Posts Tagged marrying U.S. citizen
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).
Tourist visa created big problem for Maria!
Posted by Josun in Green Card application on September 5, 2009
Maria, from Mexico City, has been chatting with Paul, from Denver, Colorado, over the Internet. Their relationship reached a level where they decided to get engaged. In March 2009, Paul invited Maria to meet his parents. Maria landed in Houston, Texas and entered Customs as her first stop in the United States. Immigration officer noticed Paul’s letter to Maria indicating his intention to get married. And, to Maria’s surprise, he told her that she could not enter the United States and had to go back to Mexico.
What went wrong? Maria obtained tourist visa from the U.S. Embassy’s consular section in Mexico City. Tourist visa was not the appropriate visa for people who intend to get married as reflected in Paul’s letter. What a big frustration for Maria and Paul!
Now, Paul is working with an immigration attorney to find a solution. Getting fiance visa followed up by a marriage within 90 days seems to be the right direction. Paul will prepare an invitation letter. National Visa Center will send the papers to U.S. Embassy in Mexico City. Maria will submit certified translation of her birth certificate, single status statement, and few other papers to be able to come to the U.S.
Getting Your Green Card
You may apply for Green Card under the following categories: (a) marrying an American citizen; (b) engaging to marry your U.S. citizen fiancé; (c) asking your family relatives (your father, mother, husband, wife, brother, sister, children over 21) who are “citizens” of United States; (d) asking your close family members (your father, mother, husband, wife) of Albanian origin, who have Green Card; (e) receiving employment offer from an American employer; (f) winning Diversity Visa Lottery in your native country; (g) investing your money in United States; (h) qualifying as special immigrant (recognized religious workers, foreign medical graduates, etc.); (i) requesting humanitarian protection (asylum, refugee) from persecution or fearing based on your race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group in your native country.
ACR Language Translation Services, subsidiary of ACR Systems Inc., founded in 1982, provides certified translation for Green Card when you apply to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS, formerly Immigration and Naturalization Service – INS) for its clients applying for Green Card (permanent resident visa) and U.S. citizenship.