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- Articles>>Temporary Visitors (B, F, M, J)
Can One Get Married On a Tourist Visa? (1)
[05/05/2009]

Joseph came to the United States on a tourist visa to attend his best friend's wedding. He was an Australian national. This was Joseph first visit to the US. While here Joseph met a girl and they fell in love. Maria was a US citizen by birth. Both Joseph and Maria liked each other very much and within a week they got married. They were quite happy and wanted to settle down in the US after their marriage, but there was something that made Joseph restless

Though the marriage was entered in good faith, and Joseph had no preconceived intention of getting married while he was in the US on a tourist visa, many of his friends told him that getting married on a tourist visa was dangerous and the immigration officials will deport him back to his home country.

Joseph asked many people but, much to his surprise, he received many different answers from different people. He was now left with only one question disturbing him all the time and that was one get married while on a tourist visa?

Let's see which of Joseph's friends was correct and find the answer to his question: can one get married on tourist visa?
The basic answer generally, is yes. You may enter the US on a tourist visa, marry a US citizen then return home before your tourist visa expires. The time when you do run into trouble is when you enter the US on a tourist visa with the clear intention of marrying and staying in the US.

You might have heard stories about someone who got married in the US while on a tourist visa, didn't return home, and successfully adjusted his or her status to permanent resident. Why were these people allowed to stay? It is possible to adjust status from a tourist visa or visa waiver, but the people in this scenario were able to prove that they came to the US with honest tourist intentions and happened to make a spur-of-the-moment decision to get married. While proving that you entered the US with no preconceived intent to marry and file for adjustment of status can be difficult but not impossible.

You must remember that coming to the US with the sole intention of getting married in the US and filing for adjustment of status is deemed to be visa fraud, and US immigration officers do not take kindly to anyone they feel has committed visa fraud.

EDIT: IMMIGRATION EXPRESS
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