Tourist and K-1 visa questions

[Chip]

1. Has anybody had the experience of a Dominican who is married to an American citizen being given a tourist visa?

2. Has anybody had the experience of being in the US on a tourist visa and then petioning residency via a K visa?

3. What is the amount of consective time that one must stay in the US to keep a permanent residency visa status current?

FYI, the #1 question I would like to know for our specific case, as my wife has been out of the US(and subsequently lost her residency status but we would like to return to the States at some point to visit family.

The #2 question is on behalf of a friend whose fiance is Dominican who are thinking about living here in the Dr but visiting the US with the possibility of using the tourist visa(if obtained) to change the status at some point in the future.

thanks

[Frank the Tank]

Chip,

Go here and you can get all of those questions answered easily.

Dominicans to the USA - Index

[Chip]

Originally Posted by Frank the Tank

Chip,

Go here and you can get all of those questions answered easily.

Dominicans to the USA - Index

Thanks, I checked out the forum but still didn't see one of my questions answered - so here goes again:

Has anybody had the experience of a Dominican who is married to an American citizen being given a tourist visa?

[Frank the Tank]

Chip, I would say not. You would need to apply for a spouse visa. The US wouldn't issue a visitors visa to someone like that out of the likelihood they would never return to DR. But go back and post that question on that other board and see what answer you get.

[La Profe_1]

Chip, this is secondhand information, but there is an evangelical missionary living on the outskirts of Santiago whose Dominican wife was given a tourist visa - or so I understand.

The situation was a bit different, however, in that he was going to the US to bury his son and wanted his present wife to accompany him.

This was several years (at least three) ago.

[AnnaC]

Chip maybe the fact that your wife has lived in the US before might go in her favour. If you still have the documentation to show that why not apply for a non immigrant visa, she might get a 10 entrance visa.

It's only 131.00 so why not try it.

Question Number 2, good luck with that, I'm sure there are thousands of fiancees that would love to do that too.

[juanlopez]

Hi Chip,

I can't answer all your questions with complete accuracy, but can help with some of the info you requested.

Originally Posted by Chip

1. Has anybody had the experience of a Dominican who is married to an American citizen being given a tourist visa?

Yes

Originally Posted by Chip

The #2 question is on behalf of a friend whose fiance is Dominican who are thinking about living here in the Dr but visiting the US with the possibility of using the tourist visa(if obtained) to change the status at some point in the future.

you actually give up your tourist visa status if your intention is to stay permanently in the USA. once you obtain citizenship in the USA you can travel back to the DR being a US citizen, this can take YEARS!

if you have a tourist visa and you travel 2-3 times a year between the DR>>USA then you would fit into the usual 6 month maximum time aloud in the USA and could keep it that way if you desire.

my situation was that I got married in the DR and lived there for 2 years before petitioniong for a visa. i was able to get my wife the tourist visa as we traveled frequently back and forth. the most important thing is to prove that your dominican spouse WILL return from their trip! this should include cash in the bank and other assests that the tourist would not want to lose or not have access to.

after some time we moved to puerto rico and this is when my wife gave up the tourist visa and stayed past her 6 month visitor visa status and filed for residency.

Originally Posted by Chip

3. What is the amount of consective time that one must stay in the US to keep a permanent residency visa status current?

Not 100% sure but it will take years rather than months.
usually until you obtain citizenship.
sometimes ins won't even review your application for 1+ years.
https://egov.uscis.gov/cris/jsps/ptimes.jsp


Hope this helps,

Juan