tourist visa, getting married

[paramore9011 0]

hey everyone

I'm here because I need an advice. I came to US in December last year to visit my boyfriend. I declared to stay here for 2 months but I got a permission to stay till June. So my bf surprised me and changed my ticket reservation so I could stay with him those 6 months. I had savings so it wasn't a problem for me. He surprised me and proposed in April. He's in military and he was gone for whole may and now when he came back we decided to get married this week! Then we will fill for AOS so we could start a normal life together. But now, when I'm reading this forum I'm a little worried about it. I don't want any troubles but I read that AOS on tourist visa is not a good decision. But I also haven't planned to get married. It was a spontaneous decision.Will we have any problems now?

Also, how to prove it wasn't my intention to get married when I entered U.S.? I'm really confused right now. I talked to an immigration lawyer and he said that everything is okay because we haven't planned before I came here. Is that true? I just don't know how to prove it. Any suggestion would be priceless for us.

 

[paramore9011 0]

Any suggestions how to prove I've never planed to get married? Or can we we just say we decided to do this like 4 months after I came? I'm really nervous especially because he has never met my family and I've never met his (they live far away but we talk to each other very often). There will be only me and him at the ceremony. We will tell the truth and I hope it will be okay.

Edited May 30, 2017 by paramore9011

[millefleur 5,047]

3 hours ago, paramore9011 said:

Any suggestions how to prove I've never planed to get married? Or can we we just say we decided to do this like 4 months after I came? I'm really nervous especially because he has never met my family and I've never met his (they live far away but we talk to each other very often). There will be only me and him at the ceremony. We will tell the truth and I hope it will be okay.

I think it helps that he is in the military. You can say that the decision came about because of this and that it was unexpected and you just decided to go ahead and marry because it made sense at the time. A low-key wedding can also support this decision by showing that the two of you just spontaneously decided to elope.

 

I've seen stories on this forum of people who spontaneously decided to marry after entering on a tourist visa/WVP and then adjust status. It's not unheard of. The main thing is it was unplanned, exactly like the lawyer said. Unless you have any glaring red flags in your case or there is anything suspicious about this decision you should be fine.

[Penguin_ie 5,994]

***** Moving from Tourist Vosa to AOS from Tourist visa forum ****

 

Op, you should be ok, as you had no intent to marry and AOS when you arrived, and thus did not lie to the immigration officers.

[Teddy B 17,252]

13 hours ago, paramore9011 said:

Any suggestions how to prove I've never planed to get married? Or can we we just say we decided to do this like 4 months after I came? I'm really nervous especially because he has never met my family and I've never met his (they live far away but we talk to each other very often). There will be only me and him at the ceremony. We will tell the truth and I hope it will be okay.

You will not need to prove that you had no intent to immigrate, as was mentioned previously you cleared that hurdle when you were allowed entry, it won't be an issue. Even if intent was an issue, intent alone is not enough to deny an AOS application and the proof of intent would be on the US gov't, not you. Go ahead and get married and follow the guide here for your immigration and AOS: http://www.visajourney.com/content/i130guide2

 

Good Luck!

Edited May 30, 2017 by Teddy B

[lone_star_state 1]

I agree with all advice above, you shouldn't be worried about that, just answer No as if the interviewing officer ask you about the intention to get married before your entry to US; because it happened during your stay.

[BritGirl88 43]

I married under the same circumstances. I entered as a tourist (VWP from UK) and Adjusted Status. I wasn't asked at all about my intent during the interview. We were asked very few questions period. Just how we met and about the proposal. There's really nothing to be worried about as far as that is concerned. The whole process for us took a total of a little less than 6 months. From filing (December 27 2016) to receiving Green card in the mail (May 23 2017).

 

[paramore9011 0]

Hi! I have a quick question Do we have to send Evidence of Bona Fide Marriage with our AoS packet? Or we can just bring them with us on interview? We don't have any bills and accounts we share yet (we got married 2 weeks ago) and we want to send AoS packet this week.

[azblk 338]

2 hours ago, paramore9011 said:

Hi! I have a quick question Do we have to send Evidence of Bona Fide Marriage with our AoS packet? Or we can just bring them with us on interview? We don't have any bills and accounts we share yet (we got married 2 weeks ago) and we want to send AoS packet this week.

send what you have now and gather more to take with you

Edited June 13, 2017 by azblk

[paramore9011 0]

hey! I'm just waiting for my biometrics and I'm a little worried about our interview. As I said before, I came here on tourist visa (we met 2 years ago, online and finally I decided to met in person). We were and still are so in love to we got married very spontaneously and we're the happiest people in the whole world right now <3 but we never met our families. Yet. I will visit his family next year and he will visit my family in 2 years (he's in the navy and we live in the middle of the Pacific Ocean (I'm from Europe) so it's pretty hard right, especially that my parents don't travel too). We also didn't have any guests when we got married. Only two of us (it was so romantic!). Do you think we will have a problem on the interview? They usually ask when we met our families. And we didn't yet. I'm so worried about it :/ Or maybe you've heard about cases like ours? Anything would be helpful.

[JVjourney 13]

On 6/3/2017 at 3:54 PM, BritGirl88 said:

I married under the same circumstances. I entered as a tourist (VWP from UK) and Adjusted Status. I wasn't asked at all about my intent during the interview. We were asked very few questions period. Just how we met and about the proposal. There's really nothing to be worried about as far as that is concerned. The whole process for us took a total of a little less than 6 months. From filing (December 27 2016) to receiving Green card in the mail (May 23 2017).

 

Hello girl

 

May you please share more details about your case in order for me to have full picture and get experience from? I just got his proposal and we are going to get married at the end of this month. But due to its spontaneousity, my parent are not here to attend our ceremony. Is it an issue? We have decided just to hold a ceremony first, then when everything regarding to paperwork is completely done, the wedding is officially held.

 

Thank you for your advice in advance.

Edited July 8, 2017 by Van Tran

[BritGirl88 43]

On 7/8/2017 at 7:02 AM, Van Tran said:

May you please share more details about your case in order for me to have full picture and get experience from?

Sure, what would you like to know?

 

On 7/8/2017 at 7:02 AM, Van Tran said:

my parent are not here to attend our ceremony. Is it an issue

No, I doubt this would present an issue. You had a last minute wedding so it would be understandable that your parents would be unable to attend. There are many other ways you can prove you have a genuine relationship without your parents attending.

[JVjourney 13]

On 7/15/2017 at 11:33 AM, BritGirl88 said:

Sure, what would you like to know?

 

No, I doubt this would present an issue. You had a last minute wedding so it would be understandable that your parents would be unable to attend. There are many other ways you can prove you have a genuine relationship without your parents attending.

Thank you in advance for your kindness.

 

Could you please advise me how long you guys did get married after you landed with tourist visa? My boyfriend proposed me right after I have been here (as he does not want us to be far apart anymore, and neither do I) and we are now concerning whether we need to wait 1 or 2 months (as some people advised here in this website) to get married license and have ceremony at court house, or we can do it right now. We also have planned to get married at court house only with the witness of his mother (because my parents cannot arrange to be here immediately), then we will have a small party at night with all members in his family. Is it possible for us to do so? The real wedding_I mean the wedding with attendance of everyone from my side and his side, may be held at my country after I am able to come back there together with him when paperwork is completely done.

 

The whole timeline from the day you landed here till the day you finished paperwork, if possible, please share it to me for my reference.

[BritGirl88 43]

We got married 32 days after I arrived in the US. There is no set amount of time to wait. You can get married right now.

We had a courthouse ceremony with both of our parents present and a reception dinner at a restaurant after, with our family and friends that were able to make it.

 

From the day I arrived in the US to the day I mailed the paper work was 6 months and 2 weeks (my priority date was Dec 27 2016) and I was approved for my Green card on May 16 2017...5 months later. We didn't wait that long to file for any particular reason, it just took time to gather all the documents, do the medical, wait for birth certificates etc. 

 

I would recommend you get married as soon as you can and start the paperwork right away. There is no benefit to waiting to get married. The 30/60/90 day rule is a myth and as intent is determined at point of entry, it doesn't matter how long you wait.

Edited July 18, 2017 by BritGirl88

[paramore9011 0]

2 hours ago, BritGirl88 said:

We got married 32 days after I arrived in the US. There is no set amount of time to wait. You can get married right now.

We had a courthouse ceremony with both of our parents present and a reception dinner at a restaurant after, with our family and friends that were able to make it.

 

From the day I arrived in the US to the day I mailed the paper work was 6 months and 2 weeks (my priority date was Dec 27 2016) and I was approved for my Green card on May 16 2017...5 months later. We didn't wait that long to file for any particular reason, it just took time to gather all the documents, do the medical, wait for birth certificates etc. 

 

I would recommend you get married as soon as you can and start the paperwork right away. There is no benefit to waiting to get married. The 30/60/90 day rule is a myth and as intent is determined at point of entry, it doesn't matter how long you wait.

do you think there will be a problem if we got married and never met our families yet? We live in Hawaii, his parents are in Wisconsin and mine in Europe and our wedding was really spontaneous.