Bringing Mother-ini-law To Us On Non-immigration (b?) Visa

[devildog683]

I found the checklist and directions online and it seems pretty simple to fill out and send in, just wondering if anybody who has done this recently has any tips that they wish someone would have told them to make the process easier.

Little background:

My wife and I have been married for 6 years this December, she has one son and they have both been residing in the states on immigrant visas since December 2006. We have a 3 year old daughter together.

We have visited her home in Thailand 5 times in the last 5 years and own land there.

My wife owns her own business here (resale store) and we have saved $10K in the last 2 months, although our tax returns from last year will show around $16K for the year since we just started the business late last year. We file taxes annually since it is a self-employed business with no employees or state sales tax (clothing not taxed in PA)

We own our home and have since April 2008.

My family lives nearby and could sign the support affidavit if necassary, even though they will make less than us and still have 4 kids at home.

Any help would be appreciated

[DirectorIntegrityLegal]

In order to obtain a tourist visa, your in-law(s) need to overcome the presumption of immigrant intent under section 214b of the Immigration and Nationality Act. There is a great deal of information on this forum about overcoming this presumption. It is fairly difficult if the applicant has family in the US with US Citizenship or Lawful Permanent Residence as this would evidence "strong ties" to the USA and "weak ties" to Thailand. That being said, the best advice is to be truthful on the application and hope for the best.

If you would like to assist them in immigrating to the USA, then something you may not have thought of is applying for naturalization for your wife and as soon as she is naturalized submitting an I-130 for her parents as immediate relatives of a US Citizen. Assuming all goes smoothly, you could expect to have her parents living in the USA within about 2 to 3 years.

I hope this was helpful.

All the Best!

Ben Hart

US Immigration Attorney

Integrity Legal

[devildog683]

In order to obtain a tourist visa, your in-law(s) need to overcome the presumption of immigrant intent under section 214b of the Immigration and Nationality Act. There is a great deal of information on this forum about overcoming this presumption. It is fairly difficult if the applicant has family in the US with US Citizenship or Lawful Permanent Residence as this would evidence "strong ties" to the USA and "weak ties" to Thailand. That being said, the best advice is to be truthful on the application and hope for the best.

If you would like to assist them in immigrating to the USA, then something you may not have thought of is applying for naturalization for your wife and as soon as she is naturalized submitting an I-130 for her parents as immediate relatives of a US Citizen. Assuming all goes smoothly, you could expect to have her parents living in the USA within about 2 to 3 years.

I hope this was helpful.

All the Best!

Ben Hart

US Immigration Attorney

Integrity Legal

Great advice, we didnt even notice that. So showing that my wife owns land there and we are planning to move to Thailand in the next 1-3 years once we have the money saved would probably help....

also any tips on the income issue?

Edited May 11, 2010 by devildog683

[DirectorIntegrityLegal]

Land in Thailand can be helpful as well as anything else that evidences "strong ties." What they are really concerned about is the idea of foreign nationals using the tourist visa to go to the USA for immigration purposes. There is no "magic bullet" piece of evidence, the officer will adjudicate the case based upon the totality of the circumstances and evidence. Again, the best advice is to tell the truth and hope for the best.

Hopefully this was helpful, I wish that I could give more substantive "tips" but these cases really are uniquely adjudicated based upon the discrete set of facts placed before the officer. 214b is a difficult presumption to overcome, but the Consular Officers are very reasonable and make intelligent decisions based upon the evidence presented. It is incumbent upon the applicants to present their best case.

All the best!

Ben Hart

US Immigration Attorney

Integrity Legal