Another common question that we've seen is for individuals who are on their immigration journey
for a fiancé visa or a spouse visa, they want to know what happens if I previously applied
for a tourist visa and I was denied. A lot of people are worried about how that will
impact their eligibility and their application. That's a great question, that makes sense.
I just want to break down exactly the difference between a tourist visa and
then applying for a fiancé visa or a spouse visa. The main difference is one of them
the tourist visa is something that's short-term.
The fiancé visa and spouse visa are something long-term. By long-term, I mean
your intent to live in the United States. Tourist visas are something called
non-immigrant visas, that means the individual has non-immigrant intent which is essentially
a fancy way of saying that the immigrant doesn't have the intent of coming and living in the United
states and making a life here they have the intent to come to the United States for a limited purpose,
which is to visit or to stay for a short time but not to actually live here in the US.
With the K1 fiancé visas and spouse visas, the intent is, and immigration knows that that is
the process, that you're coming here to live and to start a life and have a life together.
For a tourist visa application, there is something called discretion. Officers have discretion which
means they can make a decision about whether or not they believe that the immigrant has the
right intent whether or not the immigrant has the intent to just come and visit or whether they have
an intent to actually come here and stay here and live which isn't allowed on a tourist visa.
Tourist visas are generally very difficult to obtain and a lot of times individuals will get a
denial on the tourist visa if the officer believes that the person has doesn't have the intent to
leave the US after visiting. Depending on why your tourist visa application was denied will
determine how that will impact your fiancé visa or spouse visa application. If your tourist visa
application was denied because the officer believed that you had the
intent to come and stay here and live and that you didn't have enough ties to your country of origin.
If it was denied because of that, then in general you wouldn't necessarily have issues with your
fiancé visa or spouse visa application. You would have to disclose that information about the denial
but it wouldn't mean that you would necessarily be denied for a fiancé visa or spouse visa
One of our famous phrases as attorneys is, "It depends." We say that
because it really does depend. Every case is different, every situation is different
It really will depend on why your tourist visa was denied as to what impact it will have
on your fiancé visa or spouse visa. If you've had a tourist visa denied previously,
don't panic. That doesn't mean that you're not going to be eligible for any immigration benefit
It's just going to matter as to why immigration denied your tourist visa. You'll have to disclose it
on your application and we highly recommend that you speak with an immigration attorney who can
orient you, help you understand. Whatever basis the tourist visa was denied
on and how that would impact your spouse or fiancé visa. It really does depend on why it was denied.
If it was denied for if you have prior immigration violations, if you had deportations or
criminal history. That denial of your tourist visa and those prior issues could
impact your fiancé visa or spouse visa application. It depends and it'll just be a matter
of speaking with an immigration attorney to know if how that denial would impact your case.