Hi.. I'm not an expert or anything with regards to US visa. There's a thread on this one at Dave's esl cafe. It's a teacher's forum. Anyway, the common theme on that thread is apply for an immigration visa rather than a tourist visa. Reason: it's difficult to get a tourist visa.

As for US green card, my sister was able to immigrate with my parents to the US 2 years ago. However, she's not yet done with her studies and she has 2 years left on it. So, she applied for a reentry permit to the US with the reason to finish her studies. Her two years is almost up and she'll be returning to the US this July. Two years is the max.

Here's what I got from travel.state.gov regarding returning residents.
"A permanent resident alien who intends to remain abroad for more than a year should, at least 30 days prior to the proposed date of departure, apply while in the United States to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in the Department of Homeland Security for Reentry Permit. The permit is valid for two years and may not be extended. If such a permit is obtained the alien may use this card to reenter the United States within the period of validity. Every alien applying for readmission must satisfy the immigration authorities that he or she is eligible in all respects for admission.

A Reentry Permit does not preserve residence for naturalization purposes. An application for preservation of residence must be filed with USCIS prior to departure from the United States. Further information may be obtained from the USCIS office having jurisdiction over the alien''s place of residence in the United States."

Hope that helps!

If you'd like to come into ACS we can discuss your issue.

I'll try to dumb-down my previous response: If consular officals don't know the applicant's qualified to immigrate, the applicant may possibly be granted a non-immigrant visa.

If she has had a non-immigrant visa prior to marriage, she will be able to continue using that visa and likely obtain renewals since the process for renewals is pretty much automated and consular officials are not likely to know that her status has changed. However, a cursory reading of OP's post indicates that his wife does not already have a visa. If Chill has understood otherwise, may I suggest a Literacy Volunteer?

One does not need an immigration attorney to submit a request for a reentry permit. :roll:

I see you haven't contacted that Literacy Volunteer yet.

Your claims to have spoken with Thurmond Borden are laughable. :roll:

If you are claiming that you informed consular staff that your wife was married to a US citizen and, after a visa interview, they renewed her visa, you may have as yet undiagnosed memory problems.

And if you are also claiming you have friends whose spouse was granted a non-immigrant visa when the consular official was specifically made aware that the applicant was already married to a US citizen, that confirms your diagnosis.

Good lord, do you think you are God himself? Your attitude exemplifies the arrogance so strongly associated with the US Embassy and resented by foreigners and locals alike. I'd say you're pretty fresh off the boat - it will be interesting to see how your views will have changed once your posting is nearing the end. It is curious you had nothing to say about Mr. Borden's email address, and so I might presume by your omission that it is not a matter of public record. And no, I don't think I shall be sharing any friend's personal information with you, perhaps you would like to identify yourself in this forum so that interested readers could contact you in person, apparently at ACS?

To spettro9: get your ducks in a row, make the application and be prepared to fight. If you'd like some pointers on what you might want to include, PM me. It really depends how important this visa is to you and what you are willing to do to make it happen.

Is your problem congenital? :roll:

E-mail addresses across the entire Department of State system are uniform in that a retarded chimpanzee could formulate a valid e-mail address for any individual whose name is known. Or do you somehow think that the US diplomatic missions aren't part of DOS?

Let's fast forward to the point where I do identify myself: Are you prepared to swear you will not offer to blow me every time you need to whine or moan about consular actions which affect you? I thought not.

Assuming OP's wife has never held a visa to enter the US and correctly identifies on her visa application that her husband is a US citizen, when he applies and the application is denied, we will officially name Chill as Delusional A$$wipe of the Year. How's that for fair?

Why not publish your claimed visa pointers here?

Actually, it is not a punative policy but I can certainly understand those affected by the policy feeling that it is.

Basically, to qualify for a non-immigrant visa, by law the applicant has the burden of proof and must convince the consular official handling the application that they will keep the visa terms and return home. If one cannot prove that, the visa must be denied on the grounds of "tendency to immigrate." It may or may not be fair -- and certainly the applicant will feel it is unfair -- to be guilty until proven innocent, but unfortunately that is the law. Believe it or not, though, there is a strong sense of logic behind the Department of State's policies that I won't get into at present, but perhaps at a later date.

In any event, if one is legally entitled to immigrate, then the law provides that as a prima facie case for tendency to immigrate and the consular official may not grant the visa -- especially a tourist visa.

Now, the law also establishes that an applicant must apply for the visa for which they are qualified. This may seem, at first glance, to indicate that one can apply either for a tourist visa or an immigrant visa. This is not the case. Nobody is "qualified" for a tourist visa. It is something that the US (or any other government) gives out of the pure kindness of their heart so to speak. Immigrant visas, however, are not and one who is qualified must receive their visa. So, if you apply for a non-immigrant visa yet are married to a US citizen, you must apply instead for an immigrant visa as that is the only visa you are qualified for.

Chill would have us believe his fantasy of every Chinese spouse of an American citizen may obtain a non-immigrant visa. While there may be some cases of these Chinese nationals receiving a business visa, those who receive tourist visas are very, very rare and fall into either of two -- and only two -- categories: those who misrepresented their affiliation to an American citizen or those whom DOS has deemed extraordinary exceptions to policy. That Chill and his friends have fallen into the latter category is laughable.

Well, yes, it is difficult. And no, I don't think that's wrong. Your wife has two choices - she can become an American citizen, or not. If she wants to become a citizen, I believe she is required to live in the United States for a certain amount of time - something like 8-10 years - before she can be naturalized. But once she's naturalized, she can then return to live in China for as long as she wants and also legally return to the US any time she wants.

If she chooses not to become a citizen - and I can see how that might be inconvenient since it looks like you don't want to spend 8-10 years living in the US - then you will have all the problems mentioned in this thread.

Personally, I don't think it's unfair for a spouse to have to live in the United States to become a citizen. Why should anyone automatically be granted citizenship because of marriage? I understand that you've made your life here - but remember that with the benefits of living here, comes problems as well. You can't have your jiaozi and eat it too.

Aside from the fact that it is more like 4 - 5 years, I agree with your analysis.

What if you have a child? This is a scenario that is quite likely (for me even, given that my wife is 7 months pregnant). Baby can be a US citizen easily, but mom can't? Let's go take the little one to America to visit gramps and grandma. Sorry mom, you can't go because you did not choose to immigrate, fool! Too bad!

The problem is this: US Immigration, as gdbill has indicated above, specifically excludes this possibility.

From what I understand, if my wife and I want to take our baby to visit my parents (and the baby's grandparents) in the US, according to US immigration policy the answer is "no" for my wife. Am I right gdbill?

Nobody makes it difficult for one to marry a foreign national just as nobody makes it excessively difficult for the couple to return to the USA legally. On the other hand, it is, and rightly so, difficult to return illegally.

Many people are confused and think that simply by marriage a foreign spouse is treated exactly the same way as the US citizen spouse. This is a myth. The foreign souse may apply for residence. Residence, as the name implies, means they are granted the privilege of living in the US until such time as they are qualified to seek naturalization or commit any one of a number of very logically established disqualifying acts such as, for example, abandoning the US as their permanent residence.

It seems your underlying question is why your wife can’t go to visit the US with you as a tourist without going through the formalities of obtaining permanent residency. The answer, I’m afraid is quite simple. Now more than ever, few can make an intelligent argument as to why a country should not control those who cross its borders. While idealistic thoughts of world citizenship have their appeal, the fact remains that this will not happen within the next two or three generations, and, most likely, it will never happen. Like virtually every other nation on this planet, the US has established a process for vetting non-US citizens from entering America and the main feature of this process is the visa.

We’ve already talked about the visa process and overcoming the legal presumption of tendency to immigrate and also applying under the category for which one is qualified. Now you need to understand the statistics of people who actually overstay their visa and remain in the US illegally at great burden to the nation as a whole. Although it is much better than before, still the majority of people issued non-immigrant visas to the US overstay their visa. Statistically speaking, the vast majority of those with the legal right to immigrate yet have obtained non-immigrant visas are much more likely to overstay and / or file for an adjustment of status to remain in the US permanently. Why is this a bad thing?

The vetting process for those who apply for an immigrant visa from their home country is stricter and the outcome more tightly controlled than those who file an adjustment of status from within the US. For example, applying from outside the US one needs to prove, amongst other things:

1. Economic solvency so they don’t end up sucking off the taxpayer tit;
2. Vetted against known or suspected pedophiles, terrorists or common criminals;
3. Determined if they carry any infectious or communicable diseases or psychosis;
4. Whether their marriage to a US citizen is actually immigration fraud; and
5. Whether, in fact, the US citizen has legal capacity to sponsor an immigrant wife.

All of these checks and more can be effectively overcome from filing an adjustment of status within the US. Now, I am not saying or even implying that you or anybody in your family is a deadbeat, psychotic, pedophile intent on committing immigration fraud. However, statistically speaking, there is a chance and the law demands guilt until proven innocence. Granting your wife a tourist visa runs the statistically very real risk that she overstay, file for adjustment of status, evade the vetting process and ruin our American way of life. The visa process is designed to eliminate this risk as much as possible.

Now, for your situation and possible solutions. You can test to see whether Chill’s allegations that it would be easy for your wife to obtain a tourist visa are true. All you have to risk is a several week wait, about $120 and a rejection stamp placed inconspicuously in the last page of your wife’s passport. Please share your results on this forum.

Or you can apply for the proper immigrant visa for your wife. I am not sure of your financial or employment status here in China, but a common difficulty, especially for English teachers, is proving stable employment and income in the States. If this is not a problem for you, then the process should be a breeze. Once your wife obtains her K-3, she can travel to the States with you and make an appointment to begin the process of obtaining her green card. Depending on which USCIS district you live in, it may take several weeks for an appointment and during this wait were she to leave the US her immigration process is cancelled. After the appointment, she will have to wait for up to six months before the green card is mailed to her. During this time period, however, she may leave and return to the US as long as she applies for advance parole. AP is generally granted for emergency conditions which arise and require the immigrant to travel abroad.

Once your wife obtains her green card, she can leave and reenter the US as she wishes. If you are thinking of remaining abroad for an extended period of time, but no longer than two years, you can apply for a reentry permit which will prevent immigration officials from determining she has committed a disqualifying act: abandonment of residence.

Also, after two years you both must apply to have the initial restrictions removed on her residency so that it becomes, in fact, permanent.

I am an American with a Chinese wife and we went to the USA last year. Our marriage was fully disclosed and my wife received a tourist visa with no difficulties. There was no mention of immigrate or non immigrate visa. So, like many of us reading this thread, I am somewhat confused. Now I am wondering what will happen when we want to go the USA later this year. Our child has a US Passport, but will Mom now have to stay when we go visit the baby's grandmother and the rest of the family?

it's sad that US immigration in this day and age does not recognize the reality of mixed-nationality marriages/offspring and the likelihood of how this policy helps erode cross-border family bonds.

I'm interested how Europe handles this -- presumably there's a lot more mixed nationality marriages there

I do feel for all the honest Chinese people who cannot get tourist/student/non-immigration visas. I have known quite a few who have been turned down unfairly.

But I don't blame the US government. I blame all the other Chinese people who have taken advantage of non-immigrant visas and stayed in the US.

Actually, perhaps the US should change their immigration laws so there is no way in hell someone who arrives on a non-immigrant visa could immigrate. But that is another story, and I am sure all those students-turned Chinese Americans would not like that one either.

In regards to married couples: It is possible to get a green card and then head back to China, you need to do some sort of paperwork before you leave the US though.