I proposed ! umm....now what?

[VRYSRSBSNS 0]

Hello everyone,

I just had a couple naive questions; I would be very grateful if someone could point me in the right direction

I proposed to my Panamanian girlfriend of 3 years last month. She has a tourist visa, and has visited the US twice. I have lived back and forth between here and Panama for the last couple years. We are now ready for her to move stateside.

I understand the paperwork required for the k1, my question is:

If her tourist visa is up in a couple months, is it better to renew her tourist visa and apply for the K1 after? When applying for the K1, will this revoke her tourist visa?

Is there a way for her to come to the US on a tourist visa, and start the K1 process?

Will our travel be restricted during this process?

Actually, that was a bit more than one question, but any help would be greatly appreciated.

Kindest,

Dave

[max+patricia 24]

First of all, congratulations!

We are in a similar situation, my fiancee is from Venezuela and has had multiple tourist visas, her current one has validity for 10-yrs from just this past summer. From what I gather, applying for the K-1 doesn't exactly void your tourist visa - but it sort of does, since it makes travel to the US require major substantial proof that your fiancee will indeed return on her tourist visa before the departure date listed on her I-94. This is apparently COMPLETELY up to the immigration official at the POE whether he/she accepts your proof as "good enough" - and if not, your fiancee will be deported on the spot (not uncommon, sadly).

My fiancee and I read up about this before she came to the US this most recent time, and having said that, it's definitely a gamble either way. I can't imagine the emotional trauma that could be inflicted on your fiancee by being deported (at her expense, btw) immediately after getting here, by lacking proof "sufficient" to the immigration officer that interviews her. Others on here can probably speak of personal experiences regarding this, but in our case, we decided to mail off the I-129F after she was already here, just to avoid that possibility. Obviously, she can't be here the whole time it's in process, but it helps kill some of the time otherwise spent apart.

As I just mentioned in another thread, DEFINITELY don't lie to the immigration officer about who you're going to see and why, as that will likely catch up with you down the road. Your best bet is to be honest, answer their questions, be confident and have every shred of proof you can think of that your fiancee isn't going to overstay her current visa - but even then, it's still out of your control.

I can't speak of whether or not you should renew her tourist visa, but we decided it was a good idea since she already had one and it'd be easier than having to reapply. Good luck to you!

[canadian_wife 1,823]

The above is mostly correct. Her admittance into the US is based strictly on the CBP at the time of crossing. She should always bring ties to Panama. When applying for another tourist visa, to avoid any specualtion to the contrary - she should list you as her fiance living in the US.

If she was denied entry (which can and does happen....it happened to me) it likely won't be issued as a 'deportation' (which would heavily complicate your case). It would likely be listed as a denial of entry or at the most extreme an expedited removal.

There was a case on here a few months ago where a woman entered the US and said she was visiting her boyfriend. At her K-1 interview, the CO did some digging and found that it wasn't her 'boyfriend' she was visiting, but her fiance and her case went downhill from there

Apply for the new B-1 when you like. Just remember to be as open and honest as you can

Good luck

[VRYSRSBSNS 0]

Wow,

Thanks so much for the replies.

I think you guys are absolutely correct on the ‘no lying’ policy. Many of her friends told us to lie during her interview for tourist visa, to say she was going on vacation rather than visiting me. Aside from that being totally unethical, I’m sure the immigration officers are better at detecting lies, than I am and telling them (which, is probably a good thing).

The idea of the POE agent denying entry is terrifying, and I’d imagine that would totally devastate her. I don’t mind the process being tedious, or lengthy…like most of you I’m sure, I’d just like the time apart to be minimal.

(I’ve been denied entry at Canadian POE…it was noooo fun )