Marriage with q-1 visa

[RobbyD 0]

Hello all,

I am new to this and have been trying to do research but cannot find an answer to this specific question.

My fiance and I will be getting married while she is in the country with a q-1 visa. She would like to go back to Spain for a couple months and come back with a tourist visa before we start the visa change paperwork.

Do you know if this will cause issues?

Thanks for the help.

[lost_at_sea 995]

Hello all,

I am new to this and have been trying to do research but cannot find an answer to this specific question.

My fiance and I will be getting married while she is in the country with a q-1 visa. She would like to go back to Spain for a couple months and come back with a tourist visa before we start the visa change paperwork.

Do you know if this will cause issues?

Thanks for the help.

If she leaves the country after your marriage without adjusting status, and returns on a tourist visa she will not be able to change her status at that point - she'll have to leave before the tourist visa expires. She'll have to return to Spain and await the completion of the I-130/CR-1 (see: http://www.visajourney.com/content/i130guide1)

She should wait to return to Spain until her adjustment of status is complete (and you should check that an adjustment of status can be done from Q1 to spouse - I'm sure someone else will reply if that isn't the case). This is the guide for making an adjustment of status from within the USA (she can't leave til it's complete) http://www.visajourney.com/content/i130guide2

Edited May 22, 2013 by lost_at_sea

[Hypnos 6,579]

Entering the US on a nonimmigrant visa with the preconceived intent to remain would constitute visa fraud.

You should amend your plans.

[lost_at_sea 995]

Oh yes. I made the assumption that your fiance was already in the USA on legitimate non-immigrant purposes and that you had met and decided to marry after the fact, which would not be fraud. If you used the Q1 as a means to get her into the country to marry and stay, then you definitely need to follow the I-130/CR-1 route from *outside* of the USA (the first of the two links above), or have her leave and obtain a fiance visa before you marry (see K1 guides).

[RobbyD 0]

She is in the country on legitimate non-immigrant purposes. We met after she was already in the country on her Q-1 and decided to get married. We did not know each other before she arrived on her Q-1. She is still in the country and we are to be married next month but would like to allow her to go back to spain before filing the paperwork. So would this still be fraud if we allow her to go to spain and come back to America on a Tourist visa to change her status? Even though we were married when she was here on her Q-1.

[lost_at_sea 995]

She is in the country on legitimate non-immigrant purposes. We met after she was already in the country on her Q-1 and decided to get married. We did not know each other before she arrived on her Q-1. She is still in the country and we are to be married next month but would like to allow her to go back to spain before filing the paperwork. So would this still be fraud if we allow her to go to spain and come back to America on a Tourist visa to change her status? Even though we were married when she was here on her Q-1.

It wouldn't be fraud because that won't be possible. She can't enter as a tourist then adjust her status in that way, as the event that she'll be adjusting for happened *before* she entered the USA on the tourist visa. If she leaves, you'll have to do the I-130/CR-1 with her in Spain.

Edited May 22, 2013 by lost_at_sea

[Hypnos 6,579]

So would this still be fraud if we allow her to go to spain and come back to America on a Tourist visa to change her status?

Yes. It's the dictionary definition of visa fraud: intending to use a nonimmigrant visa for immigrant purposes.

Filing for AoS as soon as you are married would be a solution. She would be able to travel internationally in around 90 days, once her AP was approved.

Edited May 22, 2013 by Hypnos

[Ryan H 3,897]

OP, these are your options:

1) File for Adjustment of Status immediately after getting married, when filing, also file for Advanced Parole. Once that Advanced Parole is issued, international travel will be permissible.

2) If you don't file for AOS, then you will have to pursue the spousal visa path.

Edited May 23, 2013 by Ryan H