Tourist Overstay Thoughts

[longwaysoff 0]

I am hoping to get some objective advice on this petition, so all thoughts are welcome.

 

I have known my wife for a few years now, dating for a year, and married a few months. She came to the U.S. to visit her sister who is married to my brother (her sister has been an American citizen for nearly a decade) and help with their new baby in early 2016. She ended up filing for an extension after 6 months to keep helping with the baby and her sister (her sister had very bad eclampsia after the birth and couldn't do much). She ended up overstaying her status in early 2016. Fast forward to late 2017 and she married another guy but got divorced after a few months because it didn't work out (she withdrew her AOS application and received the letter from USCIS). Now we are considering applying for AOS (to naturally avoid the ban for the visa overstay), but also so we can finally move forward.

 

My primary concerns are:

1. The visa overstay: Marriage to me should resolve that and I would think the tourist visa extension application proves not only why she came to America but why she ended up staying longer.

2. The previous marriage: I feel uneasy about it, not sure if it makes our case look like fraud or not, but she did withdraw the case on her own and told USCIS it was because she didn't think the marriage would work out and he wasn't the right person.

3. Our relationship: Yeah I knew her off and on because she was my brother's sister-in-law, but my close relationship with her sister might make it seem fishy or fraudulent?

4. The interview: Are they going to start hounding us from the very beginning and try to find anything amiss?

 

Like I said any and all thoughts are welcome, I know this won't be the easiest petition, but is this one of those petitions that just has so much going against it that we will be fighting up hill from beginning to end? My brother's case was much easier: K-1, no AOS interview, no removing conditions interview, and easy citizenship interview (but I understand it a totally different situation). Finally, we are both right around 30, so no big age difference or any of that.

Edited December 31, 2019 by longwaysoff

[Boiler 47,592]

Applying for an extension of a B to work, well that was going  to be an issue but not probably terminal.

 

Yes the rest of it certainly suggests that you can expect close inspection.

[SalishSea 18,477]

Seems like she was pretty desperate to find a legal avenue to stay in the US.....

[Dashinka 25,950]

Lots of red flags here, working on a B2 visa, overstaying, etc.  

 

Good Luck!

[longwaysoff 0]

Thanks for the replies, but she actually never worked on the B2 visa.

[US-UK 32]

7 hours ago, longwaysoff said:

and help with their new baby in early 2016. She ended up filing for an extension after 6 months to keep helping with the baby

That is work. Even if unpaid. Her sister could, and should, have hired a (legal) caregiver if she needed help.

[Dashinka 25,950]

5 hours ago, longwaysoff said:

Thanks for the replies, but she actually never worked on the B2 visa.

 

3 hours ago, US-UK said:

That is work. Even if unpaid. Her sister could, and should, have hired a (legal) caregiver if she needed help.

Caregiving, as @US-UK pointed out, is in fact work and one of the items that often lead to denial of B2 applications of grandparents trying to come to the US.

[igoyougoduke 1,680]

15 hours ago, longwaysoff said:

I am hoping to get some objective advice on this petition, so all thoughts are welcome.

 

I have known my wife for a few years now, dating for a year, and married a few months. She came to the U.S. to visit her sister who is married to my brother (her sister has been an American citizen for nearly a decade) and help with their new baby in early 2016. She ended up filing for an extension after 6 months to keep helping with the baby and her sister (her sister had very bad eclampsia after the birth and couldn't do much). She ended up overstaying her status in early 2016. Fast forward to late 2017 and she married another guy but got divorced after a few months because it didn't work out (she withdrew her AOS application and received the letter from USCIS). Now we are considering applying for AOS (to naturally avoid the ban for the visa overstay), but also so we can finally move forward.

 

My primary concerns are:

1. The visa overstay: Marriage to me should resolve that and I would think the tourist visa extension application proves not only why she came to America but why she ended up staying longer.

2. The previous marriage: I feel uneasy about it, not sure if it makes our case look like fraud or not, but she did withdraw the case on her own and told USCIS it was because she didn't think the marriage would work out and he wasn't the right person.

3. Our relationship: Yeah I knew her off and on because she was my brother's sister-in-law, but my close relationship with her sister might make it seem fishy or fraudulent?

4. The interview: Are they going to start hounding us from the very beginning and try to find anything amiss?

 

Like I said any and all thoughts are welcome, I know this won't be the easiest petition, but is this one of those petitions that just has so much going against it that we will be fighting up hill from beginning to end? My brother's case was much easier: K-1, no AOS interview, no removing conditions interview, and easy citizenship interview (but I understand it a totally different situation). Finally, we are both right around 30, so no big age difference or any of that.

Sorry to sound harsh but it sounds like you are being used so she can stay in US. Are you in love with her that you are doing all this ? this sounds like a marriage to stay .  Either ways good luck to you. You are walking into a pit