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The “interview” is handing them her passport and getting fingerprinted. There’s no actual interview.

I prefer Argentine wine, oddly enough, but I usually bring a few Chilean países back since they’re next to impossible to find here and some of the cabs that are harder to find that I like as well. I do bring pisco back as well because I am a huge fan of Chilean piscos. The conversation in MIA always goes like: Me: I’m bringing back 4 bottles of wine and 2 piscos. 3 liters of wine and 2 of pisco. Worth around $100 total. MIA CBP officer in the GE line: [blank stare for 10 seconds trying to process that I’m talking and not walking], okay. DFW GE line is: Me: [Same as above] DFW CBP Officer: I SAID YOU’RE GOOD TO GO. YOU NEED TO KEEP WALKING (actual quote.) Those quantities are technically taxable but they’re never going to charge you duty on them since it’d be too much work for like $7. Still have to declare though because if you don’t they could revoke global entry for not declaring a taxable amount of alcohol.

At MIA when I declare the wine I bring back they look confused and wave me through. At DFW they yell at me and get mad at me for declaring and tell me to move to keep the GE line moving. Always declare, but I find the reactions funny.

USCIS sometimes screws up and issues a two year green card when they should issue a ten year one. The CBP officer you met was correct, they’re supposed to compare your date of entry to the documents they have and make the determination, but they don’t always do it correctly. It’s not a huge deal if they do — you just file a free I-90, but that takes a while and most people would prefer to have the correct physical green card as proof of status vs an IDIT. The reason a lot of people request CBP admit as IR-1 at the POE is that USCIS is less likely to make a mistake if the class of admission reflects IR-1. CBP can do it if they want, but some POEs don’t. It’s nothing to make a fuss about, but it also doesn’t hurt anything and removes a potential point of error for USCIS.

And sometimes the tests are inconclusive and require getting revaxxed anyway. Since Colombia has it all for free, I’d just get the shots if it was me. All a personal choice, though.

Correct, the worst case is they charge you $200 for something that would otherwise be free and approve you.

My suggestion is to get them done before going to the medical — the consulate doctors in many countries are notorious for up charging on vaccines vs. the public clinic. If you do it before they should be fine. Many people do it day of at the doctor for an overpriced fee. That’s the worst case. Based on my quick read of the local Bogotá government website (Spanish language) women aged 18-49 get all vaccines free at government sponsored vaccination stations. She can do this before the exam.

Sounds like you’re doing everything right and have competent professional advice. Go with what they say. Sorry you faced a lot of skepticism initially here. Your circumstances aren’t cookie cutter but what you’re doing is clearly allowed within the current U.S. immigration system. It’s just not all that common for someone to file an I-130 and let it sit at NVC for a long time in order to reunite with your kids in the U.S. once you’re ready to retire (or whenever, but you get my point.) Its a super smart strategy though that will significantly shorten the time once/if you guys are ready, and it seems like you’re getting a lawyer who is planning for your long-term success, which is good. Best of luck. If you have any questions about more practical stuff that it wouldn’t make sense to check with the lawyer about, we’re here. Also if you just want to check in overall If you take one piece of our advice here: have her apply for global entry now and do enrollment on arrival on her first trip. It’ll make the future trips much easier.

Reading through the post history here that @JeanneAdil mentions, I’m guessing that this is likely a case of USCIS delaying in hopes you eventually withdraw the petition. Background checks likely wouldn’t be an issue causing delay in Hungary. Keep the pressure on them through multiple avenues, but I could easily see this case ending in filing a writ. It checks a lot of boxes for red flags based on the history, but there’s also no clear grounds to deny. Those are the cases (in any agency, not just USCIS) that the government tends to just not act upon. Give them two years: hopefully it doesn’t come to that, but give them that. Once that happens, contact a lawyer about filing a WoM.

Contact both senators and your congressman. USCIS will give them a non-answer but it will force it to be looked at. Feel free to stagger inquiries with Congress-critters and senators so that it keeps annoying them. You’re outside of the 17 month 80% window, but USCIS doesn’t consider something outside of normal processing times until 90% are passed. If you don’t hear back by December file a writ. The congressional inquiries will help you with this as it will show the court/US attorney that you have been trying to find a resolution. I don’t see any benefit in inquiring with them directly even when it’s taken so long. They have no accountability outside Congress or the courts and while I don’t mind giving them the benefit of the doubt up to two years, it’s a well known strategy within the federal space that agencies never deny things they don’t want to approve but is in a grey area, as that gives a right of appeal. They just delay until you give up. Bringing in outside accountability and they actually take action.

Yah: the substantial presence rule plus MFJ might screw over the foreign earned income exclusion. Or even his wife being there more than 30 days. Filing is definitely required but this falls into complex tax situation even within the already complex expat tax realm. I’m pretty decent with taxes but this type of stuff would need a CPA who is familiar with people living between two countries. Like you said, hopefully OP has one, but you’d be surprised the things people don’t tell their accountants until the IRS or a regulator comes knocking.

Correct, and it’d trigger tax repercussions. But ESTA does give the right to request this, even if CBP can say no at any time. 30 days in/60 out wouldn’t likely trigger questions since it’s less than half the year. You’d still have to be careful on tax treatment even of that, though.

Some POEs it has no benefits as the officers don’t know it exists and make you do the kiosk scan. Others like IAD have dedicated GE app lines. I mainly enter through MIA where the wait at the kiosk is 0-5 seconds so the app would take longer for me. The main thing is if your spouse is from a GE eligible country, it’s useful to have them enroll. From there they can decide app or kiosk. MPC app definitely is beneficial for returning ESTA visitors without GE, but is a different program and there’s less pre-vetting so more opportunity for secondary.

The current median (50th percentile) is 14.5 months. 80th percentile is 17 months. The 67.5 counts I-130s not filed in service centers, which isn’t applicable to IR-1/CR-1

OP — to try to answer your original question and things you’ve mentioned since: —She can say she’s visiting her kids. That’s a 100% valid use of ESTA. — It’ll likely have to be less than 60 on/60 off; the recommendation is double the time outside the U.S. as inside. — Would recommend getting global entry if she doesn’t have it already. It cuts down on questions as she’d be pre-vetted. Normally they don’t even ask purpose of visit. —There’s no need to frame your question any way; just have her answer in short sentences that are factual. There’s no requirement to volunteer more information than asked. —If there’s a language difficulty that requires translation CBP has translators they can call People here get a bit angsty when they see people trying to avoid the rules, which is not what you’re doing, but a lot of people who try to bend the rules ask similar questions, which is the reason for some of the responses you’ve received were a bit stronger in wording. The one thing worth mentioning on the I-130: you can postpone it at NVC indefinitely so it goes to the consulate when you’re ready, but you need to pay the fee in the first year and then log into CEAC at least once a year afterwards. It’s recommended to also send them an email a least once a year so there’s a paper trail. Other thing to note is the substantial presence test and if that has any tax implications for you all.

You can file an I-130 and let it sit at NVC indefinitely. It makes a ton of sense in OP’s circumstances. They don’t want to move to the U.S., but realize they will eventually likely want to reunite with their kids. He’s filing the I-130 now so that when the time might come in the future, it takes 3-6 months for his wife to move instead of 18-24. It’s perfectly legal and a great strategy in this case.

There’s no lying or redundancy here — they’ve filed an I-130, which is a form you can file at any time for a relative you wish to sponsor in the future. It has no expiration date and can be kept alive indefinitely at NVC until such a time as OP and his spouse are ready to get an immigrant visa. This is incredibly smart to do since fees and speed of processing can change. There is no fraud and no lying. OP is asking about how to manages frequent ESTA entries as a spouse with a pending I-130 and before a visa has been issued. OP — so long as she’s on ESTA she can visit under the same terms as B1/B2. Entry is at discretion. It’s recommend to spend double the time outside the U.S. as inside, so that’d look like 30-45 day trips then 60-90 day returns.

Yeah, I was confused on that too. My guess was that since AOS is presented as changing class of admission from one thing to another where there’s an available visa, they got confused on the terminology. If it’s actually AOS, filing a new case is almost certainly better since it’s quicker than I-290B. For removal of conditions I’d say the same, but for the reason that screwing around for a year waiting to see if they let you interview on the old petition isn’t a good idea in the current environment.

There’s also a fairly strong likelihood that adjudicating the I-290B takes longer than filing a new case since they’re adjudicating AOS from January now.

The transcript won’t be available until around December or January if I had to guess. They’re still processing April paper 1040s and the processing time for a return starts the date listed on the ITIN letter. ITIN takes 2 months so assuming the filing was recent that’d be September. 3-4 month backlog for paper 1040 processing. You’re looking end of year/new year for a transcript to be generated. OP — if you’ve filed the return you can scan a copy of it and all W-2s/1099s while you wait for the IRS to process.

Spousal visa is the best visa there is. Apply for jobs without sponsorship once your spouse is within the window.

The intending immigrant isn’t an LPR until CBP stamps the passport and gives them a class of admission. IR-1/CR-1, like any visa, only confer the right to ask for admission. It’s worth making this distinction since if you don’t meet the requirements of the class of admission they can deny entry — though in the case of family reunification visas this only practically applies to Canadians wanting a green card to work/visit while still residing in Canada. Though like I said above, there’s really no reason not to ask about it.

The worst they can do is say no and admit you as CR-1 at that point. There are practically zero denials of entry for people on family reunification visas except at the Canadian border if the intending immigrant makes it clear they don’t plan on actually moving to the U.S. and even that is pretty rare. Most CBP officers are reasonable people. Some are jerks — I find DFW ones to be particularly short with you — but even in the unlikely event that they get mad because you asked, it won’t have any impact on you other than potentially having to file I-90 for free with USCIS, which isn’t any different a place than you were in before asking.

I guess I can add https://egov.uscis.gov/processing-times/ to my list of government sponsored random number generators. Current average is 14-17 months with 14.5 being the newest cases currently approved.

What country? That matters. Also any criminal issues on your part or the part oh the beneficiary?