Her visa expires in two days, we got married 5 days ago...

[LiefKH 0]

She came to see me on the VWP and we honestly did not intent to get married, but after the 2 and a half months of trying to make it work with me being in the military... it become too difficult. They would not recongnize my relationship at all meaning I am not allowed, or alloted money to get my own place. I was stuck in the barracks, and it would not work as I need an official place of residence when we were going to originally apply for a fiance visa... so a week before she was about to leave, we got married by my Army chaplain.

Three days before we left, we went to an immigration consulant, called USCIS, and emailed a few lawyers who heavily implied that it would be a lot easier to have her stay here while we file paperwork and have her overstay her visa... so we did. We refunded her tickets, and have started putting our packet together... opinions have been divided on reddit and a few other people.

The biggest thing is people saying as long as we had NO INTENT to get married on the VWP then we should be good to go... and honestly? We had absolutely no plans to get married but the Army was just making it too complicated and for a relationship that is as serious as ours? It was our best course of action financially. I needed my own place for whenever she came back.

How do y'all feel with what we did? Any advice from here? We have already made the decision and acknowledge the risk of her overstaying her visa... but I would like some more opinions.

Thank you.

[C-ma'am 684]

**Moved from AOS From Family Visas to AOS from Work, Student & VIsitors

You need and can Adjust her Status. I moved your post to this other part of the forum where other folks with situations like yours can guide you on your next steps.

You can start by reading this guide http://www.visajourney.com/content/i130guide2

Edited October 12, 2012 by Celeste & C

[Boiler 43,401]

I do not see any problems. You have mentioned none.

[KazuriSana 324]

Go ahead and apply for AOS. In fact your being in the military will very likely make the AOS easier and faster for you. Once you marry, and USCIS gets and accepts your AOS forms, the overstay becomes irrelevant.

[LiefKH 0]

Oh, well... OK. I just was looking for some more positive outlooks. So many have said it should be irrelevant so we can have a little piece of mind. Thank you for all that was said so far, and I'll read over that link that was posted.

Sorry about posting it in the wrong forum! Thank you much! I am hoping to have her packet completed by Monday.

[EM_Vandaveer 2,366]

You CAN have intent to marry. What you can't have at POE is intent to STAY AND ADJUST STATUS. People often misunderstand that.

Based on your post, you did not have intent to AOS at POE, so you should be OK. There are no guarantees. However, even in the unlikely event of denial, you would lose the money, but your wife would have to go home and apply for a spousal visa. But that's unlikely.

Even if USCIS thought you had intent, it's good to know that intent ALONE is not enough for denial when it is about AOS of immediate relative of USC!

Chances are you are going to be just fine. Good luck to you.

[C-ma'am 684]

Yeah, relax!

You and your wife can start this process and, at this point, it doesn't matter if her deadline to be as a tourist "expires".

Read that guide and ask questions here if you have any doubts.

[MIBEN 83]

Others have answered the AOS peice but my comments is reference the official residence requirement to file for the visa. The barracks is your official residence, you get mail there and her intent was not to stay so no other resident need existed. The military may require you to maintain a room in the baracks but you can always go get a place on your own. As single person you are not entied to basic allowance for housing funds but you always have the option of paying for it yourself. Effectively what you just posted is that because the military refused to give you a benefit you were not entitled to you got married to draw that benefit. That is BAH fraud and CID is always doing searches for case like your. I would be very careful who you disclose this information to if your command gets wind of this it will cost your career.

Good luck,

[MrsB2012 10]

I understand your anxiety. My husband entered under the VWP in June. We had been dating for 3 years, however he did not come here with the intent to stay and we did not plan to get married. He ended up losing his job in Denmark because he chose to stay longer after being here for 1 month. We married 6 days before his stamp expired. We also received mixed advice as far as adjusting from VWP but what we know now is that it is possible to adjust status as long as it's an immediate family member. Hopefully your wife has never overstayed a visa before or been arrested for anything. We met with one attorney 3 days after his stamp expired who told us that ICE could have already filed a deportation/removal order, etc, etc. Basically he freaked us out and then told us he would take our case for a $3000 retainer fee.

Relax. From what I've read, overstay is forgiven when you marry a USC. The only time you would run into a problem is if for some reason she's denied AOS, in which case she will not be allowed to appeal because she entered under VWP. Try to get your paperwork submitted as quickly as possible and make sure you include all required supporting documentation. We filed I-130 and I-485 together on 9/29 and already have a biometrics appointment.

Good luck!