ESTA with adjustment of status to Legal Permanent Residency or K1 Visa

[carmel34 3,531]

18 hours ago, rrtvisa said:

She left the U.S. and applied for a Student F1 Visa but was denied under 214b in December 2023.

The F-1 visa denial is now part of her permanent record.  ESTA will very likely be denied because of this.  She could apply for a B-2 tourist visa to visit you for a few weeks and then return home, but given her track record and a boyfriend in the US, that could be difficult as well.  If you really want to be together, either file an I-129F petition for a K-1 or get married in Spain and file an I-130 petition for a CR-1.  Both take about the same amount of time, 1-2 years, before she can enter the US.  Visit her in Spain as frequently as you can during the long wait.

[igoyougoduke 1,605]

22 hours ago, rrtvisa said:

I(US Citizen) met my girlfriend(Spain Citizen) while she was on a J1(Au Pair Visa) Visa. She left the U.S. and applied for a Student F1 Visa but was denied under 214b in December 2023. We believe it was due to her Au Pair host family being her visa sponsor and the Visa interviewer thought she would be going back to work with the host family even though she already payed her tuition. She did not put me as a sponsor because we heard that having a boyfriend as a sponsor would be reason for her to want to stay in the US. We are planning on her to come visit me with an ESTA(visa waiver program), but have seen conflicting statements online if it is possible for it to be approved or an automatic denial. If so, what can we do to improve the likelihood of the ESTA approved?

 

 I have also seen conflicting statements if I would then be able to ask my girlfriend to marry and get married once she is in the U.S. and do an adjustment of status to legal permanent residency during her ESTA stay.  Is this possible? or is our best bet to do a k1 visa?  Our main goal is to be together and to start living together in the U.S. The help is greatly appreciated as we both had so many plans to start our lives together and the timeline of a k1 visa is not helping our mindset. 

 

fly to Spain

Get married in Spain and come back to usa

File for CR1 visa. It will take 12-18 months 

She gets her CR1 visa .

She lands in USA and becomes a green card holder/permanent resident on the day of arrival on US soil

 

ESTA can be tried but as long as she tells the CBP / Border patrol the truth that she is entered the country to get married and adjust status .  

[Redro 4,600]

On 1/16/2024 at 7:42 PM, rrtvisa said:

I(US Citizen) met my girlfriend(Spain Citizen) while she was on a J1(Au Pair Visa) Visa. She left the U.S. and applied for a Student F1 Visa but was denied under 214b in December 2023. We believe it was due to her Au Pair host family being her visa sponsor and the Visa interviewer thought she would be going back to work with the host family even though she already payed her tuition. She did not put me as a sponsor because we heard that having a boyfriend as a sponsor would be reason for her to want to stay in the US. We are planning on her to come visit me with an ESTA(visa waiver program), but have seen conflicting statements online if it is possible for it to be approved or an automatic denial. If so, what can we do to improve the likelihood of the ESTA approved?

 

 I have also seen conflicting statements if I would then be able to ask my girlfriend to marry and get married once she is in the U.S. and do an adjustment of status to legal permanent residency during her ESTA stay.  Is this possible? or is our best bet to do a k1 visa?  Our main goal is to be together and to start living together in the U.S. The help is greatly appreciated as we both had so many plans to start our lives together and the timeline of a k1 visa is not helping our mindset. 

Unfortunately, you were aware of the red flags involved in being your girlfriend's sponsor if she came over on a student visa. 

You were not aware that is also a big red flag when an au pair's family sponsors a student visa. 

 

Before anything else, your girlfriend could consider applying for another F1 visa as her own sponsor.

The course of study she enrolled in might also be a factor... Did she apply to an English language school or a community college or a more "well known" school?

If she doesn't have a degree yet and really did intend to go to school, I would consider the F1 route before K1 or spousal.

But, if your girlfriend was only applying to school so she could return in the US to live with you, I would go the K1 visa route (as you can apply for it now/today) OR if you want your girlfriend to be able to work as soon as she enters the US, go to Spain get married and go the spousal route.