Agent says CR1 *expired*, only given tourist visa!

[niner49 0]

Hi, my wife had an I-551 visa in her passport prior to our entry yesterday to the US. This immigrant visa has the "IV issue date" of 07Apr2010 and "IV Expires On" 11May2010. It says "Upon endorsement serves as temporary i-551 evidencing permanent residence for 1 year".

We entered the US yesterday (Aug 9, 2010) for the first time since the issue of this visa. However, the border agent would NOT endorse this visa! He said it was expired. We tried to explain that we had 6 months after the issue date, which would be in our minds October 7, 2010 at the latest, but he wasn't listening. The only way he would let her enter was on a normal 90 day tourist visa (she is from Spain).

This is not a huge deal for the moment since we are currently residing abroad and are just coming for a vacation. We will be residing abroad for two more years and coming back to the US in the meantime at least once a year. However, I would not like this incident to spoil all of the hard work/headaches/money that we have put in over the past years to finally get her the i-551.

Also, as a side note, we will need an adjustment from CR1 to IR1 since we have now been married longer than two years.

Does anyone have any insight on what we should do????? Thanks.

Edited August 10, 2010 by niner49

[kruz_patz 22]

When they stamped visa in your passport.......you must have looked at the expiration date and issuance date.......why didn't you ask the consulate before travel......why didn't you inquire at that time......???

This looks to me like a mistake.....consulate could have corrected this mistake, if it has been a mistake......Well now you can only do one thing is that you can return to your country and visit consulate as soon as possible mentioning the problem.

[belinda63 3,039]

The immigration people at the POE can only do what the visa says. They don't adjudicate the visa, the embassy does that. If it says it was expired the only thing you can do is return to the embassy and obtain a new visa with the correct expiration date.

[Penguin_ie 5,994]

For some reason (long AP after interview maybe, meaning medical expired?), your wife was only given a month to enter the USA with her visa, and didn't do this. When you get back to Spain, you can contact the embassy and ask why, but truly, you would likely lose her greencard-if you had one- anyway by residing abroad for the next two years, so best to forget about it and DCF for another IR-1 visa when you are ready to move.

[Deputy Purple 1,294]

Hi, my wife had an I-551 visa in her passport prior to our entry yesterday to the US. This immigrant visa has the "IV issue date" of 07Apr2010 and "IV Expires On" 11May2010. It says "Upon endorsement serves as temporary i-551 evidencing permanent residence for 1 year".

POE handled it properly, her Immigration Visa expired back in May for whatever reason.

Also as other posters have mentioned you shouldn't have filed for an IV for her yet as only returning to the US once a year on vacation doesn't fulfill her residency requirement.

[niner49 0]

POE handled it properly, her Immigration Visa expired back in May for whatever reason.

Also as other posters have mentioned you shouldn't have filed for an IV for her yet as only returning to the US once a year on vacation doesn't fulfill her residency requirement.

Hi thank you all for your helpful responses! Let me clarify:

1) We attempted to call Madrid several about the strange expiry date, but of course there was no answer. Living overseas it was impossible to go in person. We just had to hope I suppose that what they told us about the 6 month window after issue date to enter was true.

2) We first filed for this green card thinking we were going to move back this August. Then things happened with work and we will need to stay overseas. The US consulate where we currently live gave us this advice that I will copy/paste below....

At this point, she will go to the Madrid consulate in person to sort this out, after our 2 weeks in the U.S. Looks like we will need to go the CDF route, but that only takes 2-3 months, correct? Will our failed visa attempt here complicate our future CDF filing?

Thanks again to all respondents, perhaps the information below will help someone in my situation:

--->" An immigrant visa applicant must travel to the U.S. during the validity of his/her immigrant visa. Immigrant visas are normally valid for six months from the date of issuance. (my edit: NORMALLY?!?!?!?!?) After admission into the U.S. on immigrant visa status, an immigrant may depart the U.S. if he/she chooses and seek admission within 365 days of his/her exit from the U.S. Should the immigrant stay outside the U.S. for more than 365 days, he/she will have lost his/her immigrant status.

If the immigrant believes that he/she will not be able to return to the U.S. within 365 days, he/she must file for a re-entry permit with the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Service (BCIS) when in the U.S. Re-entry permits are normally valid for two years, thus giving the immigrant applicant 24 months to re-enter the U.S.

Should you have further questions, please contact us.

Regards,

Consular Section" <-----

[Deputy Purple 1,294]

The Consular Section of the Embassy gave you bad advice about entering the US once a year to retain residence. If such a pattern is noticed at POE they can go so far as to make you have to appear in from of an Immigration Judge to explain your situation.

The Green Card is for residing in the US and the pattern of entry you mention isn't residing in the US.

When you are ready to actually live together in the US then you should file DCF at the nearest US Embassy.

This incident should have no impact on future DCF beyond them asking why she never used the previously issued CR-1 Visa.

Edited August 10, 2010 by Bob 4 Anna

[niner49 0]

The Consular Section of the Embassy gave you bad advice about entering the US once a year to retain residence. If such a pattern is noticed at POE they can go so far as to make you have to appear in from of an Immigration Judge to explain your situation.

The Green Card is for residing in the US and the pattern of entry you mention isn't residing in the US.

When you are ready to actually live together in the US then you should file DCF at the nearest US Embassy.

This incident should have no impact on future DCF beyond them asking why she never used the previously issued CR-1 Visa.

Helpful response, thanks. She will go to the Madrid consulate anyways to try to clarify why the expiry date was so soon. Maybe this was a blessing in disguise, although it will cost us another I-don't-know-how-much ($1000?), the DCF method seems like it will present fewer issues in the future.... thanks again

[niner49 0]

Helpful response, thanks. She will go to the Madrid consulate anyways to try to clarify why the expiry date was so soon. Maybe this was a blessing in disguise, although it will cost us another I-don't-know-how-much ($1000?), the DCF method seems like it will present fewer issues in the future.... thanks again

Attached is a letter I recently got from the NZ consulate, just FYI for anyone out there

IV IMPORTANT NOTICE handout.pdf

[Boiler 45,666]

The comment above refers to the first visit to activate the GC on the basis that you need to go back and finish up your affairs before finally moving.

Does not seem to be the case here.

I would also suggest filing when you are ready to move.