a bona fide marriage. The overlapping timelines will probably add scrutiny to your case. There are others cases on VJ of people who have met with...resistance...in similar cases. But many others who have done so without any issue. Either way, gather your evidence and make your case.

 

Normally AOS is a DIY process. In more complicated matters, having a good immigration lawyer is preferable. I personally wouldn't say your case is overly complicated...it just needs sufficient proof to show a bona fide marriage. I'm not sure how a lawyer would help with that aspect. Then again, there's something to be said for taking the advice of somebody who doesn't have to live with the consequences of that advice.

 

I'd suggest reading through the guides here, reading through the forms and instructions, asking questions, and then seeing how you feel about it. If the only concern is the short time from divorce to marriage, then consider DIY.

 

Good luck.

Haha true and valid points.  Was trying to search for those other similar cases but my google was failing me. Most lawyers I have seen add 2500-3500 to the cost which seems like alot when the guides here are so good as well.

 

We have plenty of pictures and chats, and even mutual friends/family who have meet her and myself in both areas to prove its more than just for her. Just hopefully the AP works cause she does need to go back 1-2 times for business stuff within the next 6 months to wrap up stuff there but, its easier her being gone a week each time versus being 3 months between visits. Not sure if that is going to help/hurt us either.

 

Was just looking for "if that makes it complicated" or anything. Thanks so much

[MeAlone 158]

15 hours ago, neilsqueen said:

Are you saying when she comes to the US to visit you will get married?  You cannot do that if so.  If she is coming on a B1 tourist visa and then you get married, that is considered fraud.  The B1 is strictly for tourist and then they must leave after time is up.  You will have to either file for a fiance K1 visa or go the IR1/CR1 married visa route. 

Why do you say marrying on a tourist visa is a fraud? Anybody can marry anybody anytime in any country. Fraud is if she applied for her tourist visa or traveled on the tourist visa knowing she goes to marry. Yet if she stays on tourist visa, she has the right to visit and during her visit to change her mind and marry doing AOS in US, there is even a 30-60-90 days rule. Many people adjust their status during the tourist stay. If you know the law, please show the fraud law link, it will be interesting to read about it.

Tasha

[neilsqueen 433]

1 hour ago, EricTasha said:

Why do you say marrying on a tourist visa is a fraud? Anybody can marry anybody anytime in any country. Fraud is if she applied for her tourist visa or traveled on the tourist visa knowing she goes to marry. Yet if she stays on tourist visa, she has the right to visit and during her visit to change her mind and marry doing AOS in US, there is even a 30-60-90 days rule. Many people adjust their status during the tourist stay. If you know the law, please show the fraud law link, it will be interesting to read about it.

Tasha

I asked if she was already in the states.  If she wasn't and was coming over here to marry him on a visitors visa, it is fraud.  Her intent would be to come and get married.  That is not what a visitors visa is for or they wouldn't have us go thru hoops with K1's or IRs/CRs.  It wasn't clear to me if she was in her country.  He cleared that up in his next comment.

[neilsqueen 433]

1 hour ago, EricTasha said:

Why do you say marrying on a tourist visa is a fraud? Anybody can marry anybody anytime in any country. Fraud is if she applied for her tourist visa or traveled on the tourist visa knowing she goes to marry. Yet if she stays on tourist visa, she has the right to visit and during her visit to change her mind and marry doing AOS in US, there is even a 30-60-90 days rule. Many people adjust their status during the tourist stay. If you know the law, please show the fraud law link, it will be interesting to read about it.

Tasha

Then in my follow up post I said if she did get married here she would have to go back to her country until the process was finished if her intent to come was to get married.

Edited March 19, 2017 by neilsqueen

[MeAlone 158]

9 minutes ago, neilsqueen said:

Then in my follow up post I said if she did get married here she would have to go back to her country until the process was finished if her intent to come was to get married.

Thank you for the explaination. 

Tasha

[KierenHby 897]

What happens to the bar she owns? 

[andy78 178]

3 hours ago, neilsqueen said:

I asked if she was already in the states.  If she wasn't and was coming over here to marry him on a visitors visa, it is fraud.  Her intent would be to come and get married. 

No, it is not fraud to travel to the US temporarily on a visitor's visa to get married. You can even come to the US on a visitor's visa if the main purpose of the trip is to get married. There is nothing in immigration law that prohibits this, as long as you comply with the rules of the visitor's visa.

 

The fraud is when someone travels on a visitor's visa with the prior intent to adjust status and immigrate instead of leaving.

 

[neilsqueen 433]

32 minutes ago, andy78 said:

No, it is not fraud to travel to the US temporarily on a visitor's visa to get married. You can even come to the US on a visitor's visa if the main purpose of the trip is to get married. There is nothing in immigration law that prohibits this, as long as you comply with the rules of the visitor's visa.

 

The fraud is when someone travels on a visitor's visa with the prior intent to adjust status and immigrate instead of leaving.

 

Read my follow up post...I said the same thing in different words.  My initial thought was this is what they were contemplating.  I asked him a question and he clarified it.

[RedSavant 2]

Thanks everybody for all the help