Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing US Tourist Visas and what I kind of call "covert" Immigration. Arguably it is fraudulent Immigration, it probably is fraudulent Immigration, what is also described in the INA as intending Immigrants without proper documentation.

I got correspondence from a client recently who we assisted in getting his fiancée a K-1 Visa into the United States. Quote: "Unfortunately, one of the individuals that flew with my fiancée (I am redacting names here) that did not use your service did not make it through Immigration at the airport, (again I am redacting the name of the airport) and was sent back to Thailand, ugh." Yeah, UGH. That would be not a fun situation. There are risks associated with US Tourist Visas that people really don't take into account most notably this "intending Immigrant without proper documentation" issue. If you are using a Tourist Visa to effectively circumvent the Immigration process, go into the US and try to live there; we used to see this a lot, it was before my time really because Thailand has applied section 214(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act which mitigates a lot of this. They have applied that section of the law rather fervently in the past roughly two decades but prior to that, going back to the beginning of the 2000s, it was a pretty common thing. People would get Tourist Visas, take their girlfriend back to the US, marry them there and then file for a Green Card in the United States. US State Department in the US at the time INS which became USCIS under the Department of Homeland Security, they don't like this; that is not the way the system works and it is not the proper document. A Tourist Visa is designed for tourism, it is not designed to go to the United States to live there. 

So I don't know exactly what happened to this person but I am kind of surmising that they probably were, I have seen a lot of these, we usually see them after the fact. They have been turned around by what is called US Customs and Border Protection; they are sent back in this case to Thailand and then they have to deal with that, one of the big things is their Tourist Visa will be revoked. Now if they are lucky they will be permitted to do what's called voluntary departure, leave the United States and in a sense it is "no harm, no foul" but they are in the record as having tried to enter that way. They are probably never going to get a Tourist Visa again or at least they are not going to get one until their circumstances materially change. 

The thing to take away from this video though is if you have the intent to bring a loved one to the United States to marry them or if you are already married even to apply for a Green Card and stay there, a Tourist Visa is not the proper document to do that with. The other thing to understand about this is there could be even worse implications for trying to enter that way most notably what is called "expedited removal" or "expedited deportation" wherein you are basically put through a truncated deportation proceeding. This occurs under the IIRAIRA, it was an amendment to the Immigration Act in I think the late 90s and essentially they put you through a truncated deportation proceeding and if you are removed in that way, you are barred from returning to the United States for 5 years without a waiver. So this is something to really take into consideration when analyzing things associated with being removed from the United States because if you enter or if you try to enter and CBP turns you around you may get lucky and they just say, "just withdraw your application to enter and we are going to let you go on your way." In some circumstances, and I have personally dealt with these cases, they could say "no we are putting you through removal proceedings and you are barred from returning for 5 years.”