Getting married in US - we don't want a green card!
October 4, 2013 10:08 AM   Subscribe

I’m a US citizen engaged to non-US citizen. After the marriage, we’re planning to live in his home country, not the US. In other words, he will not be applying for a green card. However, we would like to get married in the US. Our thought was for him to enter the US on a tourist visa, get married, then he’ll return to his home country and I’ll begin the process for applying for the equivalent of a green card in his country.

My questions are:
1. There shouldn’t be any problem with getting married on a tourist visa, correct? It shouldn’t cause problems were we to apply for green card a few years down the road, right?

2. He comes from a very poor country. I’m worried that he won’t be granted a tourist visa if he tells the US Embassy about the wedding plans during his visa interview because they fear he’ll try to stay in the US.

(The other complicating factor here is that his “ties” to his home country are not super strong. He doesn’t own land, and he lives with his parents so he doesn’t own property or even rent. He doesn’t own a car. He does have a job and a bank account, however. His job is a highly skilled professional job...so it would not make sense for him to move illegally to the US where he’d likely make the same amount or maybe a little more in some unskilled profession. If he moved legally, he could quadruple his salary.)

I'm assuming he should be completely forthright about the marriage during the interview. Will this cause problems? What further steps can we take to convince the visa-granters that he has absolutely no intention of staying in the US?
posted by anonymous to Human Relations (16 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
My first thought is that you start the process of immigrating to his country first, and have some kind of documentation to that effect. I don't know how feasible that is in your situation.
posted by no regrets, coyote at 10:12 AM on October 4, 2013 [3 favorites]


Ugh, don't come in on a tourist visa and get married -- that will raise red flags, even if you have plenty of proof that you are a real couple.

I am a non-USian married to a US citizen, and I came in on a fiancee visa that went through the US Embassy in my country. That gave me a bunch of legitimacy in the INS's eyes that a tourist visa probably won't.
posted by vickyverky at 10:14 AM on October 4, 2013 [9 favorites]


I went through this scenario in 2009 after a two year long distance relationship. I'm the US citizen, he's from England - but he was living in Canada on a work permit. He came down on a visitor permit, we were married in the US, and he flew back to Canada. I had no trouble coming to Canada - I drove up and applied to be added to the work permit as I entered. They did all the paperwork there at the border and we were all good.

Anecdotal, but thought I'd throw that in.
posted by routergirl at 10:15 AM on October 4, 2013


Be honest with the Consular Officer and apply for a K-1 visa as vickyverky says. He's more likely to get the visa than a tourist visa AND it's what its for and not what a tourist visa is for.
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 10:18 AM on October 4, 2013


I'm assuming he should be completely forthright about the marriage during the interview. Will this cause problems?

No.

What further steps can we take to convince the visa-granters that he has absolutely no intention of staying in the US?

As no regrets, coyote says, presenting your own emigration documentation will help.

I just want to underscore that you want to do this correctly. If, for whatever reason, you decide to come back to the U.S. and your then-husband has any hitches in his paperwork, it may cause problems down the road. Be honest and forthright, and be willing to change your plans if things don't work out. vickyverky's link demonstrates that there are easier ways to "sneak" your fiance into the country via marriage, so the consular officers should realize that you're not trying to do that if you say you're not.
posted by Etrigan at 10:32 AM on October 4, 2013 [2 favorites]


It seems like you're complicating things by having your marriage legalized in a different country than you're going to live. How about this:

Have him come to the US on a tourist visa and have a wedding ceremony. Friends, family, vows, etc. etc. But don't get legally married. Don't sign a marriage certificate, etc. Then get legally married in the country you're going to live in. In many (most?) countries you can do it with a trip to the local courthouse or city hall, no big party required. Friends and family don't need to know unless you want them to. If it's a poor country they won't worry much about an American taking advantage of a local for a green card. Later, if/when you return to the US you'll have paperwork and a track record of marriage, etc. and the green card process should be streamlined.

(I am in no way an immigration expert. If this is an awful idea I'm sure someone will warn you off, but I know two couples that have been "married" in two countries and have done it this way. Ceremony where they wanted it, legally where they needed it.)
posted by Ookseer at 10:39 AM on October 4, 2013 [3 favorites]


Yes! Do everything above board, even if it takes longer. Especially if he comes from a poor country... be prepared for immigration and every border crossing guard to be all up in your business, and single you out for "random" searches, even if it's just you traveling alone. This absolutely happens.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 10:41 AM on October 4, 2013 [1 favorite]


This is a tricky one, because of the explicit need to apply for a tourist visa rather than the ESTA/waiver. routergirl's anecdote is common enough, but it's easier for people from rich countries to fly in, get hitched by Gold Lamé Elvis in Vegas, and fly out again, without bothering to mention it at the border check, because [white] people from rich countries don't get asked as many questions.

On the one hand a K-1 is a non-immigrant visa that admits a fiance for 90 days in order to get married. On the other hand, it's a dual-intent visa that is treated as the precursor to AOS and establishing residency, and the bureaucracy and costs reflect that. So it may be overkill, and may also muddy things because USCIS and CBP will assume a K-1 means you're trying to bring your fiancé over long-term.

Applying for a tourist visa with a ton of documentation to show no immigrant intent on his part (and active immigrant intent the other way on your part) ought to be enough. There's a non-zero chance that the visa application will be rejected, and a non-zero chance that your fiancé could be turned away by CBP, and rejections may cause problems later on.

So you need to get some professional advice here that draws from knowledge of visa issuance policies by the US for nationals of Other Country.

It may honestly be easiest to get legally married in Other Country (or a third country) and have non-legal ceremonials in the US at a time when you have a bigger folder of documentation to prove the direction of immigrant intent.
posted by holgate at 10:52 AM on October 4, 2013 [2 favorites]


Given that screwing this up could result in him being barred from the US for an extended period of time, it seems worth a consult with an immigration lawyer, even if you do the rest of the paperwork yourself.
posted by matildatakesovertheworld at 12:13 PM on October 4, 2013 [3 favorites]


I think you want an attorney for this, not the internet.
posted by sm1tten at 1:38 PM on October 4, 2013 [2 favorites]


$100ish and an emailed description of your situation/status, concerns and questions, should get you 30 minutes of face/phone time with an attorney specializing in these issues who has researched your issues from your email for you and is able to explain to you in plain English what options are good, how they are likely to play out in the real world in the current policy climate, and so on. 30 minutes is probably, if anything, more than you will need to drill down into detail and get all your concerns addressed.

In the grand scheme of weddings, flights, etc. that cost is nothing. Invest at least that much in your future, bare minimum. Because it's your future, and a mistake could potentially be catastrophic.

I'd suggest doing it twice - a US lawyer for the US issues (preferably one whose specialties includes the fiance's country) and a lawyer in HisHomeCountry for the HisHomeCountry side of the equation.

For the USA, you can find an immigration lawyer here. (Or seek recommendations from people you know, etc.)
posted by anonymisc at 2:13 PM on October 4, 2013 [2 favorites]


2nd the suggestion of having a talk with a lawyer. Sometimes visa approvals can be a crapshoot
posted by WeekendJen at 3:34 PM on October 4, 2013


Please talk to a lawyer. My SO and I (been together 8 years), are still wrestling with how to "formalize" our togetherness. Is legal in her country, not legal in this state, and she is working on PhD here, so we are very careful about not messing things up.
posted by PlantGoddess at 5:54 PM on October 4, 2013


Everyone I have ever known personally who's done a complex-citizenship marriage has either been really really glad they used a lawyer or really really sad they didn't, including my step-aunt who had to return to her home country for what seemed like most of my teenage years because, well, they took the advice of someone in a consulate or something and totally got screwed over. This also applies to the opposite-coast countries, BTW - Ireland, Wales, and I think it was Canada were all just as nail-biting and risky for the US-side partners. Not sure if my step-uncle is actually allowed in step-aunt's country, come to think of it. It's been 20 years, so I suspect he is allowed by now. The very worst thing you can do is do something while inside a country on the wrong visa, as far as I can see. Better to be a convicted felon who wants to move in and start a business, than a wrong-visa-marriage person who just wants to visit the in-laws for the afternoon.

In other words, go talk to a lawyer. Preferably two like anonymisc says.
posted by SMPA at 6:28 PM on October 4, 2013


Yeah, by 'professional advice', I meant 'lawyer', and by lawyer, I mean 'immigration lawyer', and by 'immigration lawyer', I mean 'immigration lawyer that is very clearly up to speed on current visa policy for Other Country', not just an immigration lawyer who deals with more usual family- or work-related cases that aim to have the non-US citizen establish long-term residency. You may want to seek recommendations from within the Other Country expat community in the US.
posted by holgate at 8:57 PM on October 4, 2013


You need at least one lawyer and possibly two; one in the US who specializes in this exact situation, and one in Destination Country. The stakes here are very high; I know more than one person who has been stranded across the border from their spouse for weeks or months because of visa issues, and that's just US/Canada.
posted by KathrynT at 10:00 PM on October 4, 2013


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