Travling to the US from Norway

[jspall 0]

Hello everyone,

I am writing this post in attempts to seek help with this issue I have, hopefully someone out there can help. I have done a lot of research on this already and still a little confused about this process.

So this is the situation. I am from the US. I have this girl from Norway that I'm beginning to become romantically involved with. We have yet to meet but we talk everyday and interact more with each other then anyone else we know in our lives. So I am trying to have her come to the US so we can meet, and possibly start our future together. I asked her if should would be willing to move here and after a few weeks she has finally said yes to it. Now I am trying to plan this out so if everything goes well and we both share the same feeling that if we want her to stay here permanently and/or get married that we don't run into issues. We are looking into a few different ways of doing this.

We are trying to figure out what type of visa would be best to come over with student, work, or tourist. Upon here being here within a few months we might get married if all goes well. However we don't want her to be able to only stay for 3 months then have to leave if we decide to get married.

So basically what I need help with is.

Whats the best visa type to get? And how long does that allow someone to stay in the US?

Should I hire a lawyer to go about this process? (I am trying not to spend a fortune on this process if I can do it myself)

And if we do get married during her stay how can I go about keeping her here while her green card gets processed?

I hope someone can help... and if you need any other info please feel free to ask.

Thank you,

Justin

[Little_My 463]

Well. Now that you have publicly voiced this idea of yours, it suddenly all became a bit more complicated.

I believe Norway is a VWP country - which means she can come under the visa waiver program and stay for 90 days, but she will then have to leave. If she comes here under the VWP with the intent to stay, marry you and immigrate - well, that's visa fraud. Whether or not you would "get caught" of this, who knows. Personally, I would not risk it.

To get a student visa, she will first have to apply to a program, be accepted, then apply for an I-20 from the school which includes showing adequate finances to pay for her studies and for her living expenses while she is in the US. Applying for a student visa with the intent to marry and immigrate is also a no-no. Again, whether or not you would get caught, no one can say. If the person who would interview her at the US consulate in Norway got the idea that this might be her plan, they would not issue the student visa.

You can apply for a fiance visa for her. That will take about 7 months to get - once she has that, she can enter the US with that visa, and then you will have to marry within 90 days. After that she can stay in the US, and eventually you will do what's called AOS - adjustment of status - to get her a green card and a permanent resident status. However, to be eligible for K1 you have to meet in person first.

She can come here under VWP, you can marry, she goes home, and you apply for the CR1 spousal visa. I believe it takes a bit longer than the K1, but it is cheaper and does not include an AOS process, which means that once she gets the visa, when she enters the US she immediately becomes a permanent resident.

However - and I have to say this, even though it is none of my business - are you sure you're not jumping the gun with the marriage? You said you have never met. What if she came here first just to visit with the VWP, stayed for the three months it allows, and then returned home and you two figure out the best way to go about this. I definitely believe in online love, but it is hard to really know how compatible you two are when you have not met in person at all - not to mention ever lived together. This is just my personal opinion, you can take it or ignore it.

The visa options are pretty much those I mentioned - for all of them, you can find a guide here on VJ that you should read to really get an idea of the different processes, timelines and cost.

[Harsh_77 716]

From your post it seems she can enter US on tourist visa, but for that she will have to show ties to her home country and she will have to go back to her home country.

Entering US on tourist with with intent to marry would be considered mis-representation and fraud.

She can enter as student for which she will have to apply to school and be accepted by school and will have to show she has enough funds to take care of the living and tution.

At this time you cannot apply for fiancee visa as you are not engaged and you do not meet the criteria of K1 of meeting here in real before her entering US.

[YOUTOO 2]

First of all congratulations on your new found love. You are in the wrong forum, though. This particular forum is for citizenship for all of us who did go through all the processes that you may or may not have to go though. Try the forum for fiancé visas and you will have more luck to get an educated response. For me that is too long to remember, plus it was not that much fun. I would suggest to have her come over on a normal tourist visa as everyone else does. She is from a country that does not require a "real" visa, so just sign up for the ESTA which is good for re-entry within 2 years and then let her come in like any tourist would for a three month period. Then you can figure out what your intentions are and if there is the "fit" that you hope for. Following that you may follow the steps as described in the other forum. Best of luck.

Edited May 13, 2011 by YOUTOO

[jkelly07 120]

she can apply for a b2 visa to visit if approved, she can not marry you here in the us on a vister visa, if you want to marry her she has to go back home. you can apply a 1-129f k-1 visa do all the paper work in 5 or 6 months your approved she comes to the us, you have 90 days to get married, and the file other forms aos fee's 1,070. if you go ther in her country to get married file 1-130 cr-1 takes about 8 to 12 months to be approved,less money, but you can work social security card, you get the permanent resident card for two years, good luck what ever you do.

[jspall 0]

Well. Now that you have publicly voiced this idea of yours, it suddenly all became a bit more complicated.

I believe Norway is a VWP country - which means she can come under the visa waiver program and stay for 90 days, but she will then have to leave. If she comes here under the VWP with the intent to stay, marry you and immigrate - well, that's visa fraud. Whether or not you would "get caught" of this, who knows. Personally, I would not risk it.

To get a student visa, she will first have to apply to a program, be accepted, then apply for an I-20 from the school which includes showing adequate finances to pay for her studies and for her living expenses while she is in the US. Applying for a student visa with the intent to marry and immigrate is also a no-no. Again, whether or not you would get caught, no one can say. If the person who would interview her at the US consulate in Norway got the idea that this might be her plan, they would not issue the student visa.

You can apply for a fiance visa for her. That will take about 7 months to get - once she has that, she can enter the US with that visa, and then you will have to marry within 90 days. After that she can stay in the US, and eventually you will do what's called AOS - adjustment of status - to get her a green card and a permanent resident status. However, to be eligible for K1 you have to meet in person first.

She can come here under VWP, you can marry, she goes home, and you apply for the CR1 spousal visa. I believe it takes a bit longer than the K1, but it is cheaper and does not include an AOS process, which means that once she gets the visa, when she enters the US she immediately becomes a permanent resident.

However - and I have to say this, even though it is none of my business - are you sure you're not jumping the gun with the marriage? You said you have never met. What if she came here first just to visit with the VWP, stayed for the three months it allows, and then returned home and you two figure out the best way to go about this. I definitely believe in online love, but it is hard to really know how compatible you two are when you have not met in person at all - not to mention ever lived together. This is just my personal opinion, you can take it or ignore it.

The visa options are pretty much those I mentioned - for all of them, you can find a guide here on VJ that you should read to really get an idea of the different processes, timelines and cost.

The intent on what we are trying to do is not just have her come over and get married. We of course want to see what happens first, But we are both open to the idea. With the VWP if we were to say get married during that time frame would our marriage be void and prevent her from being approved for a green card to stay? and also could she get a extension on the VWP if that is the case so she doesn't have to leave during the process?

And based on what you told me about those other ones this seems like it may be our only option as of right now.

Yes, you are most certainly right about that we have no idea what will happen when we meet. Both of us are unsure of that, but I do know that we are very open minded and care for each other very much. I do believe we have a strong enough bond to make it all work no matter the obstacles but anything can happen.

I just want to get everything kind of planned out and have some sort of direction to this whole thing assuming everything goes well. I'm not trying to go into it blindly and next thing I know she cant come to the US again. We are just trying to cover our asses basically.

Thanks again for the info so far, you have already managed to help!

[Little_My 463]

Norway is a part of the VWP program - to come and visit, she does not need the B1/B2 visa. No need to show ties to home country or apply for a visa - as YOUTOO mentioned, all she needs is to fill out the ESTA clearance form, and she can come for 90 days.

[Penguin_ie 5,984]

***** Moving from US Citizenship to General Immigration Discussion forum as OP is not applying for citizenship and has not decided on a visa *****

[LlamaInvasion 76]

The intent on what we are trying to do is not just have her come over and get married. We of course want to see what happens first, But we are both open to the idea. With the VWP if we were to say get married during that time frame would our marriage be void and prevent her from being approved for a green card to stay? and also could she get a extension on the VWP if that is the case so she doesn't have to leave during the process?

No, your marriage would still be valid (provided you're both free to marry, she can get a marriage license, etc).

However if you marry her on a VWP, and then try to have her remain in the country, you'd be doing what's called an Adjustment of Status. I believe AOS from a VWP is considered the riskiest way to go about getting a green card (even more so if it happens on her first visit, and your first meeting), since you'd have to prove that she wasn't coming here with the intent of marriage and staying, something you're already saying might be a possibility. How would she pack for this possibility? If she packs a suitcase, and then you want her to stay, she'll need to go back at some point for more of her things. If she packs all her belongings, it might look odd to the officers at the point of entry.

An extension of a VWP is only granted if there's a true emergency that prevents you from leaving the country (think hospitalization, airports shutting down, etc), not for situations where the alien wishes to stay behind with her boyfriend/fiance/spouse. Submitting an AOS package before the VWP expires will put her in a "limbo" status, where she won't accumulate overstay so no extension needed.

There's nothing preventing her from visiting the US again after her first VWP visit, and if you then decide to get engaged/married, she can still visit during a K-1 fiance/CR-1 spouse visa process.

I was in this exact situation, years ago. What we did was:

I visited on VWP three times. Then we decided we wanted to give the relationship a real shot, because the long-distance relationship was tough on us. I applied for a local college and an F-1 visa, and was approved. I went to school here for three years before we started talking seriously about marriage. Then we planned for me to finish my fourth year of school, then go back home to Norway, and we'd start the K-1 fiance visa process. The plan got a little mucked up when I became pregnant, so now we're doing AOS instead so that my husband will be able to be with our child right from the start (otherwise I'd be alone with the baby in Norway for a while, while we waited for the K-1/CR-1 process).

[Moomin 292]

Looking back, I was very honest with the officer(when entering US) the 1st time, but also naive since they could've asked for ties to my home country and I only brought my travel insurance, important documents, return ticket and one suitcase. Being denied entry means not getting to use the VWP again and having to return to the home country if they suspect immigration purpose.

Get all the knowledge you can right now. It's true you're able to marry when she's visiting. But if you're planning on doing this the legal way(which is the advise you're going to get in this forum) I'd suggest you use the right visa for that purpose. Visa journey has some excellent guides and you're doing a great job looking into the process before so you know what to expect and that it's not just a walk in the park.

Having that said, I wish you all the best and hope you'll follow up on the advise given to you, especially about meeting in person before jumping into marriage. Personally I stayed with my fiance quite some times, and in between we've skyped half and whole days which does not compare to being in the same room, spending time outside or, in general putting action to any thoughts you have of being together.

Edited May 13, 2011 by moomin

[Brother Hesekiel 2,235]

What you are attempting to do is getting to know one another, spend some time with each other, figuring out things. The easiest would be if she just entered the US as a VW participant -- no visa needed! That would give her only 3 months of authorized stay though. If she wanted to stay longer, a B2 visa, the "tourist" visa, would be the way to go. It's valid for 6 months but can be extended while being in the USA.

If you at some point decide that you want to take your relationship to the next level, you can figure out which route you want to pursue in regard to immigration. Right now I would take this one step at a time. You haven't even met the girl once, so there's really no need to pick a wedding dress yet, me thinks.

[jspall 0]

Thank you all for your feedback so far, I am beginning to put the pieces together, and I am taking into consideration what everyone of you are saying believe me, I don't want to rush anything but I guess, I'm just trying to keep a positive attitude that things will work out between us and it wont be just a fling type relationship. I am still doing more research on this and also looking into everything all of you are saying to look at. If anyone else has any other suggestions are input I'd love to here them, hopefully I can get this all sorta out by next week, we are trying to plan her first visit at the end of June / early July. And all of you are helping to make this a lot easier for me. So thank you yet again I appreciate it so much!

[Boiler 43,391]

Traditionally this would have been the way.

She can come for up to 90 days on the VWP, I would have thought more than enough for a first visit.