tourist visa for spouse

[lissaday 1]

me and my spouse got married here in the philippines. and we are currently living here for the time being. i want to visit my family in the states with her since ive been here for 2 years..im a retired soldier and planning to live here so we were thinking if it is ok or proper for my wife to apply for a tourist visa? or do we really need to aplly for k3 DCF before i can bring her there with me? i appreciate all ur advice..ty

[tallcoolone 102]

From my understanding, you can apply for any numbers of Visa's at one time.

[lissaday 1]

From my understanding, you can apply for any numbers of Visa's at one time.

tyvm

[Deputy Purple 1,294]

The real question is what is the chance for approval of a tourist visa for the filipina spouse of a USC?

She will need to demonstrate STRONG ties to the PH to convince them she will in fact return.

Having a USC Husband is a strong reason to suspect that she will attempt to stay in the US.

[musashi 0]

you can give it a try, but its like a 90% denial... unless you can prove a STRONG ties here in Phils.

I did apply for a tourist visa (last october). I even have a company invitation that state that I need to go to US for a disty conference of our vendor, and yet they still denied me.. and the CO told me to just wait for my immigrant visa.

[Tahoma 2,291]

Maybe now is the right time for you to apply for an IR-1 visa (married for more than two years) or a CR-1 visa (married less than two years) via the Direct Consular Filing (DCF) route.

I say this because it's never too soon to plan for the future. If something happens to you, it is my understanding that she will need to have her Legal Permanent Resident (LPR) status or her U.S. citizenship in order to collect any of your pension check or your Social Security check.

You might want to study up on the rules about this.

Regards...

~ Tahoma

[Pinay Wife 47]

From the US Embassy website in Manila:

http://manila.usembassy.gov/wwwhniv5.html

My spouse is a U.S. Citizen or a Legal Permanent Resident. Can I obtain a nonimmigrant visa?

Spouses of U.S. citizens are usually issued visas especially if the U.S. citizen spouse is not a resident in the Philippines. While it is possible to receive a nonimmigrant visa even if one has been petitioned for an immigrant visa, the consular officer must be satisfied that the intended stay in the United States for this visit is temporary.

If an applicant is married to a Legal Permanent Resident of the United States, it may likewise be difficult to overcome the presumption that s/he intends to immigrate to the United States to live with his/her spouse. We advise the applicant to have his/her spouse file the immigrant visa petition as soon as possible.

[Zen Den 18]

me and my spouse got married here in the philippines. and we are currently living here for the time being. i want to visit my family in the states with her since ive been here for 2 years..im a retired soldier and planning to live here so we were thinking if it is ok or proper for my wife to apply for a tourist visa? or do we really need to aplly for k3 DCF before i can bring her there with me? i appreciate all ur advice..ty

yes, you need to apply for a K3/CR1 visa so you can bring her to the US. although you're planning on living in the phils and, she can also apply for a tourist visa, it might be construed as your way of bringing her to the states faster (avoiding the longer process of K3)

...if you're willing to take the risk of denial, and she can prove that she has strong ties to go back to phils (family, properties, current employment etc) it's worth applying for a toursit visa

[luv2uallday 1]

me and my spouse got married here in the philippines. and we are currently living here for the time being. i want to visit my family in the states with her since ive been here for 2 years..im a retired soldier and planning to live here so we were thinking if it is ok or proper for my wife to apply for a tourist visa? or do we really need to aplly for k3 DCF before i can bring her there with me? i appreciate all ur advice..ty

here's the short and simple of it.

if your wife doesn't have alot of money in the bank a very good job, owns her own business (talking fairly sizable one) anything to prove strong ties to Philippines. Then her odds of getting a visitor's visa is about the same as you winning the Jackpot prize in the lottery.

Sorry but that's the facts of life. Now if your wife is in the lucky class (which is fairly small) then you can go apply and she has a chance.

Good luck but your best bet might just wait for the K3 to run it's course and have a nice life

[Pinay Wife 47]

me and my spouse got married here in the philippines. and we are currently living here for the time being. i want to visit my family in the states with her since ive been here for 2 years..im a retired soldier and planning to live here so we were thinking if it is ok or proper for my wife to apply for a tourist visa? or do we really need to aplly for k3 DCF before i can bring her there with me? i appreciate all ur advice..ty

The purpose of the green card is to obtain permanent residence in the US. If your wife has no intention of living in the US, it is pointless to spend thousands of dollars applying for K3 or DCF if she will only lose it in the end. The best thing to do under the circumstances is to take a chance and apply for tourist visa. The fact that you have been married for two years and did not do anything to bring her to the US all these time is proof enough that she is not an intending immigrant and has no intent to circumvent the law. Also, the fact that you, her US citizen husband, wants to reside in the Philippines shows her "strong ties to the Philippines". Looking at the big picture, not having a significant amount of assets will not be an issue but having a house in her name would be a tremendous boost to her "Philippine ties".

I suggest that if you decide to have her apply for tourist visa that you accompany her during the interview. IF asked why you don't want to apply for CR-IR instead, inform the consul that it is your intent as a couple to reside in the Philippines.

US Embassy website is clear that spouses of US citizens are usually issued non-immigrant visas so I'm thinking that your wife's chances of getting tourist visa is high.

If you are not successful with B1-B2, you can always apply for IR.

[sachinky 464]

If your intent is to reside in the Phillipines for the foreseeable future then I don't see the need to waste money in applying a IR1 for your wife, a status she will lose soon if she doesn't maintain her primary residence in the U.S. In this case, accompany her to the interview, state your reasons clearly as to why you'd prefer a tourist visa as opposed to an immigrant visa. If you can't go in person, write a letter addressed to the CO. Show strong proof of ties. Have your parents write a letter of invitation, inviting your wife and you to visit them for a month, or whatever.

If and when you do choose to file for a IR1, go via the DCF route. Much much quicker.

Edited November 24, 2009 by sachinky

[musashi 0]

From the US Embassy website in Manila:

http://manila.usembassy.gov/wwwhniv5.html

My spouse is a U.S. Citizen or a Legal Permanent Resident. Can I obtain a nonimmigrant visa?

Spouses of U.S. citizens are usually issued visas especially if the U.S. citizen spouse is not a resident in the Philippines. While it is possible to receive a nonimmigrant visa even if one has been petitioned for an immigrant visa, the consular officer must be satisfied that the intended stay in the United States for this visit is temporary.

If an applicant is married to a Legal Permanent Resident of the United States, it may likewise be difficult to overcome the presumption that s/he intends to immigrate to the United States to live with his/her spouse. We advise the applicant to have his/her spouse file the immigrant visa petition as soon as possible.

Too bad the CO who interviewed me did not apply this principle during my interview...

I had my interview last October 2009. The CO ask for the purpose of my trip, I told him that I need to attend a disty conference of our Vendor, since I am the product specialist of that product. I'll be travelling with our business partners and clients.

He asked me questions about my job and I replied truthfully with confidence...

Then he had this follow up question....

CO: are you married

Me: Yes!

CO: what does your husband do

Me: He works as an IT Support in Abraxis, USA

CO: So, he is in the US

Me: Yes.

CO: Is he under working visa?

Me: He is a citizen

then he paused for a moment...

CO: how long have you been married

Me: 4 years

CO: do you have plans to live with him in the US

Me: My petition was already approved and now in NVC for further processing ( I showed him my NOA2, proof of IV Payment)

and i even told him that, my petition is via consular processing, so definitely I will be going back... here's a copy of our IV payment receipt

he paused again and told me

"im so sorry that I cannot grant you a non-imigrant visa, but since your petition is already approved, it will take a little for you to be with your husband in the US, where you can live, study and work... blah blah blah"

our business trip is nov 23-dec 1 (my boss, clients and vendor left yesterday without me) huhuh!

I know that the CO read my applications and I even put their that I have a pending petiton from my US Citizen husband, and yet he keeps on asking it... maybe to test if i will tell him the truth or not... he did not even bother to see my bank accounts and other properties... he just denied me for whatever reason... i dont really know....

[meowmeowmeow 0]

The real question is what is the chance for approval of a tourist visa for the filipina spouse of a USC?

She will need to demonstrate STRONG ties to the PH to convince them she will in fact return.

Having a USC Husband is a strong reason to suspect that she will attempt to stay in the US.

good point. i had my husband apply for a tourist visa back in march 2008 because we couldn't stand being separated any longer (i had not seen him in 4 months at that time). they rejected him, of course. it didn't have any seemingly obvious impact on our IR-1 visa though....i guess you can go for it, but it might be a sticky situation getting approved.

[Pinay Wife 47]

he just denied me for whatever reason... i dont really know....

Sadly, even if you had every intention to return to the Philippines, the consular officer was not satisfied that the intended stay in the United States for the visit is temporary. Your being near the end of your IR visa process did not help either.

[lissaday 1]

thank you very much for all your replies. it helped us alot. i guess we will just file for cr1. but how to do the process pls? we are both new on visa things..ty