Thinking of Doing DCF - Getting a Philippine Permanent Residency Visa First

[mr_frost]

Hi there! A little back story before my question, we were planning of getting married using K1 visa but my job tried getting me an H1B as well. So we decided not to pursue K1 (we were still in the planning stage anyway so we haven't done anything yet). So anyway, due to the numbers of applicants and quota, US Immigration did a lottery which I unfortunately was not picked. And since we wanted to get married, we just decided to use my B1/B2 visa that I have been using previously.

Now we are married for a couple of weeks and we are thinking of doing DCF. Of course, to do that, my wife needs to be in the Philippines for at least 6 months. And hence, she needs Permanent Residency. Has anyone done the same thing we are thinking of doing? How was it? What was your experience in getting Permanent Residency in the Philippine Consulate in NYC?

[rayb]

Mr Frost,

You're doing this the long way around. If you are here on a B2 visa, and decided to get married, you now have a legal basis to apply for Permanent Resident status and remain in the U.S. All you need do is submit forms I-130 and I-485, with supporting documents, at the same time. The process will take about 6 months for you to be interviewed.

--Ray B

Hi there! A little back story before my question, we were planning of getting married using K1 visa but my job tried getting me an H1B as well. So we decided not to pursue K1 (we were still in the planning stage anyway so we haven't done anything yet). So anyway, due to the numbers of applicants and quota, US Immigration did a lottery which I unfortunately was not picked. And since we wanted to get married, we just decided to use my B1/B2 visa that I have been using previously.

Now we are married for a couple of weeks and we are thinking of doing DCF. Of course, to do that, my wife needs to be in the Philippines for at least 6 months. And hence, she needs Permanent Residency. Has anyone done the same thing we are thinking of doing? How was it? What was your experience in getting Permanent Residency in the Philippine Consulate in NYC?

[mr_frost]

Yea but we decided to get married even before I got here. It's just that when we found out that I didn't make the cut for H1B, it was too late (around June - July time) to do K1 so I just went and use my B1/B2 I have been using. Do you think I'll be questioned for that? My wife and I are basically clueless so we badly need help on what to actually do. We don't want to break any law either and just want to be together.

If I only knew how many applied for H1B this year, we would have taken the K1 route!

[rayb]

Immediate relatives of U.S. citizens are eligible to convert their nonimmigrant visa status to Permanent Resident without leaving the U.S.

--Ray B

Yea but we decided to get married even before I got here. It's just that when we found out that I didn't make the cut for H1B, it was too late (around June - July time) to do K1 so I just went and use my B1/B2 I have been using. Do you think I'll be questioned for that? My wife and I are basically clueless so we badly need help on what to actually do. We don't want to break any law either and just want to be together.

If I only knew how many applied for H1B this year, we would have taken the K1 route!