Skipping the visa and going straight to DCF?

[A+B in Haiti 1]

Hi. I'm new to this website, and the process of applying for a visa. My fiance and I are getting married in December. We both live in Haiti. He's Haitian; I'm a US citizen. We plan to make our home in Haiti, but we want to be able to visit my family in the States whenever we feel like it. I've tried to understand all the different visa options, but it's confusing. We decided to wait until we're married to start the process. Recently saw that one option is to skip filing for a visa and go straight to Direct Consular Filing. Have any of you tried that? Do you think it's a better idea to apply for an IR1/CR1? Or is just a plain old visitor's visa the best route?

Thanks for your help.

[Ryan H 3,790]

All Direct Consular Filing means filing is a I-130 petition in a foreign country. Starting August 15th, there must be a USCIS field office in the country or the I-130 will have to be sent to the lockbox facility in Chicago.

The foreign spouse still must still be granted a visa before being allowed to enter the US.

A green card is not meant to be a permanent visa. Since you do plan to make your home in Haiti, your spouse will essentially need to be tethered there in order to receive a tourist visa and even then it's no guarantee that he will be given one.

Edited June 27, 2011 by Ryan H

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Topic has been moved from the K-1 visa forum as OP is not pursuing a fiancee visa, and moved to General Immigration forum as OP is exploring different options to allow his wife to enter the US after they are married and several different options can be addressed here best

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

Agree with Ryan. DCF does not mean "skipping the visa". It only means submitting the petition to a US consulate abroad rather than to USCIS in the US. Other than that, the process is very similar. There will still be a visa interview and ultimately a visa.

In addition, the USC petitioner has to establish (or reestablish) domicile in the US before the visa can be issued. This is required for the affidavit of support.

Finally, a lawful permanent resident must actually reside in the US. A green card is not an extended tourist visa. If you don't plan to live in the US then don't pursue an immigrant visa. It will only be revoked as soon as CBP determines he isn't actually residing in the US, and you'll have wasted a lot of time and money.

[yankeelimer 1]

Finally, a lawful permanent resident must actually reside in the US. A green card is not an extended tourist visa. If you don't plan to live in the US then don't pursue an immigrant visa. It will only be revoked as soon as CBP determines he isn't actually residing in the US, and you'll have wasted a lot of time and money.

Well the problem the OP wants to solve and pretty much anyone with a spouse from a country not on the visa waiver list(not that it seems to matter once married) is that its functionally impossible to get a tourist visa for the foreign spouse. If you don't really want to live in the US full time, but you still want to see the country and grandparents etc. you're out of luck. I called and asked the embassy about it, the woman said and I quote "why don't you start the permanent residency process? Why haven't you started it YET?!"

If the US had some option for a spouse visitor visa it would make a lot of sense, yet they seem to think everyone must of course want to immigrate. It even comes up on forms and stuff, people act like you're crazy or weird for not doing it.

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

Well the problem the OP wants to solve and pretty much anyone with a spouse from a country not on the visa waiver list(not that it seems to matter once married) is that its functionally impossible to get a tourist visa for the foreign spouse. If you don't really want to live in the US full time, but you still want to see the country and grandparents etc. you're out of luck. I called and asked the embassy about it, the woman said and I quote "why don't you start the permanent residency process? Why haven't you started it YET?!"

If the US had some option for a spouse visitor visa it would make a lot of sense, yet they seem to think everyone must of course want to immigrate. It even comes up on forms and stuff, people act like you're crazy or weird for not doing it.

Read the immigration law. Everyone who enters the US as a non-immigrant is presumed to have immigrant intent. It's up to the alien to prove that they don't intend to immigrate. This is tough to do in countries where a substantial number of those who have been given non-immigrant visas end up deciding not to leave the US when their I-94 expires. Argentina was removed from the VWP list for this reason. If they had a spouse visitor's visa that was easier to get than a B2 visa then a substantial number of those spouses would enter the US and adjust status since their relationship wouldn't have to be scrutinized by the US consulate.

[A+B in Haiti 1]

Well the problem the OP wants to solve and pretty much anyone with a spouse from a country not on the visa waiver list(not that it seems to matter once married) is that its functionally impossible to get a tourist visa for the foreign spouse. If you don't really want to live in the US full time, but you still want to see the country and grandparents etc. you're out of luck. I called and asked the embassy about it, the woman said and I quote "why don't you start the permanent residency process? Why haven't you started it YET?!"

If the US had some option for a spouse visitor visa it would make a lot of sense, yet they seem to think everyone must of course want to immigrate. It even comes up on forms and stuff, people act like you're crazy or weird for not doing it.

Yes, this is exactly the problem!!! We want to do things the right way, but we also don't want to move to the US.

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

Yes, this is exactly the problem!!! We want to do things the right way, but we also don't want to move to the US.

You have a problem. Statistically, your husband is an immigration risk because of the country he's from. Once he's on US soil he would be eligible to adjust status and get a green card. Using a non-immigrant visa with the intention of immigrating is not legal, but the Board of Immigration Appeals stopped INS (the predecessor to USCIS) from using this as a sole reason for denying a green card to an immediate relative of a US citizen. This puts Department of Homeland Security in a precarious position - they have to enforce the law, but their hands are pretty much tied once the alien is admitted to the US. Their only option is to stop people whom they believe might have immigrant intent from getting into the US with a non-immigrant visa. The consulate won't want to give him a non-immigrant B2 visa. If you manage to get a B2 visa then the CBP might not admit him to the United States.

Even if the US had a special visitors visa for spouses of US citizens, there would still be the problem of INA 245(a). The foreign spouse would be eligible to apply for a green card when they entered the US, and the consulates and CBP would be required to enforce the law against preconceived intent.

In my opinion, the solution is not a special visa. The solution is for Congress to change the law so that people who enter the US with a non-immigrant visa may not adjust status unless that visa specifically allowed for dual intent. If everyone was required to go through consular processing to obtain an immigrant or dual intent visa before they could immigrate then it would be dramatically easier to get a visa to visit the US. Congress created the risk when they created the exception that allows someone to adjust status after entering with a non-immigrant visa.

Edited June 28, 2011 by JimVaPhuong