Overstay for my wedding or leave and come back?

[Messan 0]

Hi everyone, 

First of all I'm very sorry if I chose the wrong forum. I'm new here and created an account just for this.

 

My case: I'm a Dutch citizen who is now in the US on Waiver Visa (vwp). I'm allowed to 90 days and have about 16 days left legally in the country. So far, no problem.

My boyfriend, a US Citizen, and I have decided to get married and we don't ever want to be apart ever again. However, the marriage can't happen in my remaining days (16 days), it could only happen if I overstay.

The news made us extremely sad, the financial consequences such as plane tickets, sending money abroad, etc will hurt us a lot, not too mention the incertainty around whatever is going on with new president Trump. After a friend mentioned that I could overstay, get married and filed, we started looking into the matter.

From what we understand from all our researches, it is possible as long as we can prove the marriage is real and there was no intent from the start.  We can easily prove that.

 

My question now is: based or your experiences or information that you have, what would you advice us? Overstay for a few days, get married and file for AOS (and prove the marriage is real and not pre-planned)? Or, leave the US soil, burn the little money we have on tickets, not knowing when I could return again, (because Customs officers at the airport might question why I came back so soon and return me), miss each others to death and coming with intent to marry?

In my case, would overstay hurt or it won't change anything?

 

PS: I can't get married right away, cause my divorce from my former (US Citizen) husband of nearly 5 years just got finalised.  There's a waiting period of 2 months (in that state) before I'm allowed to get married again. We were married for 5 years and I never filed as I did not intend to come live here. 

 

Please, your help and advice would be greatly welcomed. 

[Transborderwife 4,666]

Honestly, in this case it may look like a huge red flag divorcing one USC and marrying another so quickly.  By all means, stay marry adjust.  However you May have trouble 

[Messan 0]

Thank you so much dear. I appreciate you taking the time to answer me. 

I was thinking the fact that being married for 5 years and never filed was actually good. I thought it would prove rather that my purpose was never to come stay here. I just happened to fall in love and found the man of my life here.

[Cadence 20]

There is no such thing as a good will credit for not applying when you could have. The burden is on you to prove that your marriage/relationship is bona fide and it helps to see what you're up against if you think about it from a 3rd party's perspective. What are the dates of your previous marriage and divorce? How does this timeline coincide with you meeting, dating, and marrying your current fiance? How much does your current fiance know about your previous marriage? Any overlap between the two relationships could be seen as you husband shopping to find a way to immigrate, no matter what your personal intentions (or lack of) were. Overstay wouldn't necessarily hurt you since you're married to a USC. What you have to focus on rather is the bona fide stuff. 

Edited January 28, 2017 by Cadence

[Messan 0]

4 minutes ago, Cadence said:

There is no such thing as a good will credit for not applying when you could have. The burden is on you to prove that your marriage/relationship is bona fide and it helps to see what you're up against if you think about it from a 3rd party's perspective. What are the dates of your previous marriage and divorce? How does this timeline coincide with you meeting your current husband? Any overlap between the two relationships could be seen as you husband shopping to find a way to immigrate, no matter what your personal intentions (or lack of) were. Overstay wouldn't necessarily hurt you since you're married to a USC. What you have to focus on rather is the bona fide stuff. 

Thank you for your response/ advice  dear.  It's greatly appreciated. 

*Proving that our relationship is real would not be a problem at all. We have enough proves, even proves that they may not want to see (lol). I guess the problem would be to prove that we did not plan to marry from the get go, which I have no idea how to do. As far as I know, i fell in love, this is my man and we can't bare to be apart.

 

[KierenHby 897]

1 hour ago, Messan said:

I guess the problem would be to prove that we did not plan to marry from the get go, which I have no idea how to do. As far as I know, i fell in love, this is my man and we can't bare to be apart.

Intent doesn't matter any more. You have been admitted to the US. 

[Messan 0]

13 minutes ago, KierenHby said:

Intent doesn't matter any more. You have been admitted to the US. 

Thank you very much for your answer.

[N-o-l-a 7,167]

Just be very sure you are getting married if you overstay because if you leave before you adjust status and get advance parole, you will not be able to use the VWP again and there is a good chance you will have difficulty returning to visit.

[mallafri76 1,012]

I personally wouldn't risk it, especially not in the current political climate. 

[HoosierEh 21]

Transborderwife is giving you good advice here and I would add that proving intent is not by any means 'easy' it is difficult.

 

The risk also lies with overstaying - even if you are married to a USC and they think you have misrepresented yourself upon entry you would be working with a ban, need a waiver for overstaying and in the future if you choose to immigrate via another venue this equals more money and more time apart.

 

If you apply for the I485 while here beyond your visa time permitted, does not guarantee lawful status. Your application can still be denied and you can put into removal proceedings.

 

 

[Messan 0]

 

34 minutes ago, mallafri76 said:

I personally wouldn't risk it, especially not in the current political climate. 

Indeed the political climate right now is just down straight scary. What option wouldn't you risk BTW? Overstaying or leaving and trying to come back?

[Messan 0]

51 minutes ago, N-o-l-a said:

Just be very sure you are getting married if you overstay because if you leave before you adjust status and get advance parole, you will not be able to use the VWP again and there is a good chance you will have difficulty returning to visit.

Thnx very much dear. I think indeed Overstaying and taking care of things would be best option. The marriage will happen for sure. All the reason we doing this. 

[Messan 0]

8 minutes ago, HoosierEh said:

Transborderwife is giving you good advice here and I would add that proving intent is not by any means 'easy' it is difficult.

 

The risk also lies with overstaying - even if you are married to a USC and they think you have misrepresented yourself upon entry you would be working with a ban, need a waiver for overstaying and in the future if you choose to immigrate via another venue this equals more money and more time apart.

 

If you apply for the I485 while here beyond your visa time permitted, does not guarantee lawful status. Your application can still be denied and you can put into removal proceedings.

 

 

Oh lord!! Now I am more confused and more scared. I know they are certain risks that could occur, however, I just don't know what to think now.

And I wouldn't know how to prove "no intent"? I feel like our own case gonna be against us: got here, got divorced, got married and filed for AOS. I did mention at the border when I got here that I came to see my boyfriend although I was still legally married in the country from my last visit.

What are ways to prove no intent?

BTW, thanks for taking to provide some advices. It's greatly appreciated.

[caliliving 606]

So u married a usc for 5yrs and never overstayed, where did you guys live? How did u get married? Did you live in the netherlands or in the us? 

I would say ur herr now, intent is fine u were legally allowed in the country and overstay is forgiven.

However, u gettinf married so soon after a 5yr divorce to a usc is a huge red flag!!!

[NikLR 13,220]

Forget about intent.  They cant deny your AOS for intent alone and intent really went out the window when you were admitted to the USA by the CBP.  You could say at an interview that you intended to move here and they couldnt deny you for it.  

 

The main issue for you is the quick turn around time from one marriage to another, both to USC.  It's great that you have evidence of a geninue relationship but that evidence occurs during a time you were married to another person.  Basically you have a bunch of evidence that shows you were cheating on a USC with another USC.  Now you're getting married to the new one after the old one didn't sponsor you.  While I trust that's not what's happened, you can see how easily that can be construed in that direction. They likely would not deny you for it, but you'll be under scrutiny.