Friends, question for you, is it a good idea for your spouse who's in another country waiting
on the green card process to finalize, is it a good idea for him to apply for a B-2
tourist visa so that he can come to the United States and spend some time with you before
the green card process has come to an end?
That's the question that I'm going to tackle in this video.
Stay tuned.
Friends, thanks for watching this video.
I am immigration lawyer, Latoya McBean-Pompy, here in long Island, New York.
For those of you who are new to me, welcome.
Welcome to McBean immigration TV.
Friends, every now and then I feel like pulling out that inner of Oprah, right?
Welcome.
But this is a channel that's devoted to educational materials and information around immigration.
We talk about marriage-based petitions a lot because that's an area of expertise that I
do have and I love talking about marriage cases, it's all about bringing people together
or keeping them together.
In this video I'm going to tackle a question that came in from one of my subscribers on
YouTube and it comes from Sunshine.
Sunshine asks, "I will be filing I-130 for my spouse, I am a U.S. citizen.
While the green card visa is being processed would I simultaneously be able to file a tourist
visa so he and I can spend time together while we wait."
That's a terrific question.
Obviously Sunshine and her husband are thinking about the fact that they don't want to spend
a lot of time apart, right?
And so what I would say to you, Sunshine and to others out there in this situation is that
you should not do that.
You should not try to simultaneously file your I-130 as well as that B-2 visa application.
Certainly you should not file the I-130 first and then sometime later, while it's still
pending, you then go ahead and have your husband file the B-2 visa application.
Because it will be denied, and here's the reason why.
When he applies for that B-2 visitor's visa, the presumption is that he wants to come here
permanently.
He has the intent or the intentions of coming here permanently.
And so everyone who submits that visa applications faces that challenge of convincing the government
that, "Hey listen, I don't intend to come to the United States and stay there permanently.
I intend to come here and just go on a trip, visit family, relatives, go on vacation, to
temporary visit.
That's all that it is, U.S. government."
And so that's what they have to prove, right?
That it's going to be temporary.
But what happens now is that when you have an I-130 family petition in the system, and
the I-130 petition is the process of bringing your relative here permanently, it's clear
on the record to the government that your husband has the intention of coming here permanently.
So when he applies for this B-2 visitor's visa and he's alleging that he wants to come
here temporarily to stay and visit you and then go back home, the government is going
to say, "No, we don't believe that.
We don't believe that.
We think that if we give him that B-2 he's definitely going to stay permanently and he's
going to maybe even try to adjust the status, right?"
That's the issue here.
So, no, you should not do it that way.
The better way of doing it, Sunshine is to ensure that your husband applies for that
visitor's visa first.
He needs to have a visa that will allow him to travel back and forth to the U.S. freely,
while he is waiting on the I-130 process to be completed.
And so the way that I would suggest that you think about doing it is certainly have him
apply for that first, get his visa, maybe it's going to be a five-year visa, in some
countries it might be even 10, depends on where he is located.
And after that then you could apply for the I-130.
That way, he can come back and forth and visit you while he is waiting for the green card.
That's what I would suggest in this situation.
Be careful to watch the timeline, right, because you don't want to file the I-130 and maybe
your husband only has six months remaining on his visa and he's planning on going back
to the embassy six months later to reapply for that visa.
They're going to deny him because the I-130 is already in the system.
That's my answer to this question.
Friends, if you have a question about this topic, go ahead and put the question below.
I just may answer your question in my next video.
And for those of you who want to learn more about how to bring your spouse to the U.S.,
I have a great guide on how to bring your spouse to the U.S. Download it today.
Download it today so that you can think about some strategic things that I've placed in
this guide for you to think about.
Thanks so much for watching.
I look forward to being with you in the next one.
Bye-bye.