Teemo

The obstacle you will have to surmount, over and above the proof of a valid relationship, is the idea that he is just pretending to be in love with you to get the green card, then all of a sudden you will have "marital problems" and divorce. The issue is that that is actually somewhat common, and many of those cases have features in common that are present in yours. This week alone I have seen many denials on this forum from Ghana, Morocco, and other countries that are considered "high fraud." Because, there is a high level of this kind of stuff going on. 
 
Honestly the show 90 Day Fiancee makes this process even worse, because there are some couples on there where this is definitely happening and we get to peek into their relationships. The US citizen feels he/she is in love, and that person loves them back, and they are in a bona fide relationship as evidenced by chats and family support, and then....at the first second the beneficiary is able to leave he sometimes does (I'm looking at you Mohammed). 
 
Of course, comparing your relationship to a trashy TV show is insulting and does you a disservice. But, you have to see it from their point of view. How will you guys overcome the presumption of "He is scamming her to get a green card?" That is demonstrably harder to overcome than "Is this a real relationship?"
 
That is why you are getting the advice to spend lots of face to face time together. Because the standard will be that high. Good luck. 

@Sunnylandis pointing out that the correct spelling is Colombia. You're spelling your future wife's native country wrong. 

Based on the details given, IMO the most likely reason he was denied was not based on your relationship, but because they suspect he might be using you to get the green card - ie pretend he is in love and scam you into petitioning for him. I am sure that is very insulting to you. Nevertheless, in  acountry like Morocco where this is somewhat common they have certain things that they look for and ask in this type of scenario ("why are you marrying someone who doesn't understand your culture") and your fiance probably failed at least one of these questions.  
 
Nicole & Azan probably did Morocco no favors either. 

There is not a fixed time that an LPR can be abroad, but there is a presumption of abandoning residence if you are abroad for a year or longer. Just "touching down" in the US doesn't avoid having abandoned permanent residence either. It only avoids the mandatory presumption of abandoning permanent residence, not a determination of having done so.
 
The CBP officer will make a determination based on all of the facts available to them. From that, they can either admit as-is, or parole you (either directly or with detainment) and refer the case to an immigration judge.
Normally, if it's your first time, they will just give you a verbal warning. You have basically been given the verbal warning already.
 
A re-entry permit should have been obtained for such a long period outside of the US in aggregate, IMO. While having maintaining ties is important, a green card is for living within the US as your permanent residence, and if it appears that you are not doing so, then they can refer the case to an IJ to revoke it.
 
Did she claim any sort of residence (or benefits that require residence) while abroad? Was she working? These are things that could lead an officer or IJ to believe residence was being abandoned.
 
tldr; You would probably be okay in the end, but are pushing it since you have already been warned.

Ok I paid a CPA to answer the question. I publish it below so that others in the same situation will find the answer:
 
While you may meet the IRS Substantial Presence test (100% of this year's days, plus 1/3 of last year's days, plus 1/6 of the prior year's days is more than 183) you can still be considered a nonresident. It is not a matter of the treaty overriding the tax law. The treaty always takes priority. But you have to let the IRS know that you are taking the treaty. You won't have to pay any tax in the US, but it will require you to file a tax return with the IRS. In this return, you will claim that you have a "closer connection" with Germany than you have with the US. I just did one of these a couple of months ago.
 
You will file a Form 1040NR (or more likely, a Form 1040NR-EZ), showing no US effectively connected income, and you will attach a Form 8840, Closer Connection Exception Statement for Aliens, to the Form 1040NR or 1040NR-EZ. This Form goes through a series of questions that you will answer. These questions demonstrate that you have a closer connection to the foreign country than you have to the US. For example, the questions include where is your permanent home, where is your family (wife here, others ??), where are your cars located, where are they registered, where are your personal belongings, furniture, et., where are your bank accounts, where is your work, where do you vote, etc. All these facts help determine which country you have a closer tie to. In your case, it would be Germany. So you would still end up paying tax only in Germany. But you would have a US filing requirement.
 
I hope this answers your question. If you have any more, please feel free to ask and I will be happy to answer.
 
Thanks! Have a great week!
 
Roger

I understand you're new to this. And it's good you have started to do some research and ask questions.
 
At the same time I can see that you are taking a very serious issue (immigrating to the US) far too casually. It appears you are looking up and asking things on the fly rather than sitting down and learning everything there is to know about adjusting status and then attempting to fill in gaps in your knowledge. At this point you don't know what you don't know. Take an afternoon and read everything you can on adjusting status, including the guides on this forum. 
 
Did you file an I-485 or not? In your first post you say you did and in this post you didn't. The I-485 is the actual application to adjust to permanent resident. File it right away with supporting docs. Same with I-765 & I-131 - you cannot leave the country (well you can but not re-enter) until you get the I-131 advance parole. Otherwise you will be deemed having abandoned your application. 

1. Once your I-485 is pending (NOA received) you are in authorized stay by the Attorney General so you can let any previous status go (ie let F1 or H-1B lapse) and not be accruing unlawful presence. This would only come back to bite you if your AoS was not approved in which case you'd start accruing unlawful presence at that point (assuming there is no underlying status like an H-1B visa still valid). If that happened your best hope is to wait for your spouse to naturalize as marriage to a US citizen would forgive accrued unlawful status. This does not apply to the I-130 alone though - you are not in authorized stay when that alone is filed. So you need your I-130 approved, and then when your priority date is current you can file I-485, get your NOA and only then can you fall out of status.
 
2. I think you must be referring to people who overstay their lawful presence by less than 180 days and then leave the country. The 3 year bar to entering the US would be triggered only after 180 days unlawful presence and when that person departs the country (10 year bar if over 365 days unlawful presence). If you accumulate less than 180 days, there is no formal bar but it will be hard to get a non-immigrant visa again unless you can convince the officer your overstay was short, reasonable, and would not happen again. This is not really a grace period per se, just a time period where there is no formal rule stating consequences. 
 
3. As above, simply filing and having an I-130 approved confers no immigration benefit. It establishes your priority date for when your I-485 can be filed. Do not fall out of status before that date.

It pisses me off how CBP sometimes treats the issue of weed CONSUMPTION in the past, as opposed to weed POSSESSION at the border which obviously is a much much bigger deal.  Canada just legalized recreational weed, so CBP better be prepared for 40m people from their nearest and dearest ally having committed the "crime" of weed smoking in their lives, and not ask about it or care about it. Unfortunately I think we are in line to see some horror stories. 

No it's like 10-14 months processing time for CR1

Based on the details given, IMO the most likely reason he was denied was not based on your relationship, but because they suspect he might be using you to get the green card - ie pretend he is in love and scam you into petitioning for him. I am sure that is very insulting to you. Nevertheless, in  acountry like Morocco where this is somewhat common they have certain things that they look for and ask in this type of scenario ("why are you marrying someone who doesn't understand your culture") and your fiance probably failed at least one of these questions.  
 
Nicole & Azan probably did Morocco no favors either. 

Based on the details given, IMO the most likely reason he was denied was not based on your relationship, but because they suspect he might be using you to get the green card - ie pretend he is in love and scam you into petitioning for him. I am sure that is very insulting to you. Nevertheless, in  acountry like Morocco where this is somewhat common they have certain things that they look for and ask in this type of scenario ("why are you marrying someone who doesn't understand your culture") and your fiance probably failed at least one of these questions.  
 
Nicole & Azan probably did Morocco no favors either. 

Based on the details given, IMO the most likely reason he was denied was not based on your relationship, but because they suspect he might be using you to get the green card - ie pretend he is in love and scam you into petitioning for him. I am sure that is very insulting to you. Nevertheless, in  acountry like Morocco where this is somewhat common they have certain things that they look for and ask in this type of scenario ("why are you marrying someone who doesn't understand your culture") and your fiance probably failed at least one of these questions.  
 
Nicole & Azan probably did Morocco no favors either. 

Based on the details given, IMO the most likely reason he was denied was not based on your relationship, but because they suspect he might be using you to get the green card - ie pretend he is in love and scam you into petitioning for him. I am sure that is very insulting to you. Nevertheless, in  acountry like Morocco where this is somewhat common they have certain things that they look for and ask in this type of scenario ("why are you marrying someone who doesn't understand your culture") and your fiance probably failed at least one of these questions.  
 
Nicole & Azan probably did Morocco no favors either. 

What they're doing is either legal and allowed, or illegal and not allowed. Either their application will be accepted, or it will be denied. Morals have nothing to do with it. It's not a question or an assessment of moral or immoral, "cool"  or "not cool," "getting in line like anyone else" vs " you are trying to skip the line." It's simply a question of what is allowed by law, and what isn't - what USCIS will accept, and what it will reject. There's no more reason to invoke morals here then there would be over someone who parked correctly or parked incorrectly and received a (civil) penalty. 
 
Getting real tired of the misplaced and misguided moral outrage I see on this forum everyday. Save that for the real offenders. 

That bit is badly worded, the point is that you have 30 days max and have to leave on the original I94 - they chose the date as an example to illustrate both using the max and then having to leave the US the same day you get back.  You can certainly go earlier than that and/or for shorter than 30 days. But you can’t go after (in that example) Dec 10, stay for 30 days and then expect to get back into the US because you’d be past the original I94. 
 
They did also highlight that if you go to a non-contiguous country to re-start the I94 that you may be subject to closer inspection than otherwise.

Thanks to everyone for their comments, and yes ofcourse I will take the time to explore all options during the next year. I doubt that we will move to Kenya... but who knows... What I meant was that yes we will meet in 2019, one year from now... the summer of 2018 (current time). I stated that for future reference, as I've noticed posts dating back several years, sorry for any confusion.... Also, I have to apologize to everyone for not clarifying some things... Next year "when we meet", I will be going to Vietnam to teach English and will live there for an extended period of time, possibly 6 months to a year. I have contacts there and have been assured several employment options. So we will have plenty of time to get to know each other. We have known each other online for almost 2 years. If we feel strongly that we do want to stay together then I will stay with her until whatever visa we apply for is granted, but if it never does get approved... well, there plenty of nice beaches to live on, the foods great and everything is cheap. Thanks again to everyone and i welcome more comments. Good luck to everyone. I know Kenya is a beautiful place...

My opinion, for what it's worth is a little different than some of the more regular and respected members that commented above.  Although it is true that the amount of time that it takes right now between getting a spousal visa and a finance visa may be about the same and the spousal visa give more options to her when she lands in the USA you will find that Vietnam is a tougher embassy and meeting only once in person lessons the likelyhood of approval for either visa.   My argument would be that if you meet in person in Summary of 2018 (assuming you mean in the next couple of months) that you can file the fiancee visa application ( I-129F ) immediately and while you are waiting for that to process you can have additional time to meet again in person and continue to grow your relationship and make sure that this is what you want with lower up front costs and lower commitment.  The Fiancee visa allows her to come to the USA for 90 days and get married sometime in those 90 days.  I know little about your individual circumstances but if you are not of Vietnamese heritage or have a strong familiarity with Southest Asian and particularly Vietnamese culture then unless you spend significant time in that culture you'll have a long road ahead of understanding some of what motivates and your future wife.  Likewise, if she has not a lot of experience with US culture then she may have unrealistic expectations of life in the USA.  While none of these doom your relationship they are significant hurdles that you'd need to work thru to make your relationship as strong as it could be.  Getting married on your first visit in my opinion means that one or both of you may later feel obligated to complete a process for the sake of a marriage when, in fact, you should be completing that process both with the option to say wait, hold on, maybe I'm not ready, or maybe this isn't what I want.  Once married you both are married everyplace in the world.  In my opinion there is no need to rush a marriage when a fiancee visa gets you to the same end goal without the pressures of an added commitment that you may not be ready for on your first visit.  Again, I'm not saying your your relationship isn't real but when you are together 24x7 with her family and friends you don't really know her as well as you could.
God Bless and good luck. 

The wording of a denial letter implies that status is automatically terminated as of the date of the letter - but this is legally wrong.
It still remains the case that an immigration judge must rule a final order of removal which formally terminates the status (and at that point no I-751 can be filed), which is why a NTA is issued. You are also entitled to proof of LPR status between denial and a judge ruling (some case law demonstrating this for which I don't have the reference to hand).
 
You can still file an I-751 (or multiple ones) after a denial notice. It also clearly states in the I-751 instructions that a I-751 waiver filer can file at any time between gaining permanent residence and a final order of removal by a judge - this wouldn't be possible if status was legally automatically terminated upon denial for failure to file.
 
Of course, USCIS helpfully make this process as clear as mud for people.

Same thing happens to me when i use my phone to come to VJ, so annoying.

You haven't met yet and will meet in 1 year? (you say Summer 2018 but you mean 2019?)
 
From an immigration standpoint CR1 (spouse visa) is better option, it is a little cheaper then doing K1 and then adjustment of status in the US, and a marriage is a stronger bond than a fiancee in terms of chance of success with getting the visa. It is taking like 10 to 14 months I think for that to be processed. Then when he comes to US she gets the green card in the mail right after and does not have to apply for it which is another lengthy process in the US called adjustment of status.
 
The fact you have not met yet and will presumably be marrying (or getting engaged) on the first visit are classic "red flags" that invite higher scrutiny, but it can be overcome with substantial evidence of a bona fide relationship. Easier said than done because you won't have many of the things spouses often have like shared bank account, shared lease, lots of time spent together, family meetings, etc. I'm sure others who are more familiar with this situation from a personal standpoint will chip in. 
 
Of course, you are aware she cannot get a K1 fiancee visa if you cannot prove you have met within the last 2 years. 

I've never heard of someone filing a divorce for a marriage that never happened (and you don't divorce girlfriends), so that means you were married when the first petition was filed? But you somehow married someone else before the divorce went through, meaning 2 concurrent marriages? Then you divorced the "girlfriend".. and re-married your current wife? ... This is a head scratcher.

I'm sorry your process feel so torturous. That said, 5 business days is like a blink of an eye in terms of immigration timeline. Some things take weeks and weeks. So be thankful that within 5 days you can be that much closer to possibly the very end of the process. 

On second thought, yes I think if you can convince a carrier to take him, the US will almost definitely let him in the country, after giving him a hard time at secondary processing. But they will defer to the judge to have the LPR removed and someone deported, since he has been out of the country for less than a year. If it was more than a year I think they would just not let him in. So yes he would probably be paroled and referred to a judge, but with a pending ROC and intention to live within the US it should be a compelling case. And it's kind of nice you already have a court date already so you can move forward with a more definite timeline.  

Usually the terminology "out of status" refers to people who have entered lawfully and overstayed a visa - assuming this is what OP means then yes her overstay is forgiven. 

This appears to be a tax question, not an immigration question. @Boilerhe is not asking about immigration consequences but tax ones. 
 
Generally speaking, if you don't do any work in the US and are not a US citizen you would not be paying any US taxes. 
 
OP - I'm assuming you have filed I-130 but not I-485, correct? In that case my guess is this does not count as "taking steps to change status to LPR." That would be reserved for the I-485. I-130 by itself just establishes the familial relationship between a US Citizen/LPR and an alien. If filed alone, it is not considered a step of the process to adjust status even though of course it is EVENTUALLY needed as part of the process to adjust status. For example, many people who entered the US illegally have approved I-130s but cannot begin any process to adjust status since they are not permitted to file the I-485. 
 
If you have filed I-485 then yes you would be in the unusual case of not having earned income in the US but needing to pay US taxes. But then you would not be entering on VWP for so long. 
 
Might be worth getting a tax lawyer on this one if I haven't got your specifics right.