Q: Advice for how my Colombian fiancee can pass his next tourist visa interview?
I'm a legal permanent resident. During his first tourist visa interview my fiancee, then boyfriend, said his intention to travel to the US was to meet his girlfriend's family. We later realized this was a big no no because officers then assume travelers just want to get married and stay in the US, which was NOT our intention. Since I'm not a citizen we can't apply for a K-1 fiancee visa, the only way is a spouse visa once we get married. However, we're not huge fans of the spousal visa because we're not married yet, it's expensive, has long processing times, and his intention isn't to live in the US, he just wants to visit for 1 month. In his next interview, he can say his intention is to travel and go to disneyland but won't they have on their record that he said he wanted to meet his girlfriend's family the first time? Will this be held against him forever? I appreciate any advice for his next interview once COVID allows the US to take tourist visas again.
A: No legitimate attorney is going to advise you to deceive a government official.
A: Hi there. The immigration officer at the consulate has discretion to determine at the interview whether or not the applicant has immigrant intent to stay in the US when applying for visitor's visa. Since your fiance already stated at the previous interview that he has a fiance living in US,. the officer may and most likely will review interview notes and will determine that your fiance in fact intending marring you in the US. However, your fiance may re-apply and try to convince the officer that he is going to US just to visit you and your family. Please note, marring you in the US will not allow him to stay beyond the date of the expiration of his visitor's status ( even if you file family based petition for him), since the different rules apply to Legal Permanent Residents v. US Citizens.
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