Subtopic	Posts		Updated
	Archive 01	50		2002/08/05, 11:11 am
	Archive 02	50		2004/02/09, 01:37 pm

Read the Consulate in Rio on what to do web site..

The consulate there does things different then other places in Latin America.

I know a guy who married a lady in Brazil, then applied to get her a visa at the consulate in Rio.

Within three months she has papers to get here, and will have a Green Card when she gets here.

The US immigration process for marrying a person within a country can be different in each country in South America. But for the short of it, it is possible to get married in Brazil, and get a visa for your wife without ever having to talk to the INS, or hiring an attorney.

Read the US Consulate Web Site Carefully. If you do exactly what they say, my friend got a visa for his wife within 3 months after marrying her in Brazil, did not hire an attorney, and never had to deal with the INS. Now she is here in the USA, and they are living happily ever after.

It really can happen.

OH

OH
What you say is true IF she were in Brazil. She's in the US. Fiance visas are *not* given to those that are already in the US.

If she were to return to Brazil, and they wed there, then he could petition for a spousal visa, which is different from a fiance visa. Of course, she would be subject to the ban, because of her current overstay in the US. That's not a 3 month process.

RJ

How about if she snuck out of the USA - say she walked across the border into Mexico - and then made her way home to Brazil. Could she claim she left the USA on time, and that the INS just failed to stamp her passport when she left?

yes, but then the INS would compel her to produce convincing evidence that she left the country when she claimed, which is much more difficult.

It's far more straightforward at this point to attempt to adjust her status now that she's here.

RJ

Curious, the INS does not stamp passports when people leave, so they really have no idea if she is here or not. That's the stated point of US-VISIT - the government generally knows when someone arrives, unless they hop the border, but they have no way of knowing if someone leaves.

A good story to build is the one you've mentioned. She was here, and left before her 90 days (or whatever visa she had) was up. I doubt if they could ever verify it one way or another.

Cat

For Thais it is easy (for about 3,000 baht) to get the Thai Immigration people to back date a re-entry to Thailand stamp in their passport-- making it look like they never overstayed. My ex-GF used that ploy many times to overstay her tourist visa here. I do not know if Govt officials are as corrupt in Brazil.
Sometimes it is good to have a corrupt government !!

KM,

Interesting point about the backdated passport.

Current status is that she plans to return to Brazil in December. She claims to have spoken to an atty here in the NYC area that told her she can fix it all, and that marrying some hombre will get her papers in 90 days.

I disputed this claim, referring to some internet horror stories of deported spouses, etc. Her evidence is that "it worked once for person X".

Thanks for the advice.

DG

Once the INS figures out that the date her visa expired and the date her passport is stamped with entry back in to Brazil is greatly different, they will want to know where she`s been. Most likely they deal with this all the time, they could refuse her new fiance visa for any reason, they don`t have to prove she over stayed her visa, they could ask her to prove she didn`t. In today`s world you leave a huge paper trail every where you go, got any credit card transaction or atm card transaction in the US or at this place you went to after you left the US, WHAT ?? you went to the US and then to another country for a very long stay and you never had one single transaction of any kind , if she says she went to Mexico then what flight did you fly back to Brazil on ? She better be on a flight that orginates in Mexico when she return s to Brazil. I don`t think it would be that difficult to reach a fairly good suspcion that she over stayed her visa.