Married on a B2

[PunchBuggyBlue 2]

No, I"m not planning on committing visa fraud, that is the last thing I want to do. After numerous phone calls to both USCIS and Customs an Border Protection, as well as a brief conversation with an attorney's office (legal secretary), what my fiance and I are planning seems okay. I want to put these details on this site to see what experienced people may have to say. I am an American citizen and my fiance is Brazilian. She has a 15 year old daughter. For many many reasons, we would like to get married in Brazil in July. Unfortunately because I am divorced the process is long and very very expensive. So we've decided to marry here in New York. We will be completely honest with the Customs Officer at the POE (Kennedy Airport, NYC) and after a conversation with the Supervisor In Charge at Kennedy Airport I feel very confident that my fiance will be granted entry. The Officer advised me of the documents needed to show that my fiance would indeed return to Brazil. Those documents have been discussed on this site many times I see. Because my fiance would declare her intent, there is no visa fraud, and she has strong ties to Brazil that should make the officer confident that she will only be here in the States for a week or so.

I asked USCIS about all of this, and they see no problem with it either. Our intent is to marry, my fiance would then return to Brazil and we would file the I-130. We would then be free to have the religious ceremony in Brazil in July. Personally it is after the Religious ceremony that we will consider ourselves married:-) This plan is nice for us since we can file the I-130 and while waiting the fiver or six months, will still be able to spend some time together in Brazil as a married couple.

Anyone have a similar experience they can share, or maybe some comments / advice you would care to share with someone who 48 hours ago didn't even know what a K1 visa was:-)

Thanks...

[Boiler 45,657]

I was going to say millions do it, but probably not quite that many.

But still quite a few.

[Ryan H 3,812]

Since she will return to Brazil when her authorized time in the US ends, your plan is legal. Many people get married on tourist visa's or the VWP all the time and the foreign spouse returns to their country when their authorized stay in the US ends. They subsequently commence the CR-1 process.

Best wishes to you both!

[PunchBuggyBlue 2]

Thanks for the replies.... It seems that the issue isn't getting married, but rather insuring that there is no illegal immigration. Since my fiance will definitely be returning within days of us being married, do we need to inform the CBP Officer that we will be getting married? Our thought is why raise suspicion and possibly a rather unpleasant grilling?

Thanks again,

John

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

There is no law preventing two people to get married in the United States, even if one or both of them are here on a tourist visa. Yep, happens millions of times every year. Nothing illegal about it.

[PunchBuggyBlue 2]

Okay, this is confusing… I called immigration again, and THIS time the operator told me that if my fiancé enters the country and we are married the next day that it will be considered visa fraud. I called again, spoke to so another person who looked up a bunch of things, put me on hold and finally said that she saw nothing in the rules that prohibit us being married, and that it would not be visa fraud. An immigration attorney I spoke with said that getting married on a tourist visa is not a good idea. So I’m not sure what to do. I don’t want to tell even a tiny lie at any point in this process… that is important to me… Based on what the last operator told me a few weeks back, we booked tickets and set up a day to get married. Any more thoughts on this topic from some of you with experience would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

John

[Harsh_77 718]

Thanks for the replies.... It seems that the issue isn't getting married, but rather insuring that there is no illegal immigration. Since my fiance will definitely be returning within days of us being married, do we need to inform the CBP Officer that we will be getting married? Our thought is why raise suspicion and possibly a rather unpleasant grilling?

Thanks again,

John

Only if asked by the CBP offier.

[Harsh_77 718]

Okay, this is confusing… I called immigration again, and THIS time the operator told me that if my fiancé enters the country and we are married the next day that it will be considered visa fraud. I called again, spoke to so another person who looked up a bunch of things, put me on hold and finally said that she saw nothing in the rules that prohibit us being married, and that it would not be visa fraud. An immigration attorney I spoke with said that getting married on a tourist visa is not a good idea. So I’m not sure what to do. I don’t want to tell even a tiny lie at any point in this process… that is important to me… Based on what the last operator told me a few weeks back, we booked tickets and set up a day to get married. Any more thoughts on this topic from some of you with experience would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

John

You can talk to ‘n’ number of the folks at USCIS, including the supervisors and you will get conflicting and different views and opinions.

There is nothing legally that stops you from getting married on B1/B2 visa, so there is no visa fraud. The only thing you should not do is not stay in US beyond the B1/B2 period.

As long as your spouse returns back to the home country and complete rest of the immigration process from the home country, then there is no visa fraud.

If your lawyer does not know this, then simple thing would be ditch the lawyer this are basic things and if he is not comfortable with it or he did not take out time to sit down with you and understand the whole situation – then again he is worthless.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

Think about this - Two foreign people, let's say German, go on a trip to Vegas and want to get married. This is perfectly fine. They get married in the states because it's fun! Yay!

What you are doing is NO DIFFERENT. The fact that one is a USC and the other is not does not complicate matters at all. Don't call the "misinformation line" for help - they are used to asking questions about people wanting to IMMIGRATE, and you do not. Furthermore, they are NOT immigration officers, but they read from a script and are not supposed to give out any advice.

Really, your plan is fine and totally legit. Relax. Make sure you indicate you are NOT IMMIGRATING with this entry. Good luck!

[Little_My 464]

You can't really commit visa fraud if you are not planning to apply for a green card in the US - entering with B1/B2, marrying, and leaving the US before the date stamped on your I-94 is perfectly legal and in accordance with the visa. Fraud would be if you intended for her to stay and AOS in the US.

As Harsh said, there is no reason to mention the marriage at POE unless you are asked about it. They have the right to deny entry if they believe that she is planning to stay and immigrate without leaving the US, so keep that in mind. Is her daughter coming with you to the US? If not, have proof of the daughter being in Brazil to show she is planning to return. Of course have the return ticket handy as well, and if possible, maybe a lease / proof of a job in Brazil.. whatever you showed to get her the tourist visa in the first place.

[PunchBuggyBlue 2]

Thank you all. I did call back USCIS and this time the representative read me the following:

It is not appropriate for your fiancé(e) to enter the U.S. as a visitor with the intent to marry you and remain to try to become a permanent resident. It is appropriate, however, to enter as a visitor to have the wedding in the U.S. and then return to a foreign residence for further processing for U.S. immigration as a spouse. You should come prepared with proof of your clear intentions in this regard.

The attorney I spoke with was had mis understood my intent and agreed fully that it is okay to enter on a B2, marry and then have my wife return to Brazil. I did search for this text on the USCIS website and could not find it there. It has been referenced on this and other webpages and the url for the original pdf was given as http://www.uscis.gov/files/article/A2.pdf. Unfortunately the document is no longer there. Does anyone have a working link to this document?

So, it looks like I'll be married next week:-) Then the I-130 and the long wait. Luckily I have a lot of vacation time and will be able to spend the month of August in Brazil.

Thanks again all,

John

[Harsh_77 718]

Dude, tons of ppl on here have told you the same thing over and over. So I am not sure why you are looking for the same answer over and over.

This has been well established practice, there are plenty of couples who do the same exactly what you are trying to do.

[PunchBuggyBlue 2]

Dude, tons of ppl on here have told you the same thing over and over. So I am not sure why you are looking for the same answer over and over.

This has been well established practice, there are plenty of couples who do the same exactly what you are trying to do.

I wanted to see the regulation for myself. People do many things, but I want to be sure 1. That I am always truthful and 2. That I fully understand what I’m doing. That’s all... Thank you everyone for your answers, I really appreciate them.

[zizou19dz 0]

How long the procces take to my future wife get her visa to came again in usa

i plan to bring my fiancee in usa with visa tourist and we will get marry here and she will go back to his country

I am Holder a green card

thanks

[Boiler 45,657]

Approximately 5 years.

May be less, may be more.