intend to do AOS but I was interrogated upon entry.

[canadian_wife 1,791]

Looking at it as an outsider, you do not have a clean case for AOS.

I wouldn't do anything to risk my future with my husband in the US. File for the spousal visa and return to Australia. If you are denied adjustment of status, ou have no rights to appeal and must leave.

good luck

[Cathi 5,617]

I think it is insulting to people in this forum if you expect us to believe, let alone be sympathetic to your story. You showed up in the US with all of your belongings, and your cats with no return ticket and want us to believe you didn't intend to AOS, that all of a sudden you had a change of heart, seriously?? 99.9% of people on this site have gone through the immigration system legally, endured the long separation from our SO, and didn't look for shortcuts or lie in order to obtain a greencard. If you attempt to go through with your plan to AOS, I don't want to see you here crying when you're denied and banned for life because you blatantly lied to CBP. I don't apologize for my reply to your thread, and I am sure everyone reading this feels the same way I do.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

There is no need to bash the OP. Get it together, people. Also, the people saying it is sure to be denied are saying that with no basis in fact, just their emotions. There is simply not enough information in this thread to say what will happen. She has not come back and said if there are any annotations in her passport, and we do not have a transcript of her interview.

[Rimpz 7]

I wouldn't risk AOS just because you were interrogated. I would say go visit your family and then come back for a bit. And then when your interview comes you and your husband can go to AUS together and come back together. Your lucky to be able to travel and lot of people aren't that luck and just have to wait. Just be grateful for what you have and don't take the riskier route.

[fantonledzepp 159]

I also agree with almost everybody, don't file for AOS. If could very well go bad for you and face misrepresentation.

File the I-130, and make sure you leave before the I-94 expires.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

As Harpa says, there is no need to 'bash' the OP. You can state your position without making it insulting. One comment since Harpa's reminder has been removed. Any other posters who wish to bash the OP will also find their comments removed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Moderator hat off . . .

To the OP, I am joining my voice to those who say 'Do not attempt to AOS'. I can certainly understand that you had originally planned to continue to Australia and start the immigration process there for your husband to move there, but once in the US, you decided to give life in the US a try instead. Unfortunately, because of your situation when you entered - no hard evidence that you were planning for the Australian leg of your immigration situation - you are stuck with the evidence USCIS has on file: it does look like you arrived in the US intending to remain, but a kind-hearted border control officer allowed you to enter when you purchased the ticket for your trip to Australia. You were very lucky and got off lightly, although it may not appear to be so from here.

You said that your AOS evidence is sketchy. That is another reason not to try to AOS from within the US. You also saidthat you wish to AOS from within the US because you don't want to be separated for that length of time from your husband. You are thinking too short term if that is your reason. The consequences of your actions will have have much longer lasting effects than a few months separation, and you would do well to compare them, and measure the risks:

a) remain in the US and apply for AOS: if all goes well, you will succeed in convincing the interviewer that your plans changed and you are eligible to Adjust status from within the US. Likliehood of succes? depends on your evidence and your ability to counteract the evidence weighing against you on your entry. I would put likelhood of success at less than 10% (based on what we currently know);

More likely, you will be grilled during the interview, every thing you have ever said to immigration will be reviewed, weighed against the evidence and weighed against the appearance of your actions, and be put through the emotional wringer. You may end up being approved (likeliehood of success also probably around 10%), or you may be denied based upon 'misrepresentation', meaning they believed you lied when you told them you were not planning on staying in the US (likelihood of around 75 to 80%). If there is the notation 'no AOS' in your passport, then this automatically increases to 100%. Consequences of lying: denial of AOS; deportation and permanent ban upon ever entering the US ever again for any reason. Certainly, this should have more weight than spending a few months apart while going through the proper IR-1 visa. If denied for AOS from within the US, you may effectively be removing any chance you have of successfully applying for an IR-1 visa from outside of the US as well.

b) apply for an IR-1 spousal visa. Your husband starts the process in the US but you complete it at the US Consulate in Australia. You would leave the US in April on the ticket you purchased at the behest of USCIS, thus proving that you are a trustworthy individual who keeps her word. The IR-1 visa processes over the following months, and as you can afford it, you visit your husband in the US on the VWP. There is little reason to deny you entry since you have an active spousal visa petition/application in the works and you have already shown you keep your word. The IR-1 is approved, you enter the US in about a year's time and you have your permanent green card in hand. Likelihood of success - nearly 100%

c) apply for an IR-1 spousal visa. If there is any misrepresentation on your file, or if you have any sort of a criminal history that hasn't been disclosed here, or if your husband doesn't make sufficient income to sponsor you, then the IR-1 may be denied. Based on the evidence provided here, the likelihood of that is fairly low - I would say less than 1%.

If you overstay your allowed time to stay, you will also start incurring out of status days. This will definitely be a mark against you with any actions you have with USCIS. If you incur 180 days of out of status, you will also incur an automatic 3 year ban on re-entry to the US if you leave without a green card. If you have more than a year of out of status time, you will incur an automatic 10 year ban on re-entry to the US if you leave without a green card. This means, that if you decide to try and apply for AOS from within the US, you may end up incurring enough out of status time somewhere in the process that if you are given the option of applying for an IR-1, you may still have to wait out a 3 or 10 year ban - which means more separation time from your husband.

So, you can decide: Apply for AOS from within the US with a possible 10% rate of success which means all will go well, or a more likely 90% risk of denial with a strong possibility of a permanent ban from the US for misrepresentation. Even if there is no ban, you would then have to apply for the IR-1 anyway, and go through the necessary separation. Or, you can do what you told Customs and Immigration that you were going to do and apply for IR-1 spousal visa while continuing to Australia in the meantime on the ticket you purchased, visiting as often as you can, and then return to the US, green card in hand, with a nearly 100% assurance that this will happen.

I wouldn't risk my future happiness on a 10% possibility, not when I have a nearly sure thing available to me at the cost of a few months separation in a life time of togetherness.

Edited February 23, 2013 by Kathryn41
to correct spelling mistakes

[kzielu 1,147]

There is no need to bash the OP. Get it together, people. Also, the people saying it is sure to be denied are saying that with no basis in fact, just their emotions. There is simply not enough information in this thread to say what will happen. She has not come back and said if there are any annotations in her passport, and we do not have a transcript of her interview.

True but it's all about the risk - which - in this case is denial with appeal possibility and ban for misrepresentation. Up to OP to take that risk, I personally wouldn't.

Anyway - this seems not a "genuine" decided to marry so will do AOS case which there are hundreds of, there was preconceived intent (which is not ground for denial).

[hmh33 117]

I don't think anyone who has posted a response so far is really qualified to speak to your chances of success. I would suggest consulting (not necessarily retaining) a GOOD immigration lawyer before filing, and before your VWP expires.

I'm not normally one to suggest attorneys for most cases, but in your situation I think it is a good idea. I don't think laypeople (even the informed ones on this forum) have enough insight into the immigration officer's decision process.

[verysadguy 170]

"They put me in a little room and I was interrogated for two hours. I hadn't slept for over 30 hours, all I could hear was my cat crying on the other side of the door. It was the worst experience of my life...."

Seriously? I'm an animal lover and all, but I'd say you are pretty blessed if this is the worst thing ever in your life.

[ceadsearc 516]

Your story is a little confusing to me because it sounds like you were planning to stay in the US, then that you weren't planning to stay, then that you changed your mind again and decided to stay.

Well - you have the right to file AOS. If you genuinely didn't plan to stay and circumstances changed, you can do so. Intent alone can't be used to deny. But it is a factor they consider, and you're really not in a good place to try AOS, IMO, particularly because you are on VWP. If they did deny you for any reason, no appeal, you're gone, start the process over in Australia. Plus, even if they can't deny based on intent the IO will almost definitely know about it so I'd expect to be grilled extra hard.

On the other hand, you could just leave like you say you originally planned. Don't file for AOS, CBP will see you are doing things the "right" way just like you swore up and down at entry was your intention, and you'll probably not have issues visiting in the meantime.

I don't think anyone here can say what your chances of being able to AOS are, just that no one here would risk it.

[NikLR 13,220]

Kathryn has given you the best advice IMHO. Weigh your options. Think about the far reaching consequences of those options and actions. Decide accordingly with logic, not emotion.

Hopefully the OP returns to read the post.

[VanessaTony 3,567]

1. Having considered that it may take up to a year if I go to Australia to apply for spouse entry, I plan to apply for AOS in about a month. This was genuinely a change of mind move now that I'm here with him and his close family. I can't bare to think of being in Aus away from him that long.

2. Our supporting documents will be more in the form of multiple affidavits and pictures because we have no phone bills or joint accounts (paid cash in china), but I'm honestly not worried about that part, I am just petrified that my whole situation is potentially resting on if it's believable that I entered the US not intending to stay.

3. Does anyone have suggestions on how I can further prove that? As soon as I learnt we were leaving China I applied for criminal clearance certificates (needed for if I was applying from Aus) for both China and Aus. I would think things like this would prove intent to not stay in the US.

4. I also would like to be able to have supporting documents that our objective was to leave China. I'm thinking an affidavit from my dad stating that he was in china and discussed this with us about being screwed by our company. (2 weeks after we left China one of the company's branches went bankrupt-wish i could somehow prove that!)

5. How do you think the Immigration Officer will feel about me? There's a huge mystery about what (if anything at all) the officer at the airport wrote about my case. This is what's making me very nervous.

1. It is a sad fact that all of us spent an inordinate amount of time apart. This is one of the negative of immigration. The positive being at the end of it you're together legally and forever. Some of the members don't come from VWP countries so aren't able to visit the US. Some go many years without seeing each other. You would not die being apart, you could visit each other, and you'd be secure in the knowledge you were a woman of your word and left when you said you would.

2. Affidavits and pictures are not strong evidence, not at all. They're more secondary evidence. They want bank accounts, proof of living together etc

3. The certificates actually sound to me like you had intent to immigrate. What an IO sees of course could be different. But you need to think like an IO, like someone who gets lied to all the time.

4. Your dad writing an affidavit isn't proof. He's your dad, he'd write anything. The bankruptcy of the company also doesn't prove you intended to go back to Australia and instead just shows you proved to leave China. You had a one-way ticket... Doesn't look good.

A lot of what you did, without realising, unfortunately indicates intent but doesn't really "prove" it, which is why she let you in. By AOSing i would worry that you are then proving your intent, which of course is very bad.

I wouldn't AOS in the US for 3 simple, and related, reasons:

1. Denial of AOS from the VWP has no appeal. You would need to leave the US.

2. You would have a black mark on your record in regards to your honesty (applying for AOS when you said that wasn't your intent) so you wouldn't be able to visit on the VWP ever again

3. When you eventually file the I-130, you would most likely have to file a waiver for misrepresentation (lying)... because tehy would see the entry and lie about intent as a misrepresentation. This is more expensive, and lengthy.

It's just not worth it.

Edited February 23, 2013 by Vanessa&Tony

[jajaju 33]

1. It is a sad fact that all of us spent an inordinate amount of time apart. This is one of the negative of immigration. The positive being at the end of it you're together legally and forever. Some of the members don't come from VWP countries so aren't able to visit the US. Some go many years without seeing each other. You would not die being apart, you could visit each other, and you'd be secure in the knowledge you were a woman of your word and left when you said you would.

2. Affidavits and pictures are not strong evidence, not at all. They're more secondary evidence. They want bank accounts, proof of living together etc

3. The certificates actually sound to me like you had intent to immigrate. What an IO sees of course could be different. But you need to think like an IO, like someone who gets lied to all the time.

4. Your dad writing an affidavit isn't proof. He's your dad, he'd write anything. The bankruptcy of the company also doesn't prove you intended to go back to Australia and instead just shows you proved to leave China. You had a one-way ticket... Doesn't look good.

A lot of what you did, without realising, unfortunately indicates intent but doesn't really "prove" it, which is why she let you in. By AOSing i would worry that you are then proving your intent, which of course is very bad.

I wouldn't AOS in the US for 3 simple, and related, reasons:

1. Denial of AOS from the VWP has no appeal. You would need to leave the US.

2. You would have a black mark on your record in regards to your honesty (applying for AOS when you said that wasn't your intent) so you wouldn't be able to visit on the VWP ever again

3. When you eventually file the I-130, you would most likely have to file a waiver for misrepresentation (lying)... because tehy would see the entry and lie about intent as a misrepresentation. This is more expensive, and lengthy.

It's just not worth it.

Phew, thank you for your honesty. I understand many of you find it hard to believe my situation, even I think it doesn't sound good!! A few of your posts made me cry because I know what's true to me and unfortunately I now see that no matter what I can't prove that. I will return to Australia as scheduled. People can stop saying I'm the kind of person abusing the system. NO, I'm not wanting to do that at all!!

Please don't think for a moment I don't know what it's like to be separated from spouse, have had plenty of long stretches of that. Please stop being so mean! I am a person too trying to figure everything out.

[VanessaTony 3,567]

Phew, thank you for your honesty. I understand many of you find it hard to believe my situation, even I think it doesn't sound good!! A few of your posts made me cry because I know what's true to me and unfortunately I now see that no matter what I can't prove that. I will return to Australia as scheduled. People can stop saying I'm the kind of person abusing the system. NO, I'm not wanting to do that at all!!

Please don't think for a moment I don't know what it's like to be separated from spouse, have had plenty of long stretches of that. Please stop being so mean! I am a person too trying to figure everything out.

People get mean, especially those of us who have been on here for a long time. Jaded. We've seen so many people breaking the rules, asking about ways to break them, bragging about doing it successfully. Like the IO's, we've read and heard a LOT of "stories". Unfortunately without proof of the best, a lot assume the worst.

You will be okay. File the I-130 asap to get the processing started, then return to Aus on your scheduled date. Lots of pros for doing this. Spend some time with friends and family. Get a job to earn some money for savings. See doctors and dentists and other things that are crazy expensive in the US. Also gives your husband a chance to find a nice place for the two of you to live when you get back/visit. For us for example part of the time was spent living with family/friends while we waited to close on a house. This would have been easier if it was just one of us.

Where are you guys moving to in the US?

[jajaju 33]

People get mean, especially those of us who have been on here for a long time. Jaded. We've seen so many people breaking the rules, asking about ways to break them, bragging about doing it successfully. Like the IO's, we've read and heard a LOT of "stories". Unfortunately without proof of the best, a lot assume the worst.

You will be okay. File the I-130 asap to get the processing started, then return to Aus on your scheduled date. Lots of pros for doing this. Spend some time with friends and family. Get a job to earn some money for savings. See doctors and dentists and other things that are crazy expensive in the US. Also gives your husband a chance to find a nice place for the two of you to live when you get back/visit. For us for example part of the time was spent living with family/friends while we waited to close on a house. This would have been easier if it was just one of us.

Where are you guys moving to in the US?

Yes and I completely understand that no one would believe me. I really do appreciate it though no matter how harsh, shows me the obvious impression given from my situation.

We had already planned all that which you suggest, so will go ahead and do that way. Filing I-130 today.

We're in Florida.