Saipan

[Saipanpilot]

I'm American and my girl friend is from mainland China. She currently is working as a foreign worker in Saipan with a CW01. I want to bring her to the states to stay with me but not sure of the best course of action. Ideally I'd like her to be able to come here as soon as possible with as little red tape as we can manage. We've been dating for over a year and i met here while I was living in Saipan. The options seem to be for me to travel there, get married and apply for green card, then come back to the states, or for her to go back to China and apply for a K-1 Visa. She has a full time job in Saipan and does not wish to go back to China if she can avoid it. I also only have 1 week vacation I can take to go out to Saipan and marry her. I met with immigration when I was in Saipan last year and they had expressed a willingness to let her come to the USA and do her green card interview here since I was leaving the Island and wouldn't be able to stay with her in Saipan for the process. I'm not sure if they would still do that now. I have also heard they're been approving me travel visas now than in the past. We are both in our early 20s.

[warpedbored]

If you were still living in Saipan the quickest possible option would be a DCF (direct consular filing) Not all consulates allow this, it varies from country to country. She is not going to be able to come to the US and await a visa interview here. It is possible she could come to the US on a tourist visa, marry and file for adjustment of status. There is risk though. The interviewing officer could decide she came on a tourist visa to circumvent the spousal visa process. This could result in a denial and a ban. I wouldn't advise it. This leaves two other options. You can file now for a K-1 visa without going back to Saipan. I believe this would require her to go to China for the visa interview. The other option is to go to Saipan, marry and file an I-130 for a spousal visa. I believe she would interview in the country where the marriage took place. This way she wouldn't have to quit her job and go to China. Others will be along shortly to correct me if I'm wrong and or add more detail. Welcome to CFL.

Carl

[Randy W]

If you were still living in Saipan the quickest possible option would be a DCF (direct consular filing) Not all consulates allow this, it varies from country to country. She is not going to be able to come to the US and await a visa interview here. It is possible she could come to the US on a tourist visa, marry and file for adjustment of status. There is risk though. The interviewing officer could decide she came on a tourist visa to circumvent the spousal visa process. This could result in a denial and a ban. I wouldn't advise it. This leaves two other options. You can file now for a K-1 visa without going back to Saipan. I believe this would require her to go to China for the visa interview. The other option is to go to Saipan, marry and file an I-130 for a spousal visa. I believe she would interview in the country where the marriage took place. This way she wouldn't have to quit her job and go to China. Others will be along shortly to correct me if I'm wrong and or add more detail. Welcome to CFL.

Carl

 

 

Saipan is an unincorporated US Territory, so any rules that apply to U.S. residents or foreign workers also apply here.

 

If they will allow her to enter the U.S., why not simply work with immigrations and take the best approach? It sounds like you've already decided that going back to China isn't in the cards. So any visa they are willing to issue that would allow her to travel to the U.S. AFTER marriage and filing her Adjustment of Status application would be the way to go - even if she needs to await the processing of an I-130.

 

Seems like filing an I-130 and I-485 together would be an option to adjust status from her present visa.