A friend (no, not me), whom I will call “Buddy” is in the middle of trying to immigrate to the US. I’m unsure under which kind of visa, but his fiancee is American, resident in the US, so that may identify it somewhat; and they plan to get married once his visa is approved and he can be there. The paperwork, etc. is processing, but as with all bureaucracies, it is moving along slowly.
I asked him if he’d like to come with me on my next Las Vegas vacation, likely in March. He was unsure, as he has this visa in the works. He’d like to, but he wasn’t sure if he could visit the US as a tourist, while visa processing occurred.
My question: does having an immigrant visa in the works to the US prejudice Buddy’s ability to visit as a tourist?
It is held against you when applying for a tourist Visa, since you have already stated your intention to Marry. It’s best to just wait til the paperwork goes through.
I don’t see why it would. I have a Japanese friend who got married to an American man in Japan and she applied for a spousal immigrant visa when they decided to move to the USA. I’m not sure how long the application took, but I do know she visited his family in Hawaii during Christmas holidays while it was being processed. As long as they have a ticket back to honor the tourist visa, I don’t see why immigration would care either way.
Your friend was already married, though, which granted her rights the OP’s still-unmarried friend doesn’t have; the OP’s friend has a greater probability of being treated as “wants to live in the US therefore is marrying a resident” than as “wants to marry the love of his life and is thus willing to leave his country behind”. The American immigration system is completely antagonic, but this seems to be a common theme through the American legal system.
True. And with rogerbox’s cite, it looks like it’s technically possible to travel, but not “advisable”, whatever that means. Maybe they take longer to process the visa because of the extra “scrutiny” they incurred.
If it is a visa waiver country it means they can turn you back once you reach the USA, and if it is not a visa waiver country they can not issue the tourist visa. And in the second case even if granted, you can still be turned back and refused entry depending on what questions are asked.
Basically by being engaged or married to a US citizen intent to immigrate is assumed, how much you are scrutinized or treated depends on what passport you’re traveling under and the discretion of the agent.
Buddy is from Canada (no US visa necessary) and would be travelling on a Canadian passport. He’d be going to Las Vegas Nevada, while Fiancee lives in Oregon. Does that help?
I should add that he’d be going through US customs/preclearance in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Does that change things?
Spousal immigrant visa is very different than a fiance visa, in how they are treated. Fiance visas usually take less time to process but are much more thorough in the required paperwork, proving a relationship is legitimate, all sorts of hoops. You really don’t want to jeopardize that expensive and time consuming process for anything.
Scrutiny for fiances varies by country as well. My wife is from the Philippines and they are extremely suspicious of all fiance visas as illegitimate until proven otherwise. The person I know who has a lot of money and got married to his wife while she knowingly came here on a tourist visa with intent to marry, had to admit that she came over fraudulently to marry or something, but she was from the U.K. and her treatment compared to us was night and day.
edit: I see now that your buddy is from Canada, that makes things much easier. It’s worth a shot for him if he can afford the tourist visa application.
“The tourist visa application”? He’s a Canadian, as far as I know there is no “tourist visa application” fee when a Canadian citizen comes to the US from Canada.
A tourist visa is a “non-immigrant visa” you CANNOT become an immigrant based on this visa. If you come on a tourist visa, with the intent to remain (including by marriage) you are committing fraud, you can lose any legal status you’ve accumulated, and in some cases you can be barred from the United States.
He’s going through the proper channels for his migrant visa, which is great. His concern it that it looks like he’s entering the US with the intent to remain. I don’t think there’s anything legally wrong with making a tourist visit (however, he should consult his immigration attorney) but I can understand his concern. The repercussions should his conduct be misconstrued by a not-so-frendly official could be enormous.
It’s not that his immigrant visa process threatens his tourist visa. Its the other way around.
First, the question the admitting office will ask himself is “Does this guy really want to go visit Vegas for a weekend, or is he using this as an excuse to sneak in and live illegally with his fiancée?” Border guards have a huge amount of discretion, and anything can happen. Some might sympathize, some might figure denying someone entry for any excuse is a gold star on their work record.
Once refused entry once, as far as I know, for the rest of his life, unless he gets a green card, he will have to apply for a visa waiver every few years for the rest of his life. Whether refused entry will be communicated to the people processing his application - who knows? Does it affect the process? Who knows? I guess it depends on what the Customs guy writes for his report on refusal to enter. If he writes negative details like “evasive, not enough funds for trip, unclear on hotel or duration… I think he was trying to sneak in illegally for an extended stay”, how would you know?
Technically, your friend can cross the border. However, his best bet is to not make waves during the application process, as it could have life-long repercussions.
I don’t think there is even a tourist visa application unless special conditions apply, e.g. person with serious criminal record. You just show up at the border with your passport and they ask you a few questions. I know it is that way for Americans going to Canada - just show up at the border, show your passport, they ask you a few questions like where you are going and how long you plan to stay (e.g. “Going to Halifax for a week.”) and they decide whether to search you further or let you through.
So why doesn’t your friend just drive across the border to see friends in Oregon? Then board an internal round-trip flight to Vegas to see you. Unless the process has really tightened up at the land border in recent years a Canadian visiting friends in America should breeze through with no problems. It may be the international flight over the border and formal US Customs is going to be a sticking point.
If we decide to go to Canada and drive, we only need our US Passport card, and not our passports. But if we fly to Canada, we must use a US Passport. Same applies to Canadians traveling via land as opposed to air.
It would matter if someone interprets his conduct as entering the country with the intent to remain, while not in possession of a migrant visa. Should that happen, his migrant visa will be rejected, and he may never receive one.
Well he’s obviously not doing that! you say. And DHS would never hire brain dead LEO rejects who like to throw their weight around… right? And its not like its a completely capricious organization that utterly controls your future or anything. Oh wait…
Hello Again, you’ve hit the nail on the head. He wants to do everything on the up-and-up and above board as regards his immigrant visa. He’d also like to visit Las Vegas with me; he’s just wondering if, when going through US Customs on the way to Las Vegas as a tourist, he will ruin his chances of getting the immigrant visa. (Or worse, having a CBP officer think he’s going to make an “end run” around the rules, and head for Oregon after reaching Nevada.)
Based on all of the responses above, it sounds like he can technically do it, but it may not be advisable. I think the best advice came from you, HA, who said he should consult his immigration lawyer. I will suggest this to him; and I will also suggest that he contact the US consulate in Calgary (through which he filed his immigrant visa application). If anybody would know for sure, it seems to me that the lawyer and the consulate would.
