Nat&Amy

Welcome to the forum!

In addition to all the advice given here, also be prepared to talk about how the two of you met. One thing is to meet online when you two have interests, background and/or friends in common (happens all the time), another very different thing is a complete stranger from another country sending you a message out of nowhere. I am sure that love happens in both scenarios, but in the second one we see a lot of scams, especially on Facebook. For a spousal visa in these cases, you might be asked a considerable amount of quality evidence to show your beloved is not in it for the wrong reasons.

3 minutes ago, boris64 said:

I didn't vote for Trump. But, like it or not our system is set up in a way that favors the party that WINS elections. In 2016 the Republicans controlled the Senate and could block a vote on Obama's appointment to the Supreme Court. In 2020 the Democrats have no way to block this appointment. If you want things to go your way win elections. By all means vote in November.

I agree that Trump is what we got as a result of - among many other things - people thinking their vote didn't matter. Now I can only hope people will show up. In the meantime, we might as well acknowledge that we are living difficult times and that, therefore, LGBTQ fears and concerns should not be disregarded as frivolous. They simply aren't. Same goes to other religious and ethnic groups that are constantly reminded by the current administration there are places where they belong, and America might not be one of them.

21 hours ago, Nay05 said:

I need help to help a friend who is a us citizen file for his spouse and 2 stepchildren who came and visitors visa and didn't go home. Do they file I 130 and i145  separately for each of them so 3 of each?. Also is medical done now to be sent in with I145 and I130 or later on when they request it? 

The intention is noble, but who will be held accountable if something goes wrong and your friend says they were only following what you recommended? Think carefully about how far you want to go when "helping" with such a life-changing process. Immigration requires money, time and knowledge. If your friend is not a computer person, best course of action is to hire a lawyer. 

If you want to experience a little bit more of the United States, take a moment to consider if any school here offers courses or certificates that might be useful for your career. Depending on your age and academic standing, try to look into internship programs. 

There are many pathways to a longer stay in the United States but you need to find what works for you. Travelling the 50 states on a tourism visa is an option, sure, if you have loads of money to burn and can afford to spend months without a job (not an option for many). Don't ruin your chances of visiting the US again by working illegally or by overstaying. Those that do hardly ever think of how that will affect their future immigration endeavors and find the hard way everything you do is forever marked in your file. Think about that and make the right choice.

39 minutes ago, Lucas Janer said:

Thanks for the replies, everyone.

 

Our marriage is 100% real and we've begun building, quite naturally, that evidence.  Our concern is the 20+ years before marriage where I have nothing/no one to provide evidence of how I lived here for 20 years.  Most people I had contact with would not want to talk to USCIS nor would I want to or could I identify past roommates, boyfriends, "employers" (in quotes because I never had a "documented" employee/employer relationship - only under the table), etc.  Won't USCIS investigate my 20 years and ask lots of questions?

It's not going to look good, but overstay and illegal work are forgiven for spouses of US citizens so you are not going to get a denial for that. They can ask questions, of course. And depending on the officer you get, yes, you are going to get asked a lot of questions because they will be trying to catch you lying - and lying can and will get you a denial, so always tell the truth.

The only struggle I see (with all your financial transactions been done under the table) is what kind of evidence you will provide of financial commingling, cohabitation, etc. In other words: what do you have to show as evidence of relationship? 

20 hours ago, FattieBanton said:

But hey, every case is different and more is always better than less. 

In immigration, providing more than what you are asked for is not always better, on the very contrary. Answer what you are asked, be honest, but be aware that every time you volunteer information you were not asked for, you open yourself to further scrutiny and unnecessary hassles.

Please fill in your timeline. 6 months from marriage to visa in hand is incredibly fast.

23 minutes ago, JFH said:

It was the politicians that told us this. It was all about control. If the leaders were that concerned about our health that they considered it worthwhile almost bankrupting they country for it, why have alcohol and tobacco not been made illegal? They cause far more deaths. Answer: tax revenue. 

I don't really think comparing a global pandemic to alcohol and tobacco makes sense. Two completely different stories. I can't choose whether or not I get covid-19 if I work in a hospital, for example, and have insufficient protection gear. Or if I have a pre-existing condition and live with someone that doesn't take care of themselves. I can still choose not to drink, and not to consume tobacco products. 

So yeah, not quite the same thing there.

And the fact American economy is going downhill can be explained by many things, not only the virus. Just look at the rest of the world and see how the way they manage themselves has determined how much of a fall they are going to take. Sweden, for one, has chosen against lockdowns and guess what? Their economy is going south anyways. 

If anything, it was our lack of appropriate and quick preventative care that put us in the situation we are today, and not an abundance of it.

What documents does she have? Does she have a passport?

Only USC are guaranteed entry. Everyone else, including green card holders, are subject to a CBP officer's decision.

That said, green card holders normally don't get turned around at POE but I don't think anyone here can tell you for sure what kind of questions/procedures you might be subject to, even because CBP has access to your (and your mother's) immigration history and we don't, for one. 

12 minutes ago, vincentlina said:

Hey JeanneAdill...what I've been perplexing over from since Bolsonaro got elected was...why did the Brazilian people put this...this character in power? How in the world did that happen?

That is the question that all the other Brazilians (who did not vote for him) have been asking...... He has always been a lunatic, homophobe, racist, sexist shame of a politician. His supporters knew exactly what they were signing up for. But how and why millions of people got behind his ideas full of hatred... Hard to tell and almost impossible to explain.

3 minutes ago, Mark11 said:

Meu Portugues nao esta' perfeito, mas posso conversar com Brasileiros se eles dizem lentamente.

 

Parabéns pelo esforço, porque aprender português não é nada fácil!

One thing that might help Sandra when she gets here is getting as many references as she can from former employees/academic supervisors. Have them describe her skills and qualifications in as much detail as they can. As you said, it might take a while for her to find a job that matches her level of education/experience but attending networking events, improving her English and joining groups on social media will help her connect with more employers and help her adapt to this new environment.  

I wish you guys the best of luck! We will all succeed eventually 😉

I have been reading quite a few posts about how hard it is/was for spouses of USC/LPR to find a job in their fields, so I thought I should share my experience in hopes it might help others.

I have a Bachelor's and a Master's Degree from well known universities, both in Brazil and Australia. For many years, I had worked as an educational consultant and as a visa analyst, so in a way, I thought there would be plenty of jobs waiting for me when I finally moved to the US. I have no problems with the English language. So, as I waited for my EAD/GC, I applied for all jobs I could find in schools, universities, agencies. Didn't get a single invitation for an interview. Thought things would get better when my GC finally came in.

They didn't.

The jobs I wanted didn't want me, and everyone that has been in the same situation knows that stings a little.

I found out, though, that there is always a way to make a living, even if that is totally out of your comfort zone. Through a friend, I became a Mary Kay consultant and even though I don't consider myself an outspoken salesperson, I have made enough to help with the bills and the work is fun. Two months later, I received my fist job offer, to work as an English Teacher. The classes, combined with my sales, helped us find a better place to live and pay many of our credit card bills. Fast forward to March 2020 and I get laid off, so now the only thing keeping my head above the water is my MK business. It's a rollercoaster. With the pandemic, it's even harder to plan ahead and stay positive, so if there is one piece of advice I can offer to anyone going through a rough patch is to think outside the box and don't feel humiliated for taking a job that you are overqualified for. We all need to start somewhere and in that search we might find things we live doing, but had never thought of doing before. 

For the Brazilians that just got here and are having difficulty adapting to their new lives, feel free to send me a message or share your stories in this topic. I guess things get better when we help each other.

21 hours ago, kenshin02 said:

Thank you for your response! What will she say to CBP at the airport upon entry? Is it safe to say that we will be getting married and she doesn't intend to overstay?

Also, note that there is an increasing number of people who have entered the US in the past few months to visit and then AoS claiming to be unable or unwilling to return to their home country due to the current health crisis. I would expect more scrutiny from CBP officers, so make sure she travels with plenty of solid evidence that she has stronger reasons to return home than to stay in the US with you given the current circumstances. Just saying "I'm not planning to overstay" is not enough, even because I'm still to meet anyone who had "planned" to overstay, in the first place.

5 hours ago, Luckycuds said:

My advice- wait to file until you meet. Do you really want to spend the rest of your life with someone you’ve never met? Immigration issue aside.

Especially when day in, day out, we see stories of people complaining that their significant other "changed completely" after moving to the US........ 

Take your time to really know who you are planning to marry. By law, you could petition anyone within a day of meeting them, but that doesn't mean it's what you should do.

The amount of trouble/headache you will have in your immigration journey (which is far from done) will be greatly minimized if you take time to reach the instructions provided by USCIS for each and every form you fill. If the terms are unclear, ask the community for clarification, and check other forums to see what people's experiences were. The i944 is probably going to take time and this time you want to get it right.

The main disadvantage of many people who just got their green card is that they don't have enough references in the US to "endorse" their application (mainly for certain skilled jobs). It doesn't help that in those cases, their previous work experience and education come from abroad as well. 

That said, your chances of success will  depend a lot on what kind of job you apply for, the demand for the job in the area you're in, and your own profile, of course.

In Education, if you and a person with references and work experience in the US are competing for the same job, there is a big chance you will not be selected. If you go for a job in Events for instance then that might not matter much. Either way, it's not because the other candidate is a USC and you are not. The disadvantage lies on what they can provide that recent LPRs cannot.