eric_and_teresa

For those who may search for this thread with similar situations, this is why the CR1 spousal visa is a much better option for many couples who are in these financial straits. The spouse has the ability to work from day 1. Unfortunately, it's not an option for some couples in certain countries and others wish to marry in the U.S., which is fine (that's what DH and I wanted to do), but you do so at a risk. It's best to have financial stuff sorted out before you come to the US so that you don't end up in this limbo.
To the OP, I wish you luck in getting the $$ for AOS as well as getting a co-sponsor. You're young and inexperienced; it's natural to make mistakes. Thank your husband for me for serving his country.

Do a garage sale to raise the money. Even I was surprised on how much money people give you for junk.
We normally do at least one a year. The last time, we got over $800 for why I thought was bloody good considering I would have binned it all.

This is extremely atypical, and you were very fortunate. At several of those checkpoints (and I've been through nearly all of them), even USCs are harassed. Only the checkpoint north of Laredo is consistently professional. The "fearmongers in this thread" are doing well to take heed and take precautions by carrying their green card as the law requires.

That is textbook immigration fraud. Just because you got away with it doesn't make it right.
Entering the US with the intent to immigrate without first securing the proper Visa is Fraud. Had they asked your intent and you answered to immigrate and live with my USC Spouse they would have refused you entry.

The problem with your logic is that if she "transfers jurisdiction to DOS" then she has returned to her home country for consular processing thereby eliminating any intent to immigrate using a non-immigrant entry.
What you're saying is that anyone who marries a US Citizen while in the US will be considered to have misrepresented a material fact if they return to their home country for consular processing of a spousal visa.
You have your logic backwards.

You have it backwards. What they are looking at is intent at time of entry for USCIS. There is no limitation that states if you got married more than 30 days after entry you did not commit visa fraud. There is no statement of limitation of when visa fraud can be committed. Therefore, it can be identified as happening 90 days after entry as much as it can 2 days after entry. That does not mean she is 'safe' - it means she is always at risk of being identified as committing visa fraud. There is no statutes of limitation either procedurally or legally.
The Consular officer is not going to say 'you got married within 30 days of your visit to the US therefore you had immigrant intent on that visit even though you did not stay in the US" so I am denying a Cr-1 VISA. intent is established by staying in the US. The intent is not 'future intent' - it is 'present intent' .
Yes, she is intending to immigrate but not on that visit. Getting married in the US does not prove immigrant intent. Many people marry in the US with no intention of staying in the US - especially in Las Vegas . It is the intending to remain in the US after marriage when entering on a non-immigrant visa that is the problem. Can she get away with it? yes, it is possible. Should she try? No. Why risk future happiness when a few short months processing through the Consulate will give her legal permanent resident status in the US without it ever having to come back and haunt her. It takes just one phone call from a disgruntled old girlfriend or boyfriend to USCIS saying they planned to get married on that entry to open up an investigation. Her posting here on this site freely admitting her intent to get married and her willingness to lie to remain in the US is also a matter of public record.
And before you ask, yes USCIS and Consular officers DO read Visa Journey and have made the connections in the past between members on this site and case files on their desks.
The legal course of action is for her spouse to file the I-130 and for her to go through the CR-1 process through the US Consulate in Montreal - as so many other of our Canadian forum members have already done.

This is from the Department of Foreign Affairs Manual - Department of State and not from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services Department. They are two different departments and notoriously bad about communicating with each other. They also have different criteria. You will not find the 30/60 rule anywhere within the USCIS Adjudicator's Handbook. It is USCIS that will determine the eligibility of any I-485 application based upon an I-130.
The 30/60 Rule in the above document is listed as a 'guideline' only to help determine if misrepresentation is possible. It is not a legally defined procedure nor is it written into the law.
I wouldn't base my future happiness on this guideline to prove I didn't violate immigration law - especially if I did.

You have received some good advice here (along with some bad). The last thing you want to do is lie to immigration. Really consider this - is the few months of being together right now worth a life time of being denied entry to the US and not being able to live here? That is what you are really risking, not just deportation.
You are allowed to enter the US (and Canadians are not on a Visa Waiver programme - they have a special relationship with the US where they receive a de-facto B2 visitor's visa when crossing the border) and you are allowed to get married to your US partner. You are not allowed to complete the processing from within the US if you entered the US with the intent of getting married. It is considered visa fraud to use a visa issued for one purpose - in this case the de-factor B-2 visa - for a totally different purpose - to immigrate to the US.
Misrepresentation - lying to immigration - is something for which there is no statutes of limitation. It can haunt you the rest of your life. As a Canadian you are fortunate that you are able to visit during the CR-1 process so won't have to face long periods of separation. No one wants to be apart from the one that you love, but look at doing this the legal way as a short term pain for a long term gain. If your relationship is as important to you as you say it is, it is worth doing it right and not putting all of dreams and hopes for future happiness at risk. In marriage, as in life, you will face many challenges. Learning how to deal with them with maturity and intelligence will go a long way to helping you deal successfully with these challenges. Doing the immigration process properly is one of these first challenges to your marriage - but the long term benefits will far outweigh the short periods of separation that will be required to do this correctly. It is only a matter of months. Is that really worth the price that will take the rest of your life to pay?
Start the CR-1 process now and when your 6 month stay legally allowed is up, return to Canada and allow the rest of the process to take place. In the meantime you can work on establishing the bona-fides of the marriage so you will have an easy approval. Good luck.

Please remember that when you call the USCIS information you are NOT speaking to an immigration officer. You are speaking to a low wage call center employee who does not understand immigration processes and works off a script in front of them. What you were told is wrong and is considered visa fraud. You are not allowed to enter on a visa meant for one purpose - eg visitor - with the intent of using it for a totally different purpose - eg remaining in the US and applying for benefits from within the US.
As you have already applied for the K-1 visa you obviously have the already established 'intent' to get married and immigrate. When your application is submitted with an I-130 and the AOS based upon a visitor visa entrance, you are guaranteed to run into a lot of grief. His entry at the border would be considered both visa fraud- and depending on what he told the border at the time (eg only coming in for a visit, etc.) it could also include misrepresentation. Misrepresentation is considered one of the 'high sins' of immigration and leads to a refusal of the requested immigration benefit (green card) deportation and a ban on re-entering the US, often for life. If this is someone you love, don't take a 'convenient' but illegal short-cut that will indeed cut short the rest of your life together in the US. You can be guaranteed that if on his entry he says I am entering the US as a visitor so I can get married in November and stay in the US to get my green card, he would be denied entry - and probably given a short ban at that time as well for intent to violate immigration law.
Please do not do this. The 'USCIS information line is not known as the 'MisInformation Line' for nothing. It has ruined other people's lives before when they have followed similarly bad - and wrong - advice. I repeat - it is immigration fraud to enter the US on one visa with the intent to use it as a shortcut to bypass the more appropriate visa. He can enter to get married but he CANNOT file for the AOS from within the US. You would have to re-start the whole immigration process all over again filing for a CR-1 visa with the I-130 - but NOT concurrently with the AOS and he has to complete the process through his home Consulate. This is not an option for you.

No one is telling you that you can or cannot be with your husband. They are simply asking you to follow US immigration laws
Good luck

I don't think you really need our advice. I am pretty sure you know what to do already. Most of the people here would want to be politically correct and tell you to "do it the right way" and that "this forum is not to harbor people who intentionally want to break the law" etc. However, You clearly express your intention and desire to stay and adjust status. I would just go ahead with the process and risk it since the alternative is not an option for you.
BTW... what type of Visa did you come in on? or no visa at all ?

everyone: please stop quoting the entire original post in your replies. Thanks

No offense taken. I agree with you wholeheartedly. It was definitely my fault which I stated at the end of my story, and the only thing I can say is the marriage counselling I received, along with advice from my church and pastor was behind providing me the "hope" that she was sincere and would change. Of course, at that time, no one "suspected" she was scamming me.
I have a philosophy on her too--There's a good reason she left us and went to California--it was to go to work for Hollywood, because she was a great actor! Maybe we'll see her on the next soap opera.
In hindsight, I should have simply allowed her to be deported and let her deal with that crisis on her own, but I really believed she'd change--and certainly hoped she would seeing as we had endured a huge investment bringing her here, and acquired bills needing to be supported by two incomes.
Perhaps "excuses" now, but they were enough at the time to convince me to give it another shot. I guess some people don't give up as easily as others, and I can be hard-headed at times in that regard.

Phil,
if you two do not get along and you are not happy with each other... Is it important who's fault it is and who might have what sickness and what the reasons are? I did not get impression that you were madly in love with each other ever...
Don't get married. Buy her tickets to get home and make sure you restore everything for her back to pre-Phil days as much as you can. That would be a kind and reasonable thing to do.
Why would you want to get married and continue to hurt each other??? If you don't fit together, then you don't fit together.

You still could have sent the application to him or he download it and sign it and send it to you. they need the signature itself and no scanning or copies!

Yes you can marry on a tourist visa.
The fiance visa is not permission to get married in the US, it is a visa for permission to get married and then stay and adjust status to that of permanent resident. if you don't want to stay and adjust status, there is no problem marrying on a tourist visa.

I wouldn't wait any longer than possible, you are now out of status as your LPR Status does expire with the conditional Greencard. When you do file include copies of the NOA1, NOA2 and Denial Notice for the I-90 to back-up your reason for the late filing.

When I read your post I thought it was the story of my life. I totally understand what you've been through. Apparently 3 pages of people posting that they are in the same situation made you feel better..at least I feel better hearing that there's people out there in the same boat. I'm peruvian too, been in the states several times and I even lived in another country(Japan)which it was hard to adjust but to be honest this time is even worse. Like you there are times I just think I can't hold it anymore and I want to leave but oh boy! I got married to a great guy and I'm sure every sacrifice really worth it.
It's funny but I think the same about american food. Instead of complaining I thought: Well, there's good food too and a diversity of ingredients so I put aside any stereotype or rule and for example I cook some peruvian dishes with chili habanero. My husband love spicy food and he thinks it's amazing and he finally learned how to eat rice.. Somos peruanos sin arroz, no nos llenamos! . From what I read you are sad and depressive. It's true, the lack of family and friends, not knowing what to do because we just can't work without authorization, having so much free time, boredom, thinking too much because you are done with the cleaning, cooking and you just don't know what to do is depressing I know that but look at the bright side our country isn't perfect either it's becoming more dangerous and more chaotic considering years ago and it is so sad but a lot of incompetent people is always around.
*sigh* I wish visajourney create a forum to connect people who live in a certain area..

Please read the USCIS document which link I gave above.
Basically if USCIS finds out that you're separated or divorced, it would issue a RFE, where "ISO <Immigration Service Officer> specifically asks the CPR <Conditional Permanent Resident> to provide a copy of the final divorce decree or annulment along with a request stating that he or she would like to have the joint filing petition treated as a waiver petition".

I hope this document would be helpful!

The moderators seem to spend a disproportionate time in OT/PR.
Why?
Moderators are needed in the upper forums! There are more TOS violations there than in OT/PR combined.
-Name calling.
-Unlicensed legal Advice
-Immigration fraud advice
-there is currently a big hate fest directed at beneficiaries from certain countries
...just to name a few.
Please explain to me why on an immigration forum the mods seem to devote so much time to OT/PR- and lay the heavy mod hand down there for the slightesi infringement, carpet banning folks for the weakest of reasons...editing their posts.........-yet let so much #######/TOS violation go in the upper forums?
Then don't click there.

This isn't the first time someone has called them out like this and I'm sure it won't be the last.
Kathryn, Kriskit, and Otto are are 3 completely useless except against people they may not like on the boards. These three have proven to be very biased and very useless in many circumstances.
Certain individuals will get suspended/threads edited on a whim for daring to say something a bit harsh in threads. These individuals are usually ones that they cannot relate to on a political scale and so therefore are enemies in their head that have to be dealt with accordingly when something is done that they do not like.
Oh the other hand, if someone who possibly shares the same views as they do committs the same infractions or even worse infractions in the form of blatant name-calling/personal attacks, etc. then these people's actions go ignored and go left in place without warning, without removal, and without suspension.
This has been going on against several people and a few have gotten by with far more than others have gotten suspended for less for.
It is deeply concerning for a site of this nature that has so many different ideas and opinions, for a moderator staff to treat certain individuals with favoritsm over others.
You run a good site here and there's no reason why these few moderators should drag its name down like they do. I personally feel (along with a few others I'm sure) think that all 3 of these moderators should recuse themselves from their moderator position and should be replaced with individuals who will treat each situation equally and not based on any type of favortism. A great resource ilke this that has been helpful to so many deserves a fair and just staff to keep it lively and just as helpful, even in the forums that aren't necessarily a part of that process itself. They still reflect upon the site, and that is important.
Thanks for your consideration on the nature of what's going on here.

The petition isn't closed when the visa is issued. It's closed when the visa is used to enter the US. The petitioner can still withdraw the petition.
The OP can return to the consulate and have the visa cancelled. The consulate will simply stamp the visa cancelled and enter the cancellation into their computer system. The visa itself should not be removed from the passport. You should never intentionally remove pages from your passport.
Kamilla, if you intend to apply for a student visa then you should probably stop communicating with your ex-fiance. An accusation of visa fraud against you may cause problems with your future visa applications.

Someone with more public health knowledge than you unfortunately.

Having met on-line won't affect the approval status of one's I-129F petition, as long as the other criteria are met. However, consulates can place surprising emphasis on evidence of letters and cards sent back and forth by POSTAL mail, so it would be prudent to plan to have at least a couple of such items available for the interview.