dentsflogged

I'm all for woman's rights and the right for them to join the workforce. I am also for a woman's right to decide she wants to stay home and take care of her family. It is just as shameful that a woman would be attacked for making that decision as it is to attack a woman for choosing to work like the militant "feminists" are guilty of a lot of the time.

Unfortunatley when they see a trend, they tend to tar everyone with the same brush.
When it comes to a specific country/culture + certain other specifics, ie: North African male, large age gap, language barrier; if the most common outcome of that has been proven to be fraudulent, then it's assumed that the only outcome of that combination is fraudulent (at least on one party's side) even if that's not the case.  It sucks, but it happens. 

The best any of us really can do is be prepared with as much backing evidence as possible, and be prepared for the fact that it may be an uphill struggle if there are hurdles like age gaps, partner from a country where it's a high fraud area, etc. 

 

In the case of @MollyHill yep, probably good advice for her. What's done is done, and can't be changed now.

For others, I actually think the open discussion is probably a good thing. There are a huge number of people every day/week/year who travel and don't do the right thing - not through willful intent, but ignorance - and if this kind of discussion can help them not have a result like Molly's, so much the better.
 
For example: I know a girl who was deported and excluded from entry to the US for 5 years because of overstaying her Visa based on her assumption that entering the USA in Hawaii on the way to Canada didn't activate her B2 visa time allowance  - which it did.   A quick google search (or asking someone who has been through Immigration processess there) could have told her otherwise, but it was a huge deal at the time. 

Thanks for coming on and sharing with us.
 
While I have empathy for you, it sounds like the CBP officers felt you were less than truthful with them.  They can't come on here and give their side of the story though.  I understand your explanation regarding why you were travelling with all those documents, but you should understand that in the experience of the CPB officers, people travelling with similar documents are more often than not trying to skirt immigration laws.  In fact, your own country has the same policies in place and has turned away many visitors for the exact same reason.  Just watch the TV show - Border Security: Australia's Front Line.  

The form and the documents required to refer to filling it out are really clear - it even asks if the Beneficiary has any children, and if so, you're required to put that information in.

If they ticked yes and didn't fill in the information, they would have gotten an RFE before now. 
 
If the application has got to Interview stage, it would clearly indicate that they ticked no. 
 
At best, they should withdraw the application and refile with the correct information. 
 
Not a lawyer or even an old hand at this, but knowing how governments work, I would expect that if it is found out, that it may void the visa if it has already been approved (because it was obtained via 'deception') or if pre-approval it would cause significant delays waiting for more forms to be filed OR could cause refusal based on a non-genuine relationship (because it may indicate that the Petitioner doesn't know the Beneficiary all that well if they didn't know about the children).
 
It may well be an honest mistake, but given that the question is quite clear: "Does your beneficiary have any children?" and follows on to ask for the details if it's a yes, I find it hard to believe that "Yes" was ticked and no info given and no-one picked that up without RFE until now.  
 

The form and the documents required to refer to filling it out are really clear - it even asks if the Beneficiary has any children, and if so, you're required to put that information in.

If they ticked yes and didn't fill in the information, they would have gotten an RFE before now. 
 
If the application has got to Interview stage, it would clearly indicate that they ticked no. 
 
At best, they should withdraw the application and refile with the correct information. 
 
Not a lawyer or even an old hand at this, but knowing how governments work, I would expect that if it is found out, that it may void the visa if it has already been approved (because it was obtained via 'deception') or if pre-approval it would cause significant delays waiting for more forms to be filed OR could cause refusal based on a non-genuine relationship (because it may indicate that the Petitioner doesn't know the Beneficiary all that well if they didn't know about the children).
 
It may well be an honest mistake, but given that the question is quite clear: "Does your beneficiary have any children?" and follows on to ask for the details if it's a yes, I find it hard to believe that "Yes" was ticked and no info given and no-one picked that up without RFE until now.  
 

It's your choice to be living in another country while waiting. From USCIS standpoint they were correct in denying the expedite because you could move home and live with your family in order to take care of your health. Every single one of us had to be separated during the process, you are not special. I have Lupus and Rheumatoid Arthritis(2 very serious autoimmune diseases), I visited my husband during the process but lived and waited in the US so I could take care of my health. You can do the same. Sorry to be so blunt, but it's the truth.

One thing to remember OP, is that you don't mention your partner has a K-1 Visa... 

If they entered on a tourist visa, you may very well run into problems with AOS as evidenced from multiple threads and the new decisions on AOS cases within 90 days of entry (unless I read it wrong, they are basically treating ALL cases of AOS requests within 90 days of entry on a non-immigrant (B1/B2/VWP) visa as misrepresentation of your reason for visiting and thus places a *huge* burden of proof on you in order to get AOS.   
 
Hopefully I'm being overcautious and you've got all your ducks in a row, but if you're considering getting married and AOS without the right visa type, the chances are high you may run in to problems.   I hope all goes well  

 

On the original topic of affording to travel - for me, I find that it's easy to plan as far in advance as possible so I can keep checking flight prices and book when they're as low as possible.
 
 It also helps if you check regularly (I recommend using a private browsing window and clearing your cookies/history regularly because if the airline website realises that the same search is happening all the time from the same place, the flights will go up) so you get an idea of the 'cycle' that prices go through - I've found that Australia to USA flights tend to be cheapest if booked on a Tuesday to fly either Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday.  
 
Weekends are the most expensive to both book and fly.
 
Holidays if not booked in advance are very expensive and sometimes hard to get flights for (that includes holidays in the destination country, not just your own) - for example, I'm flying into the US 2 days before Thanksgiving and leaving 2 days after New Years - my domestic flights are costing almost double compared to when I visited last because of the major holidays close to my travel dates. 

Before I left the US last, I made plans with my partner for my next visit (left in June, heading back November) - and as soon as I was back to work, I was back to saving for my next round of flights (my partner only gets 2 weeks of leave per year from his job whereas I get up to 8 weeks paid and another 4 weeks unpaid per year with prior approval, so it's easier for me to go over there). 
 
Best ways (for me, personally) to save money to afford that? 
Pre-plan my meals and bulk cook - I've got my grocery bill down to around $50/week this way. It can get boring, but I freeze things in 'meal' sized containers so I get a bit of variety as long as I remember to mix them up going into the freezer.  Walk or ride my bike as much as possible rather than drive, which saves money on gas.  It's winter here, so rather than running a heater, I layer up while at home and wear long pants/sweater and use a blanket to save on electricty costs. Have friends over for dinner/movie nights rather than go out (though I still do go out from time to time) Give myself some "fun" money and budget how I'm going to spend it - normally it's $50 per pay (I get paid every 2 weeks) so I may decide to put it towards dinner/movie/drinks with friends, or to put towards a hobby or something - either buying a new video game or getting materials for my craft hobbies (I knit and do needlepoint) so I don't feel like I'm missing out. Starting to de-clutter my place by selling things that I haven't used for a long time.  In my case this means my sewing machine (I haven't used it in over 3 years), kitchen appliances, old clothes (there's a thriving second-hand market for an Australian-made brand that I wear a lot of), various bits and pieces (graphic novels I read once and don't want anymore, DVDs that I now have digital downloads of or that I can stream online, CDs I have on my computer but don't physically listen to anymore, electronics like my sound system which I never even set up after I moved from my old house and so on) I cancelled my gym membership and just run or ride my bike for exercise now. Called my phone and internet provider and threatened to cancel so they gave me a discount. I also turned off mobile data for many applications on my phone so that I could change the amount of data I needed per month (my cell phone company charges per GB of mobile data) Took note of what I was actually watching and cancelled the streaming services I wasn't using - same with music services (really who needs Apple Music and Spotify?) Stopped my monthly charity donations BUT I have instead started volunteering twice a month at a local animal shelter so I still get my "I've done something good" feeling but have that extra money in my pocket. Rather than birthday/christmas gifts for my friends, I instead make or bake them something - eg: I knitted my best friend a matching hat/scarf in her favourite colour, and my brother got a fancy birthday cake in his favourite flavours (while these both cost a little, they are significantly cheaper than if I'd spent the regular amount I would on purchasing gifts) Shopped around with insurance for my car and home/contents -  I saved $30 per month by changing to a different company.  If travelling within my country (as I had to until recently since my dad was in hospital a lot in my hometown) I compared prices and found that it was cheaper to drive there (8 hours) than fly (1.5 hours) because of the additional costs for parking at the airport, car hire and the like. I always used to fly because it was easier, but now I'm more thoughtful about where the $$ is going. I also downloaded an app into which I put every.single.thing I spent money on - even if it was $2 for some mints - so that it would show where my money was going every month.  It's amazing how much more I think about how I spend my money now, because at the time "just" $2 for mints or $5 for coffee seems like nothing at the time until I realise that over a month that could be $50!   
YMMV on any/all of the above suggestions, but they're things that help me.  I booked my next lot of flights on my birthday (happy birthday to us!) 6 weeks after I got home from my last trip and I'm 9 (or hopefully 7 if they approve my request for extra time off!) weeks away from being back with my partner for a blissful 6 (or hopefully 8!!) weeks. 

 

You don't bypass rules because they are inconvenient. 

Thanks!
 
We have a lot of face-time (not as much as I'd like obviously!) between when he lived with me for 3 months, then I was there for a month in May and another 7 weeks over the end of year holidays (leaving in 70 days and 13 hours, not that I'm counting!) that I'm hoping to extend to 10 weeks if my boss is going to be super amazing. 
 
Looking forward to startibg the process but it's scary st the same time!