girlfriend has 10 year ban

[bearcdj]

I am in love with a girl from england. In 2004 she overstayed a visitor visa by over a year. She voluntarily went back to England and now has a 10 year ban. She applied for a visitor visa in January 2008 and was denied. Is there anyway she can get a visa? I did visit her in England in 2007. Also, If we decide to marry will she be allowed in USA before 2014. I have been reading all kinds of forums and have not seen any answers that apply to our situation and am at wits end for a straight answer. thank you any help will be apreciated.

[losguerra]

unfortunately, I can't find any documentation to help you at the moment. However, it is my understanding that through marriage to a US citizen (you), her 10-year ban could be waived. As far as I understand, there are two paths to choose:
1) You get married in England, and then you (the US citizen) apply for her immigrant visa with the I-130 petition, and at her interview at the embassy, she would be denied the visa due to her prior overstay/10-yr ban. Then you would submit the I-601 waiver with the accompanying hardship letter (written by you). After several months (I am not sure of the wait times in London), you would get a response on the waiver. If approved, she gets the visa, enters the US right away as an immigrant spouse, and all is good.

2)You apply now for her fiancee visa with the I-129f petition. Same process as before, but without getting married first. If the waiver is approved, then she enters the US as a non-immigrant, gets married to you in the US within 90 days of entry, and then adjusts her status to immigrant spouse.

Someone will correct me on this, but hopefully you can find some of the other people filing in London on here, and they can help you out.

[cm21om25]

:ditto: but in addition to option #1, I would add to file the I-129f with the I-130 for faster processing.

But if it were me and I wasn't married yet. I would do option #2.

It all depends on what your ready for. With the fiance visa you would have additional time (I'm thinking at least a year) before getting married.

[bearcdj]

Does any one else have any advice for me. I forgot to mention when my g/f applies for visitor visa in january at us embassy in London, she sat there for 3 hours and interviewer never looked at any documentation just called her to window and said no i am not giving you a visa try again next year.

[Dorothea]

Can a mod stick this down there so that more people see it? Thanks! :)

Hi bear... I'm so sorry you've been seperated for so long! Yes, if you file the I-129F it should be just as LosGuerra said. Go ahead and file it now so you can start the long wait to get your love back!!

[Spike]

Dera Bearcdj,

My wife haa a ten year ban as well. We were living in Canada for a few years. We wnt to the Consulate as she applied for a tourist visa so we could enter the U.S and visit my parents.

She was able to get visa two times on sepetae occassions for a period of 12 months each. She, as always, had to show that she had strong ties outside of the U.S., which would establish her intention of returning to her country of residency. Since we were both living in Canada, this was not too hard to prove. Secondly, she did need a waiver. However, the waiver is not an I-601 in this case(as a tourist visa). There was no formal application to fill out. She applied for the tourist visa and then we requested that a waiver be "filed" on her behalf. The Consulate sends the paperwork or cable to the Department of Justice and is "approved" by the Attorney General's office.

On both occassions, it took 4 weeks or less. Somewhere in USCIS legalese documents, it explains about overcoming the bar for immigration and for tourist visas. For tourist visas, the standard is set much, much lower than for immigration purposes (i.e. I-601)

Just from memory, it stated 3 points. Point 1-that it would be unlikely that the person would remain in the U.S., point 2-the person did not pose any major threat to public safety or national security. I can't remember point three. If I find this, I will let you know.

Also, I remember my laywer icluding this in some documents he showed or gave to me when he assisted in doing a brief for the I-601.

However, although my wife was able to get tourist visas two times, she was denied 2 times in Brazil, even when we were living in Canada. My thought is that either people at the Consulate are not familiar with a waiver for tourist visas, or they do not file waivers on one's behalf unless requested, or some officers may be reluctant to allow a waiver to be filed.

In my experience, I realize that although some gov'nt personnel are very knowledgeable, there are several which I have dealt with who needed to be informed of the options or even corrected, as they made flat out mistakes.

If I find the actual 212 or 222 blah-blah number and the options listed therunder, I will post it.

[Cynthia]

I believe that'll be the I-192, Spike?

[Laura]

The 10-year ban can be waived if she is EITHER engaged or married to you. The fastest thing (if you are committed to her and want to marry) would be to file a fiance petition. She will be denied the visa at the first interview and allowed to file a waiver. At that time you will need to write and document, as her USC fiance, how you would suffer extreme hardship if she were not readmitted before 2014. London is not the easiest but also not the most challenging consulate.

Read the guide in my signature for more information. It talks about people who had entered the U.S. without inspection, which I understand she didn't, but overstaying more than one year and then leaving the U.S. ends in the same result.

She will not be able to get a visitor's visa in the meantime unless you pursue a non-immigrant waiver. I don't know anything about that but I believe attorney Daniel Green (also an I2US member) has experience with these.