Houston Business Litigation and Employment Law attorney Lee Solomon offers comprehensive business planning, employment law, business law and litigation and immigration services to corporate clients Throughout Texas and across the United States at www.thesolomonlawfirm.com. Noawdays, well-intentioned couples can run into serious problems just because they didn’t realize the trouble that could be created by what they were doing. If this looks like you, you would be wise to seek help from an immigration attorney who understands these issues.

1. Dangers of Marrying While in The United States On a B
Visa or Visa Waiver And Houston Immigration Lawyers
www.thesolomonlawfirm.com

2. » Nowadays, well-intentioned couples can run into serious problems just
because they didn’t realize the trouble that could be created by what
they were doing.
» If this looks like you, you would be wise to seek help from an immigration
attorney who understands these issues.
www.thesolomonlawfirm.com

3. Let’s begin with a simple proposition:
» Unless you come here with a fiancée visa, it is illegal to travel to the
United States with the intention to marry a U.S. Citizen and not return to
one’s home country. If these facts are established, an application to
adjust status to become a permanent resident of the United States will
almost certainly be denied.
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4. » Not only that, but you could be facing criminal charges that could result in
a fine of up to $250,000.00 or imprisonment for not more than five years,
or both. A lesser sanction under a different statute could result in a fine of
up to $10,000.00 or imprisonment for not more than five years, or both.
» As bad as those penalties are, there is another one that could be even
worse. What if your new spouse is deported and banned from living in the
United States?
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5. What?
» You must have thought of - if I entered the United States legally and then
became an immediate relative of a U.S. Citizen, that I could engage in
unauthorized employment in the United States and even violate the
terms of my nonimmigrant visa and still be allowed to get my green card.
» That may well be true, depending on the facts of a particular case, but we
are talking about something different here. We are talking about lying
about why you were entering the United States.
» We are talking about lying to obtain a benefit by evading provisions of the
immigration laws. The legal way to come to the United States to get
married and apply to adjust your status to become a permanent resident
is to apply for a fiancée visa.
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6. » Oh we knew that, you say, but that takes too long! It was easy for me to
come here on a visa waiver because of the country where I live, you
continue, or I was able to obtain a visitor visa to come to the United
States. Now that I am here, I got married, and the last thing I want to do is
go back to my home country and apply to adjust my status so that I can
move to America to be with my spouse.
» But now that I know about the problem, you say, I will just tell anyone
who asks that I never intended to get married and stay in the United
States. Sure, I will tell them, somewhere in the back of my mind I suppose
there was a thought that we might possibly get married while I was
visiting here, but I never intended to stay here. I always intended to
return to my own country. But now we are so much in love and my
spouse begged me to stay after we got married, so that is the only reason
I want to file to adjust my status without leaving the United States.
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7. Really?
» Let’s examine a few things. First of all, there is a presumption that every
foreign national intends to immigrate to the United States when they
come here. It is only after they convince the particular immigration
authority involved that they have no immigrant intent that they can
obtain a nonimmigrant visa.
» And what is one of the primary ways that one can overcome that
presumption for many visa categories? It just happens to be maintaining a
residence abroad with no intention to abandon it. The B visa category,
which covers business or pleasure visits to the United States, is one visa
category where the residence abroad factor is of paramount importance.
» While that general requirement may be relaxed in order to allow an alien
to visit family members or even to visit a fiancé in the United States, the
intent of the alien must still be to return to his or her home country.
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8. Well, you say, no one knows what I was thinking. That is actually true. But
your actions may be a powerful indication of what you were thinking. For
example:
 Did you abandon your residence abroad when you came to America?
 Did you quit your job in your home country before you came to America?
 Did you get married within days of stepping off the plane when you arrived in
America?
 Did you:
• ship all of your clothes here,
• arrange to have your utilities and telephone service terminated,
• resign from your fitness club,
• close your bank accounts
• have a going away party with family and friends?
• have someone in America find a job for you here?
 Oh yes, here is another biggie:
• did you exchange love letters (emails) with your former fiancée, now spouse,
where the two of you planned your life together in America, leaving a clear
electronic trail that you had no intention of returning to your home country
to adjust status after you got married in America?
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9. » While the focus of this article is on B visas, the same proposition applies
to those who come here on other types of visas that require non-
immigrant intent, such as F, J, Q, R, and TN visas, for example.
» Now the fact is that the Department of State has developed a way of
dealing with preconceived intent issues. An experienced immigration
lawyer knows those rules and the presumptions involved. Our strong
suggestion is that you would be foolish to try to handle this problem
without the help of an experienced immigration lawyer.
» Finally, we ask you to seriously consider, is it worth the risk? We urge you
to do it the legal way.
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10. » If you have any qualms about the visa process, you may also want to read
the book No Price Too Great, which was written by the author of this
article. You can find it here once it has been published around the end of
2008: www.NoPriceTooGreat.com .
» In the meantime, you can read what others had to say about the book at
www.thesolomonlawfirm.com. And you can read the Prologue from the
book at www.thesolomonlawfirm.com.
visa process
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11. CONTACT THE SOLOMON LAW FIRM, P.C.
Main Office
510 Bering Drive, Suite 300
Houston, Texas 77057
Toll Free 888.777.6391
Fax to 713.358.5513
www.thesolomonlawfirm.com