Michael Dauria

I am a US Citizen, my fiancee is a Japanese citizen currently in the US on a
student Visa. We have been thinking about where to get married. Is it ok to
get married in Japan if we are both coming back to the US?

We are trying to decide between getting married in the US or Japan. She
wants to get married in Japan but we figure that the US government will get
excitable (I guess thats a good word) if we do that.

Terje Johan Abrahamsen

"Michael Dauria" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > I am a US Citizen, my fiancee is a Japanese citizen currently in the US on
a
    > student Visa. We have been thinking about where to get married. Is it ok
to
    > get married in Japan if we are both coming back to the US?
    > We are trying to decide between getting married in the US or Japan. She
    > wants to get married in Japan but we figure that the US government will
get
    > excitable (I guess thats a good word) if we do that.

You can do both. We went down to the courthouse and got the paper here in
the US, and then did the whole sermony with friends and family abroad....

[email protected]

If you she goes to Japan and tries to reenter the US as your wife,
they might then assume immigration intent and not let her enter.
A student visa is not the visa if you plan on immigrating.


Michael Dauria wrote:
    > I am a US Citizen, my fiancee is a Japanese citizen currently in the US on a
    > student Visa. We have been thinking about where to get married. Is it ok to
    > get married in Japan if we are both coming back to the US?
    > We are trying to decide between getting married in the US or Japan. She
    > wants to get married in Japan but we figure that the US government will get
    > excitable (I guess thats a good word) if we do that.

jcapulet

If you get married in Japan, her new status would be entering the US as a USC's spouse (which requires INS immigration paperwork etc.), regardless of her student visa-and they might not grant her entry. Might be safer to get married in the US and get all the immigrations procedures cleared first?
Once she gets her green card she should be free to travel abroad and back (after you are married).

Best wishes,
JC

Folinskyinla

Hi:

Either is just fine. Your options are two:

Get married in the US and then apply for "combined processing" I-130/485 with the local INS district office. In order to travel, she will need an "advance parole" before departure.

Or you could go to Japan and get married and start the pocessing for an immigrant visa there. Look into what is often called "DCF" for direct consular filing. This can be done if YOU "live" in Japan at time of filing.

Getting married in Japan and having your new wife return on the existing F-1 visa is more problematical. Notionally speaking, if she intends to continue to attend the school on the I-20, it is perfectly legal. However, the INS inspectors at the POE just might disagree and they have ABSOLUTE power to exclude. So it is risky.

Bottom line: either get married in US and go to INS, or get married in Japan and go the immigrant visa route.

Good luck.

Caroline & Matt

Hey,

We had the same situation. I was in the US on a student visa and my
then fiance was a US citizen. We got married in the courthouse in the
US,and did a religious ceremony in France later. The reason for our
choice was that if we had been married in France, I might have had
trouble reentering the country being married to a US citizen. We just
didn't want to take the risk of me not being able to finish my PhD in
the US because I was refused entry just because I was now married to a
US citizen. I know a friend who got married in France and came back on
her student visa without any problem, but it is a bet you are taking.

Hope that helps,
Caroline

Gregnsandy

This is what I'm doing - if you can find an officiant in Japan who is
willing to do this.

I'm from Canada, We'll be having a "false" wedding, ceremony AND reception,
here in canada. I'll be entering the US on a K-1 fiance visa, then we'll
have a second ceremony in the US where we will make it officially legal.

I am lucky that I can do it in that order because my uncle is our minister,
and he does not mind not processing the legal paperwork here and just
pulling a "falsy". It's NOT illegal, because we will not be legally
married.. it's not illegal to pretend to get married! lol

Now, what you could do, is go back to Japan, have a wedding (NON LEGAL.. be
absolutly CERTAIN that you don't sign ANYTHING.) then return to the US(her
using her student visa) and then get married legally and apply for
adjustment of status. Just make sure you send things like the wedding
dress, any kind of evidence of marriage or wedding, in a box shipped
seperatly(ie not part of your luggage)... It would kinda give away her
intent to immigrate if she's carrying a big ol garment bag with a wedding
dress in it ;-) Also, remove your wedding bands!! hehe And it would
probably help too if she wasn't wearing her engagement ring as well.

-Sandy

"Michael Dauria" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > I am a US Citizen, my fiancee is a Japanese citizen currently in the US on
a
    > student Visa. We have been thinking about where to get married. Is it ok
to
    > get married in Japan if we are both coming back to the US?
    > We are trying to decide between getting married in the US or Japan. She
    > wants to get married in Japan but we figure that the US government will
get
    > excitable (I guess thats a good word) if we do that.

trburton

Are you not forgetting that if you get married in the U.S. & your spouse is here on a student visa your spouse must leave the country for 2 years before residency is given. This is OK if you both can live in your spouses country or a waiver is given by INS. Am I not correct in this statement?

[email protected]

GregnSandy wrote:
    > This is what I'm doing - if you can find an officiant in Japan who is
    > willing to do this.
    > I'm from Canada, We'll be having a "false" wedding, ceremony AND reception,
    > here in canada. I'll be entering the US on a K-1 fiance visa, then we'll
    > have a second ceremony in the US where we will make it officially legal.

You are ok here since it isn't an officially recognized wedding and you
are entering
on a visa designed for immigration.
    > Now, what you could do, is go back to Japan, have a wedding (NON LEGAL.. be
    > absolutly CERTAIN that you don't sign ANYTHING.) then return to the US(her
    > using her student visa) and then get married legally and apply for
    > adjustment of status. Just make sure you send things like the wedding
    > dress, any kind of evidence of marriage or wedding, in a box shipped
    > seperatly(ie not part of your luggage)... It would kinda give away her
    > intent to immigrate if she's carrying a big ol garment bag with a wedding
    > dress in it ;-) Also, remove your wedding bands!! hehe And it would
    > probably help too if she wasn't wearing her engagement ring as well.

You are suggesting she enter on a student visa even though she actually
intends
to immigrate to the US. This is not the same as entering the US on a non
immigrant
visa and then deciding to get married while you here. This would be a
preconceived
plan to deceive INS.

Folinskyinla

Hi:

The two year foreign residence requirement ONLY applies to some "J" exchange visas. Students are admitted under either "F" or "M" visas. [There are some advanced study programs that are under "J", but the tone of the question suggests that this is not the case -- most "J's" know that they are "J's" and don't refer to themselves as students"]

Caroline & Matt

    > You are suggesting she enters on a student visa even though she actually
    > intends to immigrate to the US. This is not the same as entering the US on a > non
    > immigrant visa and then deciding to get married while you here. This
    > would be a preconceived plan to deceive INS.

Just a question here regarding this. I thought that what "counted" for
the immigration was the intend to immigrate at the time you are issued
your visa, and not at each time you are using it to reenter the
country. Anybody has any input about that?

This is just a curiosity question, because I do agree that I wouldn't
take any chance by having a wedding outside the US and returning on a
student visa.

Caroline

Andy Platt

This firmly falls into a very grey and murky area of law. Technically each
entry as a student must be a non-immigrant entry with non-immigrant intent.
*However*, if you read all the issues about the 30/60 day rule, BIA rulings
and so on, you'll note that the only times fraud comes into it is on the
visa application or when entering the US. Now, when you enter the US on a
student visa, particuarly after the first entry, you are likely to get a
very cursory inspection. I was never a student here but I did have an H-1B
and my inspections after the first one either amounted to "welcome back" or
at best, "are you still working for the same company". I know from friends
it's the same with a student visa.

What this means is that it is highly unlikely that you would be put in a
situation where you would be asked about your marital state or otherwise.
There was one person who posted to this newsgroup who was told at the
interview that they had made an illegal entry (same situation - returning
F-1 student who had got married abroad) and made them pay a "fine". I've
never been able to find, to my satisfaction, any such law that requires a
fine and have wondered if the money was pocketed by the interviewer. I asked
the poster why they agreed to this and didn't just say, I entered legally, I
was never asked if I was married, I didn't misrepresent myself at any time
and they just said they didn't want the bother.

My situation was different: Because I was on an H-1B, I could take advantage
of the dual intent laws and have my honeymoon abroad without any qualms.

Andy.

--
I'm not really here - it's just your warped imagination.
"Caroline & Matt" wrote in message
news:2186f850.0210020604-
[email protected]...
    > > You are suggesting she enters on a student visa even though she actually
    > > intends to immigrate to the US. This is not the same as entering the US
on a > non immigrant visa and then deciding to get married while you here.
This
    > > would be a preconceived plan to deceive INS.
    > Just a question here regarding this. I thought that what "counted" for
    > the immigration was the intend to immigrate at the time you are issued
    > your visa, and not at each time you are using it to reenter the
    > country. Anybody has any input about that?
    > This is just a curiosity question, because I do agree that I wouldn't
    > take any chance by having a wedding outside the US and returning on a
    > student visa.
    > Caroline

Folinskyinla

Hi:

Good question. However, the law is quite clear on this. A visa is no guarantee of entry. In fact, ALL a visa is permission to come to a port of entry and APPLY for admission. If you don't have the visa, the master of the ship or airplane can't even let you board [they get fined $3,000 if they do that -- there is some interesting case law on that, but I digress]

No rights fix to the alien as to status IN the United States until they are admitted. Lets put it this way, lets say you file an I-130, INS approves it, is your spouse guranteed issuance of a visa? No, the consul can deny the visa. Now, let's say the I-130 is approved and the visa is issued, is your spouse guranteed admission to the United States? No, she can be refused admission to the United States by the INS inspector.

So, the visa is required and does "count" but it is but a prerequisite to a lawful entry.

An excellent question -- and one for which a clear definite answer can be given.