Married to US citizen under a tourist visa (ASAP)

[Mishooo 0]

I have a Tourist visa and i'm going to marry my girl friend while i'm in the US but i wont stay and i will go back to my home country ..is that illegal ? and will i face any problem when i try to visit her in the summer as I'm not ready to move to the US yet so being married wont affect my current visa ?

[TimeTravel 78]

I have a Tourist visa and i'm going to marry my girl friend while i'm in the US but i wont stay and i will go back to my home country ..is that illegal ? and will i face any problem when i try to visit her in the summer as I'm not ready to move to the US yet so being married wont affect my current visa ?

Yes. You may enter the U.S. on a travel visa, marry a U.S. citizen then return home before your visa expires. Where you run into trouble is if you enter on a travel visa with the intention of marrying and staying in the U.S.

Getting re-entry in USA may give you a little hard time as you would need to show strong ties to return to your home country.

Ref: http://immigration.about.com/od/greencards/a/TravlVisaMarrig.htm

[MalaysianGirl 26]

I concur with iwaiting. Not illegal to go to the US and get married and then return to your home country.

After you get married, though, and have returned to Egypt, and then you plan to go back to the US again to visit your wife... you might run into problems at the POE (because you are already married to a US citizen). You have to give strong evidence of strong ties to Egypt. Just a word of caution.

[NY_BX 397]

I have a Tourist visa and i'm going to marry my girl friend while i'm in the US but i wont stay and i will go back to my home country ..is that illegal ? and will i face any problem when i try to visit her in the summer as I'm not ready to move to the US yet so being married wont affect my current visa ?

You mre than likely have issues with re-entering the US.

[Frank and Racquel 18]

I have a Tourist visa and i'm going to marry my girl friend while i'm in the US but i wont stay and i will go back to my home country ..is that illegal

Technically YES because if you get a tourist visa with the intention of entering the USA to marry then your misusing that visa. I say technically because you should keep that info to yourself, BUT remember when you arrive at the airport they are going to ask you why are you here, what are you going to do, etc etc. and if you tell them your here to get married and your on a tourist visa then the CO can refuse you entry. So what do you do? Lie right? You say im on vacation blah blah blah, you dont mention the word marriage. Will this all come back to bite you in the future? It could but probably wont. Now if your here in US and lets say out of the blue you guys decide to get married, you know you get caught up in the moment, your out in Vegas partying one night, whatever , and you or she says hay baby lets get married and you do, then nothing wrong with that. See what I mean? But if your comming here with the sole purpose of getting married to your girlfriend then yikes!! You could mess yourself up in the future. Just be careful.

and will i face any problem when i try to visit her in the summer as I'm not ready to move to the US yet so being married wont affect my current visa ?

Yes and No. Yes if she files immigration papers for you after the marriage and you try to travel back to USA on a tourist visa while you have a immigrant case pending then yes you have a problem. No if you dont have a case pending. If you get married but she doesn't file your case yet then technically you can still use the tourist visa. It doesn't matter who your married to. When you get to the airport and they ask what your doing you just say I am here in the USA to visit, see friends and family.

Edited December 13, 2011 by Frank and Racquel

[Frank and Racquel 18]

sorry i messed up the coloring on my previous post and it wouldn't let me go back and fix it hehehe

[Mishooo 0]

sorry i messed up the coloring on my previous post and it wouldn't let me go back and fix it hehehe

Thank you so much for your answer ...Actually thats exactly what i wanted to hear..I'm not ready to move to the US and filing immigration case means i have to go and stay ..and thats not possible now...all i need is just being able to see her when i want so now i think i can do that

[ceadsearc 515]

It is NOT illegal to use a B-2 to get married. It is NOT misusing the visa. People come and get married in Vegas all the time. There is NO problem as long as you don't intend to stay. If you aren't ready to immigrate yet, though, you may want to consider waiting since you may have a harder time coming back and forth with a USC spouse, depending on how strong your ties I your country are.

Edited December 14, 2011 by ceadsearc

[Mishooo 0]

It is NOT illegal to use a B-2 to get married. It is NOT misusing the visa. People come and get married in Vegas all the time. There is NO problem as long as you don't intend to stay. If you aren't ready to immigrate yet, though, you may want to consider waiting since you may have a harder time coming back and forth with a USC spouse, depending on how strong your ties I your country are.

Thank you for your replay its just a religion issue that we need to get married we cant live together during my stay without being married so we decided to do it and take the risk ..We don't want anything against any laws or religions we just want to be together ...I hope god accept our prayers and we never be apart

[Frank and Racquel 18]

It is NOT illegal to use a B-2 to get married. It is NOT misusing the visa. People come and get married in Vegas all the time. There is NO problem as long as you don't intend to stay. If you aren't ready to immigrate yet, though, you may want to consider waiting since you may have a harder time coming back and forth with a USC spouse, depending on how strong your ties I your country are.

Its not illegal to come here on a B2 and get married if thats not the original plan, its something that just happens while here. But it is illegal if you apply for a B2 with the plan to come here and get married whether you plan to stay or not, it is misuse. This is what a K1 is for, to come here and get married. Not a B2. If it is legal to come here on a B2 to get married then when you arrive at the airport tell them your here to get married, see what happens lol. I'll give you another tip , wait atleast 60 days before getting married while here on a B2 because even if you leave and later apply for a immigrant visa, USCIS may look at the marriage here while you were on a B2 as part of a whole scheme to later go around immigration laws and they will deny you. They will look at it as a sham marriage (marriage solely to get a GC). Mish, just be careful like I said and dont volunteer too much info when you arrive at the airport. With any luck they wont even ask you why your here, if they do ask you, remember my advice from other post. Good luck bro.

[milimelo 4,226]

Its not illegal to come here on a B2 and get married if thats not the original plan, its something that just happens while here. But it is illegal if you apply for a B2 with the plan to come here and get married whether you plan to stay or not, it is misuse. This is what a K1 is for, to come here and get married. Not a B2. If it is legal to come here on a B2 to get married then when you arrive at the airport tell them your here to get married, see what happens lol. I'll give you another tip , wait atleast 60 days before getting married while here on a B2 because even if you leave and later apply for a immigrant visa, USCIS may look at the marriage here while you were on a B2 as part of a whole scheme to later go around immigration laws and they will deny you. They will look at it as a sham marriage (marriage solely to get a GC). Mish, just be careful like I said and dont volunteer too much info when you arrive at the airport. With any luck they wont even ask you why your here, if they do ask you, remember my advice from other post. Good luck bro.

You're wrong. He can come and get married, as long as he doesn't stay and tries to adjust status. He doesn't need a K-1 visa to come and just get married - K-1 is to come, get married, and stay in the US - adjustment of status.

And no, he doesn't need to wait 60 days to get married - he is not adjusting status, he will be leaving the country after his time is up on I-94.

[Penguin_ie 5,986]

You're wrong. He can come and get married, as long as he doesn't stay and tries to adjust status. He doesn't need a K-1 visa to come and just get married - K-1 is to come, get married, and stay in the US - adjustment of status.

And no, he doesn't need to wait 60 days to get married - he is not adjusting status, he will be leaving the country after his time is up on I-94.

There is nothing wrong with planning to travel to the USA on a tourist visa to get married. It is only visa fraud if you plan on staying. Plenty of foreigners go get married in Vegas every day.

[ceadsearc 515]

The idea that it is illegal to get married and leave the country is false. I'm not sure where the idea came from but I assure you that you will find no proof of it. A k-1 is for someone to come and get married, yes. But it is for them to stay. That is why a CR-1 exists as well. It's for already married people to file abroad and there is NO requirement that the marriage didn't happen in the US or wasn't planned or anything like that. It's not going to look bad to immigration, in fact it will probably look better as they didn't overstay. The reason someone who tells CBP they are coming to marry an American on a B-2 might be turned away is not because it's visa fraud, it's because CBP is worried they plan to then commit visa fraud by applying for AOS after arriving with intent.

To the OP, I understand where you are coming from. Good luck. Make sure you bring lots of evidence of strong ties to your country when traveling back and forth as this will help you to be allowed to enter.

[Frank and Racquel 18]

If its such a big problem to get a B2 if he tells the Embassy where he is applying at or tells the CO at the airport that he intends to travel to the USA to get married then how is it legal ? Apply for it and tell them that and see what happens? tell the CO at the airport and see what happens? The person applying wont get a B2 or get in. I rest my case. Intent, thats the magic word. What is your intent. If it is legal and the embassy says no or the CO says no, are they then commiting something illegal? Violating your right? NO, because under immigration law its Illegal to apply for/use that visa with that intent.

I didn't say you cant do it, I said its not intended for that. I said if you tell them that then you wont get the visa or entry , therefore its illegal. Getting it for that sole reason is illegal. If your intent is to travel to the USA and get married then you dont qualify for a B2, its not that kind of visa. Thats all I am saying. Call the NVC and ask them. Now what I also said if you are here on a B2 and you happen to get married, here on any status really, and 1 day you wake up and decide to marry your significant other, thats fine. But its a good idea if that does not take place almost immediately, that does not look good. Most lawyers say wait 60 days to be safe .

I didnt say he needs to wait 60 days , I said its a good idea. It was a free tip. Any good attorney will give you that advice. Many many petitions get denied because of that exact same scenario. Person comes in to the USA on a tourist or work visa on monday and on thur the same week they are married. Bingo!! First thing USCIS says is its a sham marriage.

They will say get a K1 if your reason to travel to the USA is to get married. And if your not ready to immigrate here now then don't get married. Thats what they will tell you.

[ceadsearc 515]

I'm sorry, but that's just not true. A visa not being approved for a certain reason doesn't mean something illegal occurred. As you said, the key is intent. If a B-2 is denied because of marriage plans it is because the officer believes the person applying has INTENT TO IMMIGRATE. That INTENT is what is illegal. If they do not have intent to IMMIGRATE there is nothing illegal. The reason visas get denied in cases like that is because EVERY petitioner is assumed to be planning to immigrate unless proven otherwise and plans to get married in America to a USC do not prove strong ties to the home country nor do they prove plans NOT to immigrate.

That being said, some visas ARE granted even if the officer knows there is intent to marry and return home, assuming ties to the home country can be proven.

If you truly believe this to be illegal, you should not be advising the OP to omit the true nature of their trip when applying because VJ does NOT support condoning illegal activity.

A b-2 is for tourists to come to America. A tourist can marry in America, as a tourist, and then return home. They maintained tourist status the entire time, there is nothing illegal. I'd challenge you to point to the immigration law that states this is illegal but I'd bet dollars to donuts you will not find one.