Archive for June, 2010
Marrying an American Citizen During Your Visit United States
Posted by Josun in Marrying American citizen on June 25, 2010
What happens if you find an American soul mate?
It is happening all the time. A man or woman comes to the United States for touristic purposes and falls in love with an American citizen. What is also happening is a man or woman decides to marry and comes to the U.S. with a tourist visa. Big difference!
It is illegal to come to the United States with tourist visa to get married
Here’s what happened: Gloria, a young attractive girl from Venezuela starts chatting with Paul, an intelligent new graduate American working for a Fortune 500 company in Chicago. Paul flies to Brazil for business and takes a few days of his annual leave to go to Venezuela to meet Gloria for the first time.
Paul proposes to Gloria on his last day in Venezuela. They decide to get married in July, two months later. Considering that getting a tourist visa would be easier and simpler, Gloria applies for a tourist visa from the consular section of the Embassy of the United States in Caracas.
Responding to custom officer’s question for her stay in the United States, Gloria tells that she will stay at Paul’s home and get married in few weeks. That’s the end of Gloria’s story! The U.S. Customs Officer asks her to go back to her country with the first flight. That was a nightmare for Gloria. What she didn’t know was the fact that one cannot use tourist visa for any other purpose, including for getting married in the United States. What a costly mistake!
Christina gets married an American citizen while on a tour to Las Vegas
In contrast to what happened to Gloria, Christina successfully gets married in Las Vegas without knowing anything about immigration laws. After getting back to Las Vegas from Grand Canyon trip, Christina meets David who was sitting next to her at Cirque du Soleil show. Accepting David’s offer to have dinner, they fall in love to each other. Two days later, Christina and David get married in Las Vegas.
Legitimate use of tourist visa
Christina stayed in the United States with no problem as she didn’t know that her touristic visit would result in a marriage. So, she did not face any legal problem. David requested certified translation of Christina’s birth certificate in order to apply for Green Card for her. Christina received her labor certification in 35 days, allowing her to legally work in the United States. Christina was invited to have her photograph and fingerprints taken at local immigration office. Now, they are waiting for an interview at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
Adopting a Baby to Bring to United States
Posted by Josun in Child Adoption Overseas on June 5, 2010
Short story of adopting a baby overseas
If you are living in the United States and planning to adopt a baby from another country, then here’s a story of one of our client’s that may help you:
Irene emigrated from India with her parents when she was 3 years old. She married and got divorced four years ago. She didn’t have any child from her marriage. Instead of living alone, she wanted to raise a child. She went back to New Delhi to visit her relatives and told them about her plans.
Irene visited four orphanages and decided to adopt a five-month old baby boy who was left at a hospital.
Requirements for adopting a baby
She contacted consular section of the U.S. Embassy and learned about the requirements for adoption of a child: she must be an American citizen and over 25 years old (she met these requirements). She was reminded that she should first meet the adoption requirements of the Government of India. She contacted a local attorney to avoid any legal problem.
Irene had two options to adopt the baby: one option was to bring the baby to the United States as orphan and adopt him in the U.S. The other option was to complete all adoption paperwork in India. She preferred to do it while she was in India as she missed her home country so much and had enough time.
Forms and application to U.S. embassy abroad
She filed Form I-600 “Petition to Classify an Orphan as an Immediate Relative” and submit it with visa application. She had an interview at the embassy by bringing the baby. She also brought legal papers allowing her to have the legal custody of the child from local authority along with a medical examination report. Medical report showed that the baby boy needed a testis operation. This was no problem for the adoption and bringing him to the United States.Irene obtained a “Non-Availability of Birth Certificate” from the local authority as the baby didn’t have a birth certificate.
Consular officer at the U.S. embassy was very much familiar with adoption process and helped Irene in preparing and completing all paperwork within a very short period of time.
Certified translation of adoption papers
Irene is back to the United States with her baby. She contacted us for certified translation of her baby’s Non-Availability of Birth Certificate and is living happily with her son in Los Angeles.