The "90 days" visitor's allownace...

[elpadrinoblk]

What is the name of your state? AZ

Hi everybody!

I have a question about the 90 days visitor's allowance... maybe you can help.

My cousin is filing a petition for his fiance's Visa (l-129F)... He is a US Citizen, she is from Barcelona (Spain); They were told that it will take between 90 & 150 days for that petition to be approved/answered. She came to the US as a visitor and stayed for 2 and a half months on vacation; during that time he filed for the Petition.

They understood that according to the US Law, she could visit the US for periods not longer than 3 months(90 days) at the time as a tourist/visitor, then leave the US territory to go back to Europe.

The thing is that, she left after her first visit and came back 1 week later, for another 2 and a half months hoping that by then the petition will go throught... Are they doing anything wrong... ?

Are those "90 DAYS" granted everytime a person leaves the US territory completly and comes back...? or The "90 DAYS' are the total allowance for a periode of 1 whole year...? if so... is that a Calendar Year... or any periode of 12 months...???

Their Fiance Visa's petition it's been in progress for 2 months now... they are hoping to get married and start a family soon.

Please advise about the best way to go about their situation and what steps to take once the Petition is finally approved...

Thank you very much, any help will be appreciated.

 

[Mrowka]

When you say "90 days allowance", you mean that when she arrived in the us, the ins officer stamped her I-94 with that information?
Generally, no matter how often she travels, each time she is allowed to stay here until the date stamped on her I-94 during the entry.

 

[elpadrinoblk]

Hi Mrowka, thanks for your reply...

Yes the INS officer at the Airport put a stamp on her passport allowing her to stay for another 90 days.

But the Officer also told her that, when she is due to leavethe US, she shouldn't come back again for at least 4/6 months... cause the 90 days are for 1 year periode.
He when as far as explaining that they will realice (at Passport's control), that she spends most of her months in the US instead of Spain and they may even "tick her off" the list and refuse her entry... cause according to him "she is over doing it"...
Now they are really nervous that this could be true, even though they have studied the Immigtation's web sites carefully and nothing like this was found... they wonder if this could affect their Petition.

 

[Mrowka]

As far as I can tell, she is not doing anything wrong: she did not stay longer than allowed the first time and the officer obviously admitted her into the country the second time.
What does the stamp on the I-94 say: "Admitted until...."?
Just curious, since you say the officer said she was granted 90 days for one year's time. If that were so, it would have to be stated on the stamp.

 

[elpadrinoblk]

Well, the stamp on the l-94W says: ADMITED "WWB/WT for 90 Days Section 217 of the INA" And the same stamp was used on her passport too... I've seen it myself.

She was very upset when we went to pick her up at the Airport...
scared I think.
Apparently he said that if she stays here for such longe periods of time it's almost like as if she lives here... ((instead of in Spain) and that's what they are trying to avoid... for people to live here without Visa.

 

[phwl]

If they are planning on getting married in the near future, it would be wise to get married on her next visit while she is here in the US. Right after getting married they (he) can file a petition to adjust her status to that of a permanent resident. And while her application (petition) is being processed, she CAN remain in the US.

 

[elpadrinoblk]

My cousin told me that they are just waiting for the Fiance's Visa Petition (l-129F) to be approved first in the next 3-4 months, so they can go ahead and get married, and then apply for the change of her status... at least that's what he understands to be the legal way to do it... I hope he is right though!

It will be terrible if they have had the wrong information and they have to start everything again from square one..

 

[phwl]

I am assuming she is stilll in her country right now and is awaiting the fiancee visa. If so, then they cannot request a visitors visa while the fiancee visa is being processed. If so, then they will have to wait until the visa is approved, then follow the stipulations of the fiancee visa. (to get married within a specified time frame.... etc)

 

[Mrowka]

Since the processing time they're faced with is so short (3-4 months) it's best to just wait for the visa to be granted, as phwl stated. If she is currently in the us, she should leave and just enter as a fiancee when the visa is granted.