Delta7

40 minutes ago, millefleur said:

@Delta7 I think the CO might've looked at this as desperation to come to the US because why would they go to Georgia when Yekaterinburg in Russia is currently open for tourist visa interviews and has a wait time of 1-2 months? See for yourself:

 

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/visa-information-resources/wait-times.html

 

So there's no reason to "wait it out" Moscow. Just have them go to Yekaterinburg. I know someone who recently applied for a B visa there and was approved.

(Edited) I know this was one of the embassies they closed a few years back. It must have reopened? Thank you so so much! I’ll have them look into it. 

4 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

 

.....

ok, i take it back, apparently it's not only new posters who don't read everything. lol.

Yes, it was previously posted that REFUSAL rates were 62%, but not OVERSTAY rates.

1 hour ago, celie&joseph said:

If I'm not mistaken, Georgia was among the government's latest list of high overstay rates... the one they'd like to hone in on detailed screening for B1/B2 visas to "curve" the overstay trend. Even though no law has been passed yet from what I've seen, I'm sure these embassies are aware their respective country made the list and they have probably started implementing stricter observations when approving visas. So going to Georgia to interview might have actually been the bullet that hit your foot.

I didn't know that Georgia was among the highest overstay rates. I think I'm going to encourage my in-laws to wait it out via Moscow for their next attempt. Thanks so much!

17 minutes ago, missileman said:

More times than not, the "unhelpful" answers are just something other than what the questioner wanted to hear......some of the posters in this thread have been around here for quite a long time........I would trust them more than others.

"Your spouse already showed that she violated the terms of her J1, so their B1/2 will be denied with the same concern." This is an example of an unhelpful answer. My wife didn't "violate" her J1. There are many people who meet people while on this visa. We married and filed the AoS before her J1 even expired.

I read each answer and while many are helpful (and I truly appreciate everyone taking their time to reply), there are definitely ones that aren't really helpful. 

37 minutes ago, Sextus Empiricus said:

You are not going to get very meaningful answers from here (or anywhere for that matter) on B visas refusals, just a bunch of conjectures which will do nothing for you. For immigrant visas, you would get great answers here, many times even better than what an immigration attorney would tell you. B visas are among the most frustrating to figure out when denied, the latitude consular officers have to deny is virtually total. That said, the adjusted refusal rate for Russians is about 15% so it does appear your in laws were not fortunate.

 

https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/Statistics/Non-Immigrant-Statistics/RefusalRates/FY18.pdf

 

I adjusted status here after coming as a student as did many many people. It has not affected any of my family's ability to obtain visas to visit. My stepmother, brother, sister, nephew, uncle and aunt have all visited me in the USA [including some like my aunt who had very poor finances back home] despite not having visited any other western developed country. Ignore such explanations, it's meaningless.

 

There is no harm applying again, all they lose is $160 each and there are scores of people who applied for a B visa and were refused who reapplied almost immediately afterward and got approved. There is a good degree of randomness in B visa approvals.

Yeah, there have been some helpful answers here and some not so much. I'm just glad there's a place to discuss with others who have been through the same situations. I'm glad to hear your family has been able to visit, that's how it should be! My wife is torn between having them try Tbilisi again within 2 months, or wait the 10-12 months for Moscow. 

2 minutes ago, The_Empyrean said:

sometimes trying to save time, ends up costing more time...

Sure seems that way! My wife has a friend who works at a travel agency in Russia and they even tell clients to go to Georgia instead of waiting for Moscow. 

1 hour ago, The_Empyrean said:

as tbone said. Show good "Travel" history, same as credit history. Returns on time, i'd have some papers to prove business ownership, taxes to pay, general ties to comeback. Tickets themselves won't change anything as they aren't permanent in any way. You can place a ticket order at the same day of interview, and cancel them afterwards with no penalties.

Having an interview in a different country might have thrown the CO off as to why not applying in Russia. It just seems sketchy, ya know? Then the question about permanent stay " i don't think so" isn't giving him confidence either, considering your wives situation and AoS.

My parents were business owners back in Eastern EU years ago, they had B2's countless times issued, i had B2 issued. But my parents made a good point of having relatives in US, visiting, traveling, and spending money in US (not a valid point but there's that lol). Just gotta show your necessity to come back after visit, rather than trying to show that you won't overstay.

In the past 5 to 10 years, they have each traveled to a total of 5 countries in Europe and Africa (Egypt). They didn't overstay a single time. I totally get the fact that it might seem suspicious to bypass their home country's consulate, but it's a move simply because the wait times in Georgia are 10x less. My wife and I talked last night and I think they're going to file in Moscow and just wait it out and pray. 

1 hour ago, Boiler said:

Why would you be buying anything, he has his own business she works?

When we visited them, they paid for everything, and refused to let us pay for anything other than one meal the 3 weeks we were there. It’s nothing more.

3 minutes ago, carmel34 said:

It looks they're trying to beat the system, to get around the one year wait time in Russia they go to a nearby country for an interview.  It makes them look desperate to get to the US and willing to cut corners and not wait like everyone else, this could have made the IO be suspicious of their intent.  They have a daughter in the US who used a temporary visa to stay permanently.  Look at the totality of the facts from the IO's perspective, and you can clearly see why their applications were refused.  They can try again, this time in Russia, it might help if they try from their home country, but in the long run be prepared to go and visit them if they are never able to get a visa.

A lot of Russians have been going to Georgia since the US and Russia have closed each others consulates in their respective countries. My wife knows people who filed in Russia who's application has expired due to the fact it's only good for a year, and their interview was after the year threshold, making them go through the entire process again. It's not cutting corners, it's just more efficient. But I do understand where you're coming from. My wife didn't "use" her J1 to stay permanently. She, like many others around the country, met someone while on a visa and fell in love. 

7 minutes ago, Ben&Zian said:

Agreed. They can apply as soon as they want, and as many times as they want, but don't do that. The more attempts it makes people seem 'desperate' to get to the US. While we obviously don't know the whole circumstance of this, the CO again has to make the call on if they feel they would misuse the visa. Having the daughter now a LPR, after being on an internship visa... the CO again has to make a judgment call. As with above, unfortunately that is the risk of marrying a foreigner in sense of family separation (if that is important to you anyways).

 

Search top right corner in the search bar for things like "B2 denied" and just read the countless threads of denials. It's very common. Just applying is not guarantee. Even having the B2 visa doesn't guarantee entry to the US, just the chance. They can still be denied at immigrations during clearance.

Valid points, I appreciate the feedback. Yeah, I've been reading a few today, and our first initial reaction this morning when we found out was shock and thought that it was a mistake or her parents did something wrong. I didn't know tourist visas refusal rates were as high as they are. 

Just now, Jorgedig said:

Good point.  The fact that she stayed and adjusted from a non-immigrant visa could very well have worked against them.  One of the drawbacks of jumping the queue.

That's really the only thing we can think of. To be completely honest, we wanted to do the K1 Visa application that summer (2017) but literally as we were filing out papers and doing research, Trump and Putin began their peeing contest closing each others consulates. So we didn't want to risk a scenario where it took > 3 years for a process that was under 1 before. 

Just now, Jorgedig said:

There must have been something else in their applications or interviews that made the CO think they were high risk for overstay.

 

Why did they interview in Georgia instead of Russia?

I'll check to see if they have a copy of their papers.

The current wait time for an interview in Russia is 300 days due to the country only having one US Consulate left (Moscow). There have been stories of people waiting for an interview and the interview has exceeded the year long time window, requiring them to resubmit their application again. Whereas the wait time in Georgia is 28 days. 

1 minute ago, Jorgedig said:

COs are required by law to suspect immigrant intent for B visa applicants, so the burden is on the applicant to show evidence of their intention to return home and not overstay or try to immigrate.

 

What other ties besides jobs and family do they have?

They own a home and car in the city they live in. What else is needed? Her father owns a business and he can't be away for too long at a time anyways. We even talked about possibly him traveling back to Russia a week before her mom returns. 

A big thing that worries me further is when we have children. The thought of them not even being able to see their only grandchildren here haunts me. Sure, we can visit them. However, it's crazy that they won't be allowed to visit. 

Yeah I know, that's why we didn't buy any tickets this time 😆.

When you say their situation (ties to home) have changed, what do you mean?  How can two people in their 50's change their ties to home? They have never been here, and we want to show them a bunch of places here, you know, things tourists do lol. 

Good afternoon,

My wife and I want her parents to visit us here in the US for 3 weeks this fall, and we had our sightseeing trips all planned (NYC, Washington DC, Niagara Falls, Boston). However, they were denied a Visa today in Tbilisi, Georgia. I was curious if anyone could help us make sense of this decision.

I met my wife while she was on a J1 Visa a few summers back, and we just instantly hit it off. We're still happily married to this day, and have since been to Russia to introduce me to her family. We filed for her adjustment of status during the 30 day grace period of her J1 Visa expiring, and she got her two year green card ~ 6 months after we filed.

Her parents both work (father owns a business, and her mom works in a dentists office). They also own a home as well as a car, and have close family nearby. Obviously the CO doesn't know this, but I have asked them if they would want to immigrate here if my wife becomes a US Citizen, and they said they did not think so. They want to stay in Russia, but they just want to be able to see where their daughter moved to, and meet my family, the way I met theirs. 

The only thing I can think of is that the CO saw that my wife immigrated here while on a visa, and instantly shot it down. Other than that, I'm at a loss of why it would be rejected.

They said they will try again. I would be willing to buy the plane tickets before the interview so they see the flight itinerary to prove they will go back, but I don't want to buy tickets only to have the next application refused again. 

Thanks ThomasNC1988. Yeah, we are bringing the marriage certificate, our USCIS notices, and her valid Russian passport. We are just worried they could flip through her passport and see her expired visa. Does a pending USCIS AOS claim do anything in terms of granting her stay?

Hello,

My wife is here with an expired J-1 Visa, and her Adjustment of Status claim is processing with USCIS (We have the receipt notice of action). We have a trip booked to Florida for Thanksgiving and leave this Sunday. I am just curious, will she have any problem traveling within the US?  I know we have the case number from USCIS, but we are just worried because her J-1 Visa is expired, we don't want to risk her being detained/deported.

Thank you!

4 minutes ago, Boiler said:

I thought you are a USC? Not sure why you think it is relevant.

I am, but my fiancé is not. She is here on a J1 visa that expires in two weeks. The I-485 filing process could go past that date (due to the required medical exam)

Hello,

My fiancé is here on a J1 visa that expires on 9/15. We were originally planning to go to K1 route, but given the situation between the US and her country, Russia, we are planning to get a civil marriage and apply for AOS. However, the soonest medical exam I can find for her at the moment is on September 11th. I've read online multiple sources (and she even told me that she was told) that the J1 visa has a 30 day "grace period" after the expiration date when she absolutely has to leave. 

I'm curious, if we dip into this grace period with the AOS process, would that be really frowned upon by USCIS?

Hello, 

My (now) fiancé came here in Mid May on a J1 work/travel visa which expires on September 15th. We were originally planning on going the K1 route, however she lives in Russia and given the current state of political affairs between the US and Russia, we're strongly considering getting a civil court marriage and filing the AOS before her visa expires. 

What exact forms would we need besides the I-485 AOS? She would like to travel home and see her family, so that is the I-131 correct? She also would like to work, so that is the I-765 if I'm correct.  I saw somewhere online that these three can be filed together, is that true?

I'm not sure of the steps to go, can anyone help?

Also, is there any chance of USCIS rejecting her AOS since we would get married 3 months after meeting each other? She has met my family (and extended family) we've taken trips together to Boston, Niagra falls, and has met all my friends. 

Thank you so much

7 minutes ago, KULtoATL said:

Refer to this guide: http://www.visajourney.com/content/i130guide2

Thank you so much! Also worth mentioning we were going to do the K-1 route, but she lives in Russia and with the current state of affairs (US forced to cut its diplomatic staff by 70%) the safest way to ensure we are together is through  civil marriage before her J1 visa expires (9/15)

14 minutes ago, KULtoATL said:

Is she adjusting from a K-1?

-No, she would be adjusting from a marriage here while on a J-1 Visa (We got engaged after 3 months of seeing each other)

 

A K-1 would select c(9).

 

One month outside the US is fine.

 

It's multiple use card. However best to familiarise yourself with the continuous residence requirements for naturalization so that she's eligible when the time comes. Refer here: https://www.uscis.gov/us-citizenship/citizenship-through-naturalization/continuous-residence-and-physical-presence-requirements-naturalization.

 

Tentative dates are fine if available. For a K-1, dates are not really needed.

 

No need for a lawyer. There are useful guides on here.

I have a few questions about the I-131 advanced parole travel document:

-What application type would we select? We are possibly going to get a civil court marriage, so she would be married, and her Adjustment of Status form (i-485) would still be processing when we file the i-131.

-Will the person be able to travel home for say, a month?

-Will the person be able to travel out of, and re-enter the US multiple times? (Obviously within reason)

-I noticed on the I-131 form that you have to state when you are planning to visit, is this just a rough estimate as ideally she would want to travel home once it gets approved

-Would you suggest getting a lawyer involved to ensure everything goes smoothly?

Thank you so much!