Carl

Is it legal to marry someone in the US who is here on tourist status (Visa Waiver
Program country) and then travel to a foreign consulate which allows DCF of the I130?
I am aware that coming to the US on a tourist visa or visitor status for the express
purpose of marriage is frowned upon without the requisite K1 visa. But we will be
filing in the foreign consulate, not the US. There are residency requirements for
marriage in the foreign country of interest (Spain) that make it less desirable to
marry overseas. Is it likely that my fiancee will be questioned by
customs/immigration folks about intent to marry when she enters the US and if she
answers honestly about marrying here (and filing the I130 at the foreign DCF) is
there a chance she could be denied entry?

Thanks Carl

Andy Platt

Yes it is perfectly legal to do this and, in fact, is explicitly described on the US
consulate (London) website. There's always a chance that she would be denied entry
but if she has some form of evidence she will return to Spain that should be fine.
Something like copies of her fiance(e)s tickets back to Spain would be good.

Andy.

--
I'm not really here - it's just your warped imagination. "Carl" <[email protected]>
wrote in message news:[email protected]...
    > Is it legal to marry someone in the US who is here on tourist status (Visa Waiver
    > Program country) and then travel to a foreign consulate which allows DCF of the
    > I130? I am aware that coming to the US on a tourist visa or visitor status for the
    > express purpose of marriage is frowned upon without the requisite K1 visa. But we
    > will be filing in the foreign consulate, not the US. There are residency
    > requirements for marriage in the foreign country of interest (Spain) that make it
    > less desirable to marry overseas. Is it likely that my fiancee will be questioned
    > by customs/immigration folks about intent to marry when she enters the US and if
    > she answers honestly about marrying here (and filing the I130 at the foreign DCF)
    > is there a chance she could be denied entry?
    >
    > Thanks Carl

Michael Voight

Carl wrote:
    >
    > Is it legal to marry someone in the US who is here on tourist status (Visa Waiver
    > Program country) and then travel to a foreign consulate which allows DCF of the
    > I130? I am aware that coming to the US on a tourist visa or visitor status for the
    > express purpose of marriage is frowned upon without the requisite K1 visa.

Not quite... The purpose of K1 is to enter the US, get married, and file for AOS. If
you do not intend to remain in the US and adjust status, then it is legal to get
married on any other kind of visa and leave the US. This does not precludes you from
filing I-130 after the non USC spouse has left the US. The problem is that if INS at
the POE suspect you are planning on getting married AND staying, then they are
obligated to NOT let you enter. So, it is best not to loudly announce to them your
intentions.

Michael

timiny74

I agree with Michael that you shouldn't state your intentions too loudly to the POE officials because they could construe your marriage in the US as an opportunity to stay but the wedding is not frowned on, it is the AOS that would be frowned on.

I noticed you said you want to DCF from the Consulate in Spain. Does Spain have a residency requirement for the non-Spanish spouse (your wife?) Are you a citizen of Spain? These things could mess up your DCF idea. I know that in Britain, the American spouse needs to be a resident of the UK for at least 6 months (and has to go through the British visa process) before the couple can even think about DCFing. Some other European countries don't seem to require the American to be resident, but I'm sure they would require the non-American to be from that country. Only after these requirements are met then could the DCF go through and the non-citizen receive PR status in the US.

If Spain has some loophole to this process then I'd think everyone and their brother (I'm not saying that they would marry their brother, it's just an expression ) would just go there and file a quick DCF at the Consulate!
-Matt

Jb

timiny74 wrote:
    >
    > I agree with Michael that you shouldn't state your intentions too loudly to the POE
    > officials because they could construe your marriage in the US as an opportunity to
    > stay but the wedding is not frowned on, it is the AOS that would be frowned on.
    >
    > I noticed you said you want to DCF from the Consulate in Spain. Does Spain have a
    > residency requirement for the non-Spanish spouse (your wife?) Are you a citizen of
    > Spain? These things could mess up your DCF idea. I know that in Britain, the
    > American spouse needs to be a resident of the UK for at least 6 months (and has to
    > go through the British visa process) before the couple can even think about DCFing.
    > Some other

Is it really 6 months residence in the UK for DCF? The US Embassy web page in the UK
doesn't mention a specific length of time. I'm curious since this is the first I've
heard of this (and my wife and I did DCF in the UK last year).

timiny74

I'm not absolutely sure about that JB, but that seems to be the common knowledge about UK DCF. I think someone found out that it was 6 months residency. Were you and your wife resident for at least 6 months in the UK for DCF or did you just fly over there and file it without any residency?
-Matt

Price

timiny74 wrote:
    >
    > I'm not absolutely sure about that JB, but that seems to be the common knowledge
    > about UK DCF. I think someone found out that it was 6 months residency. Were you
    > and your wife resident for at least 6 months in the UK for DCF or did you just fly
    > over there and file it without any residency? -Matt

You cannot just fly to the UK and file DCF at the consulate in London. They will not
allow it. They accept I-130 filed by post (mail) only. The US Embassy web page in the
UK specifically states this. You must submit proof of UK residence to them when
requesting the I-130 application (again by post). There is no 'walk-in' visa service
in the US consulate in London. Based on what I've read other US consulates in Europe
do offer this type of service.

I have been reading this group for almost a year and have never seen the 6 months
figure you mentioned.

timiny74

I guess you are right Price, that 6 month figure could have been made up. The INS in London webpage simply says that the American must show proof that they are resident in the UK, which I guess is the Leave to Enter thingy you get for 1 year when you first reside in the UK. I guess technically you could get this, reside in the UK for 1 month and then file a DCF. Perhaps 6 month was a more practical minimum perhaps for Americans who contract in the UK for 6 months or more as a resident and then after their contract is up want to move back to the US or something of that nature. I'm not sure if the INS in London will balk at the DCF if you've only been resident a short amount of time? I doubt the situation comes up very much at all.
-Matt

Jb

timiny74 wrote:
    >
    > I'm not absolutely sure about that JB, but that seems to be the common knowledge
    > about UK DCF. I think someone found out that it was 6 months

Can you cite a source for this 'common knowledge?' I would be curious to see it.

    > residency. Were you and your wife resident for at least 6 months in the UK for DCF
    > or did you just fly over there and file it without any residency? -Matt

I had lived in the UK for about 4 years by the time we filed but did not have the
equivalent of permanent residency. It is not possible just to fly to the UK and do
DCF. As far as I know, the consulate will refuse the application without proof of
residence.

timiny74

I understand that you need to obtain residency from the British gov't before filing DCF. How did you live in the UK for 4 years without obtaining the equivalent of permanent residency. Were you a student? I thought you had to get Leave to Enter and then Leave to Remain in order to stay in the UK barring extraordinary circumstances such as going to a university or some such thing.
I believe that some of the Scandinavian countries allow you to DCF (assuming one of the couple is a citizen of that country) without any residency requirements for the American citizen whatsoever.
-Matt

Carl

Does the 30/60 rule apply if you do DCF or just if you try to adjust status while in
the US? i.e., if the alien fiance enters the US on a visa waiver and marries
immediately (less than 30 days), then travels with the USC to the foreign consulate
to file I-130, does the consulate seeing that the marriage was in the US less then 30
days after entry on tourist status apply the 30/60 rule?

Carl wrote:

    > Is it legal to marry someone in the US who is here on tourist status (Visa Waiver
    > Program country) and then travel to a foreign consulate which allows DCF of the
    > I130? I am aware that coming to the US on a tourist visa or visitor status for the
    > express purpose of marriage is frowned upon without the requisite K1 visa. But we
    > will be filing in the foreign consulate, not the US. There are residency
    > requirements for marriage in the foreign country of interest (Spain) that make it
    > less desirable to marry overseas. Is it likely that my fiancee will be questioned
    > by customs/immigration folks about intent to marry when she enters the US and if
    > she answers honestly about marrying here (and filing the I130 at the foreign DCF)
    > is there a chance she could be denied entry?
    >
    > Thanks Carl

Alvena Ferreira

Carl wrote:
    > Does the 30/60 rule apply if you do DCF or just if you try to adjust status while
    > in the US? i.e., if the alien fiance enters the US on a visa waiver and marries
    > immediately (less than 30 days), then travels with the USC to the foreign consulate
    > to file I-130, does the consulate seeing that the marriage was in the US less then
    > 30 days after entry on tourist status apply the 30/60 rule?
    >

Read the 30-60 day rule here in this PDF file, it's on page 5:
http://foia.state.gov/masterdocs/09fam/0940063N.pdf Alvena

See the Doc Steen site here:
http://www.mindspring.com/~docsteen/...o/visainfo.htm I am not a lawyer, and this
is not immigration advice. The information I provide is mostly gleaned from old
newsgroup posts and visa links on the internet. If you want or need a lawyer, go to:
http://www.aila.org

Carl

Alvena. I read the FAM but I'm still confused as to whether it applies to DCF filed
I-130 applications. It seems to be targeted at people who gain entry into the US
under tourist status, make misrepresentations to consular or INS officials at POE,
and then shortly thereafter attempt to adjust status and remain in the US. It would
seem reasonable to me that an alien that gets married in the US and then immediately
(within a week or 2) travels out of the US and remains outside the US while awaiting
a DCF filed I-130 immigrant application should be exempt from the 30/60 ruling.
(assuming that when entering the US the alien did not lie to an INS official about
marriage in the US). But the FAM wording seems complex to
me. I think I need to consult an immigration attorney to clarify this.

Alvena Ferreira wrote:

    > Carl wrote:
    > > Does the 30/60 rule apply if you do DCF or just if you try to adjust status while
    > > in the US? i.e., if the alien fiance enters the US on a visa waiver and marries
    > > immediately (less than 30 days), then travels with the USC to the foreign
    > > consulate to file I-130, does the consulate seeing that the marriage was in the
    > > US less then 30 days after entry on tourist status apply the 30/60 rule?
    > >
    >
    > Read the 30-60 day rule here in this PDF file, it's on page 5:
    > http://foia.state.gov/masterdocs/09fam/0940063N.pdf Alvena
    >
    > See the Doc Steen site here:
    > http://www.mindspring.com/~docsteen/...o/visainfo.htm I am not a lawyer, and
    > this is not immigration advice. The information I provide is mostly gleaned from
    > old newsgroup posts and visa links on the internet. If you want or need a lawyer,
    > go to: http://www.aila.org

Jb

timiny74 wrote:
    >
    > I understand that you need to obtain residency from the British gov't before filing
    > DCF. How did you live in the UK for 4 years without obtaining the equivalent of
    > permanent residency. Were you a student? I

work permit

    > thought you had to get Leave to Enter and then Leave to Remain in order to stay in
    > the UK barring extraordinary circumstances such as going to a university or some
    > such thing. I believe that some of the Scandinavian

UK ILR is not required

    > countries allow you to DCF (assuming one of the couple is a citizen of that
    > country) without any residency requirements for the American citizen
    > whatsoever. -Matt

I think this is true of other countries in Europe as well

Michael Voight

Carl wrote:
    >
    > Does the 30/60 rule apply if you do DCF or just if you try to adjust status while
    > in the US? i.e., if the alien fiance enters the US on a visa waiver and marries
    > immediately (less than 30 days), then travels with the USC to the foreign consulate
    > to file I-130, does the consulate seeing that the marriage was in the US less then
    > 30 days after entry on tourist status apply the 30/60 rule?

It doesn't matter. Marriage while in the US on a tourist visa is a legitimate use
of the visa.