tourist visa, getting married

[BritGirl88 43]

8 hours ago, paramore9011 said:

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.

No, I don't think so. What you've just explained to me, explain to the interviewing officer. It's totally understandable that you had a spontaneous wedding and your families do not live locally so were unable to attend. Just make sure that you gather other evidence to show that you have a bonafide marriage. They won't hold that against you if you can prove otherwise that your marriage is real. If you have little evidence and your families didn't attend then you MAY be put under more scrutiny, but it doesn't mean a denial.

[JVjourney 13]

On 7/17/2017 at 9:37 PM, 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.

Thank you for your sharing and advice.

 

It has been 3 weeks since the time I have been in America, I and my husband-to-be are planning to apply for marriage license then we will have a courthouse ceremony with his mother and sister's attendance. We may have a decent dinner together for celebrating this event after that with presence of a few close friends of his mother, sister and her boyfriend. I cannot wait until it comes, however, I feel a little sad because the absence of my family here.

 

It gives me a big surprise when you said that you mailed the paperwork after nearly 7 months you have been in America, as I know that normally when you enter into America with tourist visa, the officer will allow maximum 6-month-stay (even your visa is still valid after that 6 months). Hence, could you please advise more under this point? I know that it will take me and my husband-to-be a lot of time to prepare for paperwork and everything else, just in case I do overstay after 6 approved months, is it a serious trouble as I read from other posts? For the medical matter, may you please advise whether I should go to see the doctor in advance for health check-up, vaccine... before taking the whole process of paperwork? I do not know which type of medical they require for people like us (tourist become resident).

 

Thank you again for your kindness.

[azblk 338]

26 minutes ago, Van Tran said:

Thank you for your sharing and advice.

 

It has been 3 weeks since the time I have been in America, I and my husband-to-be are planning to apply for marriage license then we will have a courthouse ceremony with his mother and sister's attendance. We may have a decent dinner together for celebrating this event after that with presence of a few close friends of his mother, sister and her boyfriend. I cannot wait until it comes, however, I feel a little sad because the absence of my family here.

 

It gives me a big surprise when you said that you mailed the paperwork after nearly 7 months you have been in America, as I know that normally when you enter into America with tourist visa, the officer will allow maximum 6-month-stay (even your visa is still valid after that 6 months). Hence, could you please advise more under this point? I know that it will take me and my husband-to-be a lot of time to prepare for paperwork and everything else, just in case I do overstay after 6 approved months, is it a serious trouble as I read from other posts? For the medical matter, may you please advise whether I should go to see the doctor in advance for health check-up, vaccine... before taking the whole process of paperwork? I do not know which type of medical they require for people like us (tourist become resident).

 

Thank you again for your kindness.

If you are worried about the overstay then you should hurry up and file before you overstay. However if you husband is a USC then any overstay will be ignored for purposes of AOS. my thoughts to you would be worry less about overstay and concentrate on getting married and getting your paper work together.

On the medical you should wait to get it done until you receive RFE or interview notice. AOS seems to be taking longer and longer depending on where you live and the medical is only valid one year.

[JVjourney 13]

6 minutes ago, azblk said:

If you are worried about the overstay then you should hurry up and file before you overstay. However if you husband is a USC then any overstay will be ignored for purposes of AOS. my thoughts to you would be worry less about overstay and concentrate on getting married and getting your paper work together.

On the medical you should wait to get it done until you receive RFE or interview notice. AOS seems to be taking longer and longer depending on where you live and the medical is only valid one year.

Much appreciate your advice. Yes my husband is USC and we are planning for getting marriage license at the end of this month, then will hold a courthouse ceremony after that. Regarding to proof(s) for our long-term and long-distance relationship so far (we have known each other for nearly 3 years), do you have any sharing on what document(s) may help? I have come to America 3 times (including this time) for visiting him, the first visit I stayed at one of my mom's friend house, and the second and this time I have been staying at my husband's house. 

[azblk 338]

9 minutes ago, Van Tran said:

Much appreciate your advice. Yes my husband is USC and we are planning for getting marriage license at the end of this month, then will hold a courthouse ceremony after that. Regarding to proof(s) for our long-term and long-distance relationship so far (we have known each other for nearly 3 years), do you have any sharing on what document(s) may help? I have come to America 3 times (including this time) for visiting him, the first visit I stayed at one of my mom's friend house, and the second and this time I have been staying at my husband's house. 

letters, cards, emails. Airline tickets and the like

[baze92 33]

@BritGirl88 So you arrived on tourist visa and then decided to get married. Did you have to fly back home to your home country at all during this process? Or did you just stay until you got your green card?

[BritGirl88 43]

No, I stayed in the US throughout the entire process.

[baze92 33]

Oh wow, I did not know you can do that. So can you briefly walk me through the steps and timeline? Once you guys got married, you applied for AOS? Then what?

 

My fiance is here now on a tourist visa. We are in the process of K1, but with Covid going on and no timeline in site, we are considered to instead get married now. Trying to weigh out the pros and cons..

[BritGirl88 43]

With Adjustment of status (AOS), it does exactly that. It adjusts your status from tourist to legal permanent resident and you have to stay in the country while that happens.

I arrived in the US and my husband and I got married 32 days after. We filed for Adjustment of Status and I received my green card 5 months later. Once you file for adjustment of status and it is received and accepted by USCIS, you are legally permitted to remain in the US until it is approved/denied. You do not return home before you receive your green card. If you do, the case is considered abandoned and your application would no longer be processed. I am not sure if there are any special circumstances that would allow for someone to leave the US and return but generally that is the rule. I'm not sure how it works when you already have a K1 in process, but generally you would be able to apply for AOS once you are married. The K1 is a one time entry visa and would be null and void once your fiance enters the country on it. Once you get married you would be applying for AOS any way, so it makes sense to go ahead and do that now as all the K1 allows him to do is enter the country and he's already here. You might have to withdraw your current K1 application before applying for AOS, I'm not too sure. Maybe someone else could chime in on that.

Edited July 16, 2020 by BritGirl88