Getting a B2 tourist Visa after 2 denials (plus denial of a spouse visa)

[Boiler 43,425]

You can apply as often as you like, just pay the fee, no downside.

[Ben & Katy 168]

I think it is arrogant on the USA Consulate's part to think that everyone married to a USC automatically wants to come here.  There are alot of USC married abroad to foreigners that don't want to come back to live in the USA.  But they want to be able to take their spouses to visit family in the USA every now and then.  It seems like a damnd if you do damnd if you don't situation if you are a USC living abroad with a foreign wife.  They expect you to have immigrant intent by applying for the Tourist Visa but then they turn around and want to force you to apply for a green card which at the sametime you cannot use to visit the USA.  Sometimes it looks like the US Consulate wants to forcefully repatriate USC  

 

Sometimes I think it is easier for the foreign person in a relationship to apply for a tourist visa before marrying or getting engaged to a USC.  Then you can get married and continue living life abroad with no issues.  Alot of USC love life abroad and don't feel the necessity of ever coming back to live here.  

[geowrian 22,335]

28 minutes ago, Ben & Katy said:

I think it is arrogant on the USA Consulate's part to think that everyone married to a USC automatically wants to come here.

Not arrogant....following the law as required.

https://www.uscis.gov/ilink/docView/SLB/HTML/SLB/0-0-0-1/0-0-0-29/0-0-0-3422.html INA 214(b):

"Every alien 10/ (other than a nonimmigrant described in subparagraph (L) or (V) of section 101(a)(15), and other than a nonimmigrant described in any provision of section 101(a)(15)(H)(i) except subclause (b1) of such section) shall be presumed to be an immigrant until he establishes to the satisfaction of the consular officer, at the time of application for a visa, and the immigration officers, at the time of application for admission, that he is entitled to a nonimmigrant status under section 101(a)(15) . "

[Ben & Katy 168]

Just now, geowrian said:

Not arrogant....following the law as required.

https://www.uscis.gov/ilink/docView/SLB/HTML/SLB/0-0-0-1/0-0-0-29/0-0-0-3422.html INA 214(b):

"Every alien 10/ (other than a nonimmigrant described in subparagraph (L) or (V) of section 101(a)(15), and other than a nonimmigrant described in any provision of section 101(a)(15)(H)(i) except subclause (b1) of such section) shall be presumed to be an immigrant until he establishes to the satisfaction of the consular officer, at the time of application for a visa, and the immigration officers, at the time of application for admission, that he is entitled to a nonimmigrant status under section 101(a)(15) . "

I will agree to disagree.... I know plenty of USC abroad that are married that don't ever want to live here in the USA again.  But fortunately for them their spouses were able to get tourist visas so they could visit the USC's family once a year.  I guess they were able to "prove" the ties with business's, bank accounts and mortgages abroad. 

[geowrian 22,335]

1 minute ago, Ben & Katy said:

I will agree to disagree.... I know plenty of USC abroad that are married that don't ever want to live here in the USA again.  But fortunately for them their spouses were able to get tourist visas so they could visit the USC's family once a year.  I guess they were able to "prove" the ties with business's, bank accounts and mortgages abroad. 

Disagree with the law? Because I never said how I personally feel about how it should be...just what the law requires.

[carmel34 3,529]

13 hours ago, keinja said:

Yes!  We just want to visit family.  And fix here situation for the future.  

What do you mean "fix her situation for the future?"  Do you mean get a B2, or stay in the US and try to adjust status and stay?  If the first, keep trying, but I would wait more than a year given all the previous denials on her record, maybe wait two years so it doesn't look like desperation--following the spousal visa denial with repeated, annual B2 applications looks a lot like immigrant intent even though that is not the case, that is how the IO may see it.  So I would suggest try waiting longer this time, two years and try again.  If that doesn't work, then if you want to visit the US with her in the years to come, you may have no other choice but to file for an IR-1 and when approved, immigrate to the US with her.  In that case you may have to leave before her to establish US-source income and US domicile to get approved.  I worry about this scenario in my case because if our spousal visa is denied for some reason (hopefully not), I will move to Brazil to live with my husband, but then visits to the US with him in the future to see family will be difficult as others have said, I would most likely have to do it alone for the same reasons you are facing.  Unfortunately, this is one difficult reality of cross-border relationships that many of us have to deal with.  Good luck!

[mushroomspore 3,043]

1 hour ago, Ben & Katy said:

I think it is arrogant on the USA Consulate's part to think that everyone married to a USC automatically wants to come here.  There are alot of USC married abroad to foreigners that don't want to come back to live in the USA.  But they want to be able to take their spouses to visit family in the USA every now and then.  It seems like a damnd if you do damnd if you don't situation if you are a USC living abroad with a foreign wife.  They expect you to have immigrant intent by applying for the Tourist Visa but then they turn around and want to force you to apply for a green card which at the sametime you cannot use to visit the USA.  Sometimes it looks like the US Consulate wants to forcefully repatriate USC  

 

Sometimes I think it is easier for the foreign person in a relationship to apply for a tourist visa before marrying or getting engaged to a USC.  Then you can get married and continue living life abroad with no issues.  Alot of USC love life abroad and don't feel the necessity of ever coming back to live here.  

"Arrogant"??? Consular officers are law enforcement officers. They're following the law and doing their jobs when they presume immigrant intent for non-immigrant visa applications. You can disagree with the supposed "morality" of it, but we're not talking about the morality of it here. We're pointing out the existence of this law and the existence of it cannot be disagreed with.

[Daisy.Chain 317]

Why was her CR1 spousal visa denied?

[geowrian 22,335]

41 minutes ago, Daisy.Chain said:

Why was her CR1 spousal visa denied?

16 hours ago, keinja said:

A year ago she was denied a spouse visa.  We lacked the finances.  Shortly after the interview both are job situations pleasantly improved and we decided to stay in Japan.

[millefleur 5,035]

3 hours ago, Ben & Katy said:

I think it is arrogant on the USA Consulate's part to think that everyone married to a USC automatically wants to come here.  There are alot of USC married abroad to foreigners that don't want to come back to live in the USA. 

It's how the law is as others have pointed out. Whether it is arrogant or not is a matter of opinion.

 

A lot of other countries (including many Western European countries) have a "private" or "homestay" visa for family members and friends. The USA currently does not offer this. If we want to debate why or why not this is a good/bad idea, we should probably move that argument over to another forum, as debating about it doesn't help the OP much.

Edited February 7, 2019 by millefleur

[Boiler 43,425]

Most Japanese visit without issue.

 

This is an unusual case, refused spouse visa and applied for a B.

[SusieQQQ 11,584]

3 hours ago, Ben & Katy said:

I will agree to disagree.... I know plenty of USC abroad that are married that don't ever want to live here in the USA again.  But fortunately for them their spouses were able to get tourist visas so they could visit the USC's family once a year.  I guess they were able to "prove" the ties with business's, bank accounts and mortgages abroad. 

You’re missing the point of the post you are responding to.  It’s not about anyone’s opinions or what you agree or disagree with. The law requires the presumption of immigrant intent.

 

then in this particular case, there was also specifically demonstrated immigrant intent in the past via the application for a spousal visa which makes the presumption of immigrant intent even harder to overcome.

[keinja 0]

10 hours ago, carmel34 said:

What do you mean "fix her situation for the future?"

I meant get the B-2 visa for travel purposes.  I imagine if we get a B-2 this year or next, it might be only good for a short period of time.  After that, the additional visas should be hopefully less of a hassle to get.  (I am still optimistic about her getting a tourist visa at some point - will comment on that shortly.)

 

 

[keinja 0]

10 hours ago, mushroomspore said:

There are alot of USC married abroad to foreigners that don't want to come back to live in the USA.  But they want to be able to take their spouses to visit family in the USA every now and then.

This is our situation now!  This is what we want to do!

[keinja 0]

I have remembered one other point about my wife's case!  So, we got denied the spouse visa but we left the application open.   Being from Japan, it was really only a matter of getting a sponsor or showing we had enough money or assets.  

Shorty after I received my new job offer.  We applied to travel to the US without closing the immigrant visa.  It was denied.  We closed it and got more paperwork together quickly but it was denied again as I said before 

On 2/7/2019 at 11:30 AM, keinja said:

She was told "it is too soon".

So we made a mess of things quickly, partly because things were changing in ours lives fairly quickly (but changing in a good way).  

 

I still feel optimistic on my wife getting the travel visa is the near future which I will outline in the next post.