Marriage on a B1 visa and the 60 day rule

[cjsm19 3]

My boyfriend is a medical student and he’s planning on coming here for three months this summer for medical rotations toward his degree. He has never met my family before, and so this is also an opportunity for him to do so. As of right now, we are not engaged and we have no plans of getting married as my family is very traditional and they want to meet him first before we proceed any further with our relationship. My father is quite strict and is not too keen on me flying overseas to be married without the family present, so he suggested that if everything goes over well and he approves, while my boyfriend is here, we might have a small wedding ceremony, and then my boyfriend would return to his country to complete his degree. Now with coronavirus thrown into the mix, we are less certain that we will have a full three months to all get to know each other better (he might have to come later for a shorter period of time). I read about the 60 day rule and that if you are married any earlier, the visa officers will assume that your sole purpose was to get married and adjust status. 
 

Now, my main question here is that my boyfriend absolutely must return to his country to complete his degree. We have no intention of having him stay if we do in fact get married. So if we did end up marrying after a shorter period of time, but he still returns home with no intention of staying, will that still pose a problem for us later on? Or is the problem only if you file for adjustment of status?

 

We are very confused about this process and we want to make sure we do everything 100% like we are supposed to. Any advice will be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

[Just Paul 4,595]

No sixty day rule - As long as he didn't lie at the POE he is fine.

[dwheels76 5,468]

Getting married and returning no issue at all. Have fun. Congratulations.

[cjsm19 3]

9 minutes ago, Paul & Mary said:

No sixty day rule - As long as he didn't lie at the POE he is fine.

But if we aren’t certain the marriage will take place, should he still mention it? His main purpose is the medical rotations so we figured that was the most important issue to focus on.

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

4 minutes ago, cjsm19 said:

But if we aren’t certain the marriage will take place, should he still mention it? His main purpose is the medical rotations so we figured that was the most important issue to focus on.

He should answer questions  that he is asked truthfully, without volunteering anything more than he is asked. If an officer directly asks him if he is thinking of getting married on the trip, he should say it is a possibility, but that he will need to return home afterwards. If he is not asked about it, or about you, he doesn’t need to volunteer anything. 
It is no problem to visit the US to get married even if that is the intention, as long as he will return to await visa processing. 

[Just Paul 4,595]

10 minutes ago, cjsm19 said:

But if we aren’t certain the marriage will take place, should he still mention it? His main purpose is the medical rotations so we figured that was the most important issue to focus on.

He can not enter with the intent to adjust.   That would be fraud.   He can enter, marry, file an I-130, do his rotations and go back to his country of origin for a consular interview.  If he still has a valid visa he can visit.

[cjsm19 3]

4 minutes ago, Paul & Mary said:

He can not enter with the intent to adjust.   That would be fraud.   He can enter, marry, file an I-130, do his rotations and go back to his country of origin for a consular interview.  If he still has a valid visa he can visit.

Thank you for your response! He has no intent to adjust. He will be returning to complete his degree as soon as his rotations are completed. 

[cjsm19 3]

13 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

He should answer questions  that he is asked truthfully, without volunteering anything more than he is asked. If an officer directly asks him if he is thinking of getting married on the trip, he should say it is a possibility, but that he will need to return home afterwards. If he is not asked about it, or about you, he doesn’t need to volunteer anything. 
It is no problem to visit the US to get married even if that is the intention, as long as he will return to await visa processing. 

Thank you for your response! Do they generally ask if someone intends to marry at the port of entry? And when he answers that it’s a possibility, might it give them cause to turn him back? 

[SalishSea 17,928]

22 minutes ago, cjsm19 said:

Thank you for your response! Do they generally ask if someone intends to marry at the port of entry? And when he answers that it’s a possibility, might it give them cause to turn him back? 

They are allowed to ask whatever they want.  The point is that all Qs must be answered honestly.

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

44 minutes ago, cjsm19 said:

Thank you for your response! Do they generally ask if someone intends to marry at the port of entry? And when he answers that it’s a possibility, might it give them cause to turn him back? 

It depends. If they ask him if he knows anyone /visiting anyone /what the relationship is or something like that, it may lead to that type of question.  Then it will be up to him to show them convincing proof that he will return home after, so I’d suggest he bring evidence of continued Registration at his college, ongoing living/rental  arrangements etc.

 

As mentioned above by others, whatever he does, he must not lie. Lying to CBP can result in a ban.

Edited May 5, 2020 by SusieQQQ

[Dashinka 24,598]

14 hours ago, cjsm19 said:

Thank you for your response! Do they generally ask if someone intends to marry at the port of entry? And when he answers that it’s a possibility, might it give them cause to turn him back? 

As @Jorgedig said, CBP can ask anything they want, and questions must be answered honestly.  It might be a good idea, since there are a lot of unknowns, to have your BF carry proof of his plans to return to complete his studies.
 

Good Luck!

[cjsm19 3]

6 hours ago, Dashinka said:

As @Jorgedig said, CBP can ask anything they want, and questions must be answered honestly.  It might be a good idea, since there are a lot of unknowns, to have your BF carry proof of his plans to return to complete his studies.
 

Good Luck!

Thank you! He is having a letter written from the dean stating that he must return in order to graduate, and he will also carry some other supporting documents as well. We are just really worried the consulate won’t open up in time for any of this to happen. How likely is it that visas would be suspended for an extended period of time?