C and R lived in Montreal, where they had met and married. One day, they thought: "hey, we'd like to move to the US, where R comes from! After all, neither of us are permanent residents in Canada, and our right to be here together will run out soon". Knowing it would take a while, they decided they'd take that time to go and live with C's family, in France, ideally while the immigration process went though.
Once in France, they got ready to file for C's visa to the US. They turned to the US embassy in France, but the embassy said: "sorry, since R is not a permanent resident in France, you can't file with us". So C and R sent their I-130 to the US. Soon after, they received a notice of rejection: R cannot file in the US while living abroad, even temporarily.
" We can't file in France, we can't file in the US! What can we do? Our trip in France will be over long before C gets his visa, and then what will happen?!", they wondered. So they called USCIS, and painstakingly managed to track down an actual human being. This fine representative of USCIS listened carefully to the story, and then said "well, why don't you come to the US, and then apply for your visa?". C and R looked at each other. Could it be that easy?? C asked, just to make sure, "you mean I can go to the US, and then do an I-485 to adjust status?", which the USCIS operator confirmed. "All our worries are over!", they thought.
So they flew back to Montreal, picked up their belongings, and promptly drove down south. Arriving at the border, C declared his intention to go to the US and apply to adjust status, as per what had been said by the friendly USCIS operator. The answer was swift and unequivocal: "that ain't gonna happen". Over the next few hours, C and R's dream of seamlessly continuing their life together was dashed, as it was explained that what they had been told by the nice USCIS operator wasn't true, and that it was certainly impossible to enter the US with a temporary visa with the intention of applying to stay, married or not. In fact, to make sure this kind of thing would not happen again, C's participation in the visa waiver program was indefinitely cancelled, and he was warned in no uncertain terms against trying to come to the US again without a proper visa.
2013: We have been living together again in Oregon, and time has now come to apply for removal of condition...
