Chile Forum

I am a US citizen and have been with a chilean for about a year now and we want to get married this november. I want my family to be a part of our wedding, but it's too expensive for the ones I want to visit for that here. We have decided that we can marry here in the civil court and then fly to the States the next day for her to meet my family. However, from all that I have read here, that seems like a lost boat in the sea of politics. We don't want to get married in the states, not yet at least, and we definitly don't want to live in the states, she has two children here and a mother that she has to care for. So my question is, is it possible for her to obtain a tourist visa, only 3 weeks, without going through all the red tape of applying for a fiancee or other visa? I understand that I wrote that backwords, fiancee would be the wrong word for her at that point. Thank you all for your help, and I have a lot more to read on this site.

Adam

Being Canadian I am no expert on American immigration policy but I would assume that it would be fairly similar to what my Chilean wife would have to go through to get a visitors/tourist visa.

Some of the factors they will be looking for are if she has a decent job in Chile and her ties to the country. If she has 2 kids that will be staying in the country it will appear to most Visa officers that she will be coming back, if she owns property that will help even more.

Basically, you have to prove to them that your life in Chile is good enough that you would want to return to it.

I recenty had a client with a very similar set of circumstances and it seemed that the esiest right of passage was to show the wife had property, kids and a job, ie assets, dependents, comitments. If you also show that your visit is for a family introduction only and the husband has work commitments back in Chile it should go ok for you....My clients were the same situation minus the mother needing care and it all played out to thier satisfaction.

Thank you for the replies. I suppose I just wanted to hear someone else repeat my wishes for this. She does have her name on the house title and her kids will be here, we are going to take a copy of their birth certificate to the visa interview and her job is very stable as a teacher. All in all, it sounds like we should be able to get through this without too much trouble then, we can only hope that with politics.

Thank you again for your help!

Adam

You do know she goes alone into the interview? And that you lose the app fee if turned down and will need to pay it again for each new application?

Furthermore, you do know that since she just married you, she will be consider an intending immigrant, more so than if you weren't married. For this she can not only be turned down at the visa interview, but she can also be turned away with a visa in hand at the port of entry. The US is so messed up that she has more of a chance getting a tourist visa without you than she does with you.

My wife and I have a special situation. We came "into" the US without going anywhere due to federalization of immigration here on the island so while my wife is legally here in this "new" part of the US, she has to apply for a green card to go anywhere else. We thought about a trip to the mainland US this summer so we visited the USCIS office here for a special paper(not a visa) to be able to go to the mainland. The "nice" lady there said that they wouldn't give her permission to go to the US without applying for a green card. My wife told her she has no intention of living long term in the US and the "nice" lady said sorry, they only give permission to spouses of US citizens if they have already filed for a green card.

eeuunikkeiexpat wrote:You do know she goes alone into the interview? And that you lose the app fee if turned down and will need to pay it again for each new application?

Ripsigg wrote:Furthermore, you do know that since she just married you, she will be consider an intending immigrant, more so than if you weren't married. For this she can not only be turned down at the visa interview, but she can also be turned away with a visa in hand at the port of entry. The US is so messed up that she has more of a chance getting a tourist visa without you than she does with you.

My wife and I have a special situation. We came "into" the US without going anywhere due to federalization of immigration here on the island so while my wife is legally here in this "new" part of the US, she has to apply for a green card to go anywhere else. We thought about a trip to the mainland US this summer so we visited the USCIS office here for a special paper(not a visa) to be able to go to the mainland. The "nice" lady there said that they wouldn't give her permission to go to the US without applying for a green card. My wife told her she has no intention of living long term in the US and the "nice" lady said sorry, they only give permission to spouses of US citizens if they have already filed for a green card.

And for these reasons I am asking what would be the best option for us and what would be the easiest way for her to enter the USA with me. Should we just go ahead and get married and then months later try and enter the US? I would really like for my family to feel as though they were able to be apart of our marriage, even though they wouldn't be able to come here. Also, from what I've read, taking her to the states to marry would be a complete denial from the government.
Any helpful advice would be welcome.

Perhaps, we should just go the USA without being married here and when we return we can get married? It seems like that would be the most sure way of her entry into the States?

walkingfreely wrote:Perhaps, we should just go the USA without being married here and when we return we can get married? It seems like that would be the most sure way of her entry into the States?

Ah but even being a fiance is enough to send a woman back to Chile. Why? Intending immigrant...

Not to get down and everything but I suggest to either be sneaky or 100% above board. Being above board means being 100% honest when applying for a visa and 100% honest when entering the US for the first time and be prepared to back things up with papers. In reality, if she gets a visa there is a good chance she'll have no problem getting past customs, even being just married. You only have a problem if they start asking too many questions. Don't let my bad attitude towards CBP and Consulates spoil it for you.

Thanks, we'll gather the papers and hope that she can get through the interview with them easily enough then. Thank you for all of your comments!

And for these reasons I am asking what would be the best option for us and what would be the easiest way for her to enter the USA with me. Should we just go ahead and get married and then months later try and enter the US? I would really like for my family to feel as though they were able to be apart of our marriage, even though they wouldn't be able to come here. Also, from what I've read, taking her to the states to marry would be a complete denial from the government.
Any helpful advice would be welcome.

It's much more challenging trying to get a Visa if you get married outside the US vs. inside the US (unless this has recently changed). Verify this with someone who has been married less than 5 years, but when we were married we had the chance to either get married outside the us and going through the immigration process (which takes a lot longer if married) or get married in the US. She would lose a status and could either stay in or stay out until the process was complete. I've had two relatives and 3 friends get married, some in and some outside the US. Complications were abundant when married before applying for a visa. I can only assume the process has gotten worse over the last 10 years.

Ripsigg wrote:

walkingfreely wrote:Perhaps, we should just go the USA without being married here and when we return we can get married? It seems like that would be the most sure way of her entry into the States?

Ah but even being a fiance is enough to send a woman back to Chile. Why? Intending immigrant...

Not to get down and everything but I suggest to either be sneaky or 100% above board. Being above board means being 100% honest when applying for a visa and 100% honest when entering the US for the first time and be prepared to back things up with papers. In reality, if she gets a visa there is a good chance she'll have no problem getting past customs, even being just married. You only have a problem if they start asking too many questions. Don't let my bad attitude towards CBP and Consulates spoil it for you.

I would strongly advise against this. If they did find out, you would be in a heap of trouble. These guys don't mess around and they seem to know when you're being sneaky.