Members tassojunior Posted November 10, 2017 Members Posted November 10, 2017 After 7 months of seeing my Argentine friend we find that he overstayed his visa meaning he would be barred from the US for 7 years if he goes to see his family. There are no appeal grounds to extend his stay and the "easiest" visa to apply for is a marriage green card application ( I think there are also fiancee 90-day visas). Although he "lives" in Ft. Lauderdale and I "live" in DC we have been together 2 to 3 weeks a month since I met him. Many people have asked why we don't make it official anyway without knowing the visa issue. I don't know this would last as he's bi and I would certainly want a pre-nupital agreement as I assume we may split after the 6-8 months it takes. But it seems the only/best way to a visa. Somehow I think there may be experience or knowledge on this issue here. Any help much appreciated, especially on the pre-nup part. Quote
Members unicorn Posted November 10, 2017 Members Posted November 10, 2017 You should definitely invest in a talk with an attorney or two before doing that. One attorney would be an immigration attorney. I doubt that a brief marriage would pass muster. There would definitely be visits by BCIS officers to your place of residence. Since Argentina is a place where there's little persecution of gays, and, in fact, same-sex marriage is legal, I doubt he could apply for asylum successfully. A sham marriage could subject both of you to criminal prosecution. The other attorney would be a divorce attorney to find out how much you'd be on the hook for, even with a prenup. In California, during a divorce, you have to split up any money saved in a 401(k), 403(b), or 457 plan, regardless of what any prenup says. Due to this rule, I can't imagine getting married myself. Quote
Members Lucky Posted November 10, 2017 Members Posted November 10, 2017 Green card marriages can be quite difficult. What is your incentive to do this? I mean, what's in it for you? Because it will require a lot of work on your part. tassojunior 1 Quote
Members tassojunior Posted November 11, 2017 Author Members Posted November 11, 2017 I'm aware that community property states like California can invalidate many pre-nup terms. I'm also aware that pre-nups have to clearly disclose assets, advise the other party to have an attorney look it over, be done at least a week before, etc. Also I'd want jurisdiction in a quickie divorce state. I do love the guy, we've mostly been together 7 months, and there doesn't seem to be any other way to get him a visa. Because he's overstayed he would be prohibited from returning to the US for 7 years otherwise. Quote
Members FluffPersian Posted November 11, 2017 Members Posted November 11, 2017 3 hours ago, tassojunior said: After 7 months of seeing my Argentine friend we find that he overstayed his visa meaning he would be barred from the US for 7 years if he goes to see his family. There are no appeal grounds to extend his stay and the "easiest" visa to apply for is a marriage green card application ( I think there are also fiancee 90-day visas). Although he "lives" in Ft. Lauderdale and I "live" in DC we have been together 2 to 3 weeks a month since I met him. Many people have asked why we don't make it official anyway without knowing the visa issue. I don't know this would last as he's bi and I would certainly want a pre-nupital agreement as I assume we may split after the 6-8 months it takes. But it seems the only/best way to a visa. Somehow I think there may be experience or knowledge on this issue here. Any help much appreciated, especially on the pre-nup part. It's very difficult to come up with an airtight prenup. People often argue that they were coerced into signing etc. Be careful. tassojunior 1 Quote
Members tassojunior Posted November 11, 2017 Author Members Posted November 11, 2017 59 minutes ago, FluffPersian said: It's very difficult to come up with an airtight prenup. People often argue that they were coerced into signing etc. Be careful. Thats exactly what I'm seeing online. Very scarey. Quote
Members tassojunior Posted November 11, 2017 Author Members Posted November 11, 2017 If we can find another type visa for him it would be better obviously. But he is uniquely nice as a person and the thought of him being barred for 7 years is hard. He could just stay but he wouldn't be able to visit his family in Argentina. Quote
Members unicorn Posted November 11, 2017 Members Posted November 11, 2017 19 hours ago, tassojunior said: I'm aware that community property states like California can invalidate many pre-nup terms. I'm also aware that pre-nups have to clearly disclose assets, advise the other party to have an attorney look it over, be done at least a week before, etc. Also I'd want jurisdiction in a quickie divorce state. I do love the guy, we've mostly been together 7 months, and there doesn't seem to be any other way to get him a visa. Because he's overstayed he would be prohibited from returning to the US for 7 years otherwise. If you really do love the man, marry him for real. If you don't love him enough to marry him for real, don't marry him at all. A sham marriage is going to involve messy legal problems, especially for you. numerito and MsGuy 1 1 Quote
Members tassojunior Posted November 12, 2017 Author Members Posted November 12, 2017 I really do love him but I have considerable assets and he doesnt. I can't plan on it being forever.....It's been day to day for 7 months. He's one person I would trust and would tear me up out of my life. The thought of him being barred from the US is awful. If there's another type visa Ill check on that first. Everyone we know assumes we're in love and assumes we're marriage bound. But I know how that goes. Without an ironclad prenup I would not do it. But the thought of him being banned is too much.The feelings are sincere. Quote
Members unicorn Posted November 12, 2017 Members Posted November 12, 2017 Well, I don't know how considerable your considerable assets are, but if you have $1 million to invest (or even $500,000 in certain instances), there is the EB-5 visa program which will give a green card to those investing in businesses which will employ at least 10 American workers... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EB-5_visa Tartegogo 1 Quote
Members msclelovr Posted November 16, 2017 Members Posted November 16, 2017 I feel you've had good advice here @tassojunior. I can only add to the warnings not to engage in a sham marriage as there are severe penalties for both of you. On the immigration front, the lawyers at Barst Mukamal & Kleiner are the best. When I looked into this myself, 3 heavyweight law-firms separately recommended BM&K as the specialists to hire. On the question of protecting your assets, I'd also recommend you pay a firm of lawyers of his choice to advise your friend on the prenuptial agreement. This may cost you an extra $6-10,000 in fees but save you much more later. You should ensure that you enter into the prenuptial agreement long before you get married (so there can be no argument that he was pressured into signing). Quote
Members Cany10011 Posted November 16, 2017 Members Posted November 16, 2017 I know a number of people who have entered into these arrangements... unfortunately, the potential of getting caught for fraud would frighten most law abiding citizens. Fortunately, for the individuals i know, they made it happen and it worked for them, so who says it can't work for you? If you 2 are in love, you should marry and his obtaining a visa would be an added bonus. If the intention is not to marry for longterm (who defines that really?) then probably finding an alternate visa would help. Does he have any special skillls or awards? If so, he might consider an O visa. Otherwise, perhaps he return to a language school for an F1 visa? You could also consider loaning him 500K for an EB5 visa (if it still exists- i think it may have ended a few months ago). Quote
Members tassojunior Posted November 17, 2017 Author Members Posted November 17, 2017 19 hours ago, Cany10011 said: I know a number of people who have entered into these arrangements... unfortunately, the potential of getting caught for fraud would frighten most law abiding citizens. Fortunately, for the individuals i know, they made it happen and it worked for them, so who says it can't work for you? If you 2 are in love, you should marry and his obtaining a visa would be an added bonus. If the intention is not to marry for longterm (who defines that really?) then probably finding an alternate visa would help. Does he have any special skillls or awards? If so, he might consider an O visa. Otherwise, perhaps he return to a language school for an F1 visa? You could also consider loaning him 500K for an EB5 visa (if it still exists- i think it may have ended a few months ago). Yes, "Long-Term" doesn't mean much. We do love each other but the odds are against it lasting. We've spoken to two immigration attorneys and they are the ones big on marriage.....they don't factor in the pre-nupt part because they're not family lawyers. He came on a language school visa arranged by a outfit that took his $1500 but then they failed to set a class date with INS and so they revoked that visa. Getting switched to a new language school with a waiver seems to be less than a 50/50 chance according to the immigration lawyers. And depending on when INS calculates the over-stay he could be barred for 10 years. Immigration has gotten really overly-harsh lately. Quote
