ATPEACE

It's a lot more than just numbers. If it were only numbers then that would mean the entire reason for it being "complicated and restrictive" is because of the bureaucracy, and everyone would eventually get approved for a visa. That's not what happens. You can get an appointment for a visitor's visa interview at most consulates in less than a few weeks. At many consulates you can even submit the visa application online. That's not particularly complicated. Outside of the relatively small number of countries that are on an economic par with the US, the odds of that visitor's visa being approved are low. In many countries, the odds are close to zero. Note that there are no quotas for visitor's visas.
The reason so many are denied is because of the risk they will not leave when they're supposed to. The chart I posted shows the US takes in more immigrants than any other nation - by a wide margin. This isn't because the US is magnanimous in their sympathy for the plight of the world's downtrodden masses. It's because the US has one of the highest standards of living in the world. A recent Gallup poll found that nearly 700 million people worldwide wanted to immigrate. Of those, 24% said they wanted to immigrate to the US. That's about 165 million people worldwide, or roughly half the current population of the US.
The pattern of immigration to the US can be seen through it's history. Immigration peaked at the turn of the 20th century when the industrial revolution created vast numbers of new jobs, and the US was an immigrant magnet. When the number of immigrants outweighed the number of available jobs Congress passed acts to limit immigration, in 1921 and again in 1924. During the Great Depression the magnet was shut off. In the early 1930's more people left the US than immigrated here. The trend reversed itself again after WWII. History has taught us an important lesson - when you have more people who want to work than you have jobs, you're going to have poverty.
If the US dropped the quota system, and threw open the doors to any immigrant who wanted to come here, our population would grow quickly to about 475 million, and unemployment would jump to about 41%. That's a helluva lot of poverty!
The US can't afford to allow an influx of immigrants who either won't contribute to the economic health of the country, or will put an American out of work. The vast majority of those 165 million would-be immigrants would never qualify for a work related immigrant visa. Their only hope is through family based immigration, where there are no quotas and no requirements beyond a qualifying relationship with a US citizen or LPR. The incentive for fraud is huge, and the amount of actual fraud is equally huge.
The process is complicated and restrictive because it needs to be. When it's no longer complicated and restrictive then that will be the time that nobody wants to live in the US anymore. Perhaps China or India will be the new immigrant magnets of the world, and you can bet they'll have a complicated and restrictive immigration process.

You can re apply today.
Unless your circumstances have changed it may be a waste of money.

ooo yes,thats why my packet insisted ( by insist i mean has it written in bold letters ) that the petitioner's birth certificate that the beneficiary takes in for the interview has to be certified original.
rules change,obviously.maybe you should try keeping your information updated?

Please don't take offense because I am not aiming this comment towards you, but cases like this really amaze me. I am an ICU nurse and make decent money and am well established with little to no debt. Even with that fact, financially it was a strain for my husband and myself when he arrived. Due to issues with his green card that took over 7 months to straighten out (due to a mistake made by USCIS)he couldn't work for almost a year. Flying to Egypt isn't free either. I guess where there's a will there's a way. I just cannot imagine truthfully. I think it is somewhat irresponsible of the government to allow someone to help bring someone here from another country when they can't even support themselves. Just my opinion.

Call and ask. I am sure the government of Ukraine will be very anxious to get her check in the mail for her US citizen child to the United States as soon as possible.

exactly! why not to take advantage and make everyone feel trashy...

with all respect but here we may see how the lack of sex affects people, they become jerky.. smile )

By all means, see an immigration lawyer. Personally, I wouldn't get my hopes up about getting an extension. By default, CBP is supposed to grant a stay of a minimum of six months to someone who enters with a B2 visa. They aren't supposed to cut the time without a good reason. Whether or not they made any notation in her passport is irrelevant. You can bet your boots they entered the reason into the computer.
There has been a lot of banter, as well as some vague and misleading info tossed around in this thread. Bob's first post hit the nail squarely on the head. I'd go further and say that if the CBP officer who questioned her knew anything at all about how to do his/her job then they peppered her with questions designed specifically to set her up for a material misrepresentation finding if she attempts to adjust status in the US. I'd also say that, because they were absolutely convinced that she's living in the US, they intentionally gave her a drastically shortened stay in order to provoke her into doing something desperate - like marrying you and filing for AOS.
What I'm saying is that there is a strong possibility they set her up. Filing the CR1 is definitely the wisest course of action here. There is virtually no risk of a misrepresentation if you go that route.

Honey, I'm the one shaking my head at you. I'm glad you got out of the house. Maybe it'll help get you some perspective. When the Constitution was written most of the people residing in the United States were not "citizens." This was a document to govern all the people in the land, not just the citizens.
I am done dialoguing with you. Cheers.

I think the bottom line is the most likely result of filing now, even with the screen shots mentioned is a petition denial that may well be overturned upon appeal. However, the couple will be united in the USA several months sooner if they wait until after the next trip to file with clear primary evidence of meeting.

Would be interested to learn what happens with the friend’s spouse. Pragmatically speaking I would expect that those whom take the VWP route even without an overstay risk overstaying prior to approval. A quick submission after arrival would seem to me to indicate a true intention to marry under the VWP. At any rate, this is certainly all subjective, and decided by an individual or district policy that is not by any means obligated to approve, with overstay or not, and is effected by the ever-changing political winds involving immigration. To elude that this is not risky is in my book absolutely foolish, it is apparent what works for one does not necessarily work for another regarding immigration. VJ members represent a very small sampling of total immigration applicants. Words used like many, most, all, are subjective when not substantiated by any real facts. If anything, however, they can instill hope for those who find themselves in such a situation of the noted friend.

Thank you Jim
What we are dealing with here is the invincible urge to put others down as a way of making ourselves feel superior.
Internet discussion boards are chock full of this behavior because anonymity reduces the incentives to behave civilly. We say things we would not say in front of family, friends, work cohorts, etc. where costs can be imposed for being a judgemental jerk. But the internet also suffers from what is called self-selection bias: people that are ostracized socially for being jerks gravitate to the internet.
I have to keep telling myself to avoid doing this, but I'm not perfect and act like a judgemental jerk sometimes.
Anyone whose words can be spun into treating an immigrant spouse like a commoddity affords people the perfect opportunity to jump down his throat. There is almost no way to word this without someone choosing to interpret it that way. Once it gets started, a lynch mob can form because now the lynchers have mutual support.
The fact is he will commit immigration fraud by continuing on with a bogus marriage and applying for a green card simply because his parents and the PC Morality Cops at Visa Journey pressure him into it.
He is not obligated morally to commit crime so that other people can feel superior to him.
This girl is not going to be happy in a relationship where her husband does not love her. Look carefully at how on the one hand people pretend to be "defending" her, but on the other hand this universal rule regarding unrequited love is being ignored.
Sure, she'll love her green card. But we are not allowed to recommend immigration fraud to people on this forum. A green card is not a consolation prize everyone is entitled to on a fiance visa.
He must tell the interviewing officer the truth. If he lies, that is a crime.
Can you imagine how this would go, telling the truth? "Oh, no I don't love her. I stayed with her because other people insisted I was morally obligated to..."
Let's be careful here folks. Jim has this one nailed.

We're all here, (in this forum anyway) because we have a foreign fiance(e) or spouse. Some of us were better prepared than others to deal with the practical aspects of that circumstance.

I know this isn't going to be much consolation, but it might help put things in perspective for you.
USCIS receives between 300,000 and 500,000 various immigration benefit applications every month. Yes, that's every month. Imagine what it's like to work at an agency that processes the equivalent of every person in the city of Los Angeles every single year. Do they care about your specific case? Nope. Not in the least. Sorry.
Seriously, there are a lot of people who don't go to work every day and manage to lead meaningful lives. You need to find something more fulfilling to focus your energy on. Getting your green card should be one item in a laundry list of things you want and need to do, and not the entire focus of your existence. You obviously have access to a computer, and I'm sure there's some field you want to be able to work in once you get your green card. Why not use your computer to learn more about your career field. Maybe even become an expert. The time will pass a lot more quickly, and you'll actually get something out of it that will be useful to you in the future.

PLEASE BEAWARE THE LANDSCAPE AT IMMIGRATION IS CHANAGING, so what worked 10 years ago or a month ago, may not work tomorrow.

Ouch.... i didn't want to be the one to give this bad news report. That's why I hate when ppl, report all you have to do is file your I-130 and everything will be ok, that is not correct. As JUST BOB reported, the OP has a long road to travel.
Need an immigration lawyer to sort this out. Yes, you will get many I'm so sorry, but the truth is you have a lonnnnng road to travel to get to the end result of returnibg to the US.

"LET IT SNOW" "Let it Snow" "Let it Go" It's her bed, maybe she likes a hard bed. "let it Go"
Good Luck

Oh but immigration does know your story, they see cases like this everyday, and it is called FRAUD. The only way out is to go back home before the 194 expires. Your situation is no different than anyone else from a 3rd world country. If you choose to stay, please remember these kind word, your life will never be your own, because you will always be looking over your shoulder to see if I.C.E. is behind you.
Good luck on whichever journey you chose.

"LET IT SNOW" "Let it Snow" "Let it Go" It's her bed, maybe she likes a hard bed. "let it Go"
Good Luck

I'm not the most gentle, but also not the most brutal messenger, and since I have family roots in Sweden, lived there for 2 years, I'm partial to the Swedish people. Hence I'm shocked that you find yourself in such an awkward situation, especially since all you had to do is file for adjustment of status, or at least check if it's okay to leave the US with a visa that expired 3 years earlier.
You don't understand. There is no possibility that you have triggered the 10-year bar; it's a fact.
Boiler gave excellent advice on how to proceed from here, by having your husband file the I-130 and, once adjudicated, file for a CR-1 (spousal) visa in Sweden at the US Embassy or Consulate. This visa application WILL be denied because of your overstay. It's not in their discretion to make an exception. Even if they liked you like their own daughter, there's nothing they can do to help you. What you would need to get back into the US before the year 2020 is an I-601 waiver. Contrary to Boiler, however, I'm rather pessimistic about you getting one, but nothing is unimpossible, I always claim.
If you are serious about the waiver thing, I suggest for your husband to contact Laurel Scott in Texas. Laurel is an immigration attorney who specializes in waivers, nothing but waivers. Waivers every day of the week, every week of the year. Your husband can call her and get an initial consultation on the phone. Laurel will tell him straight out what your chances are to get this pulled of. I can't recommend her highly enough.
Here's her information:
http://www.scottimmigration.net/
Good luck!

$2500 saved in attorney fees, can be used for airfare to see each other.

You can guide the blind, but only if they are willing to follow you, not when they insist on running in the other direction.
Appropriate and competent advice has been given in this case. Everything from here on is only chat.

Why do I hear the music from the Godfather playing in my head?

If you are speaking of traditional New Years Eve (about three weeks from now), it's pretty safe to say she won't have her AP document in time to travel.
An example of the correct method for completing the form is included in the VJ examples.
And yes the "A" number is printed on the visa. It's her alien number. It follows her as an identifier until she naturalizes.
*edited because I can't read*

Oh but immigration does know your story, they see cases like this everyday, and it is called FRAUD. The only way out is to go back home before the 194 expires. Your situation is no different than anyone else from a 3rd world country. If you choose to stay, please remember these kind word, your life will never be your own, because you will always be looking over your shoulder to see if I.C.E. is behind you.
Good luck on whichever journey you chose.

I don't know how you are going to get around the roadblock of the requirement for him to provide copies of his tax returns. You in my estimation will never be able to get past the USCIS on this simply because it is so weird and unlikely they have ever dealt with this situation before. If he is an adult US Citizen there is also and issue of how he derives his income, even though as you suggest his parents support him I suspect there is a maximum amount they can "gift" him annually. If his parents are so wealthy, and they want to help, have them hire a CPA and an Immigration attorney to figure this out.