You are a US m-ssionary living abroad, and you are married to someone who is not a US citizen. You have a potential problem — U.S. immigration. Sooner or later you are going to want to bring your wife or husband home to meet your family. Or sooner or later you will need to come to the US to fundraise or for some time away from the m-ssion field. Or, maybe it is time for you to come to the U.S. to live for the next several years or the rest of your life. Will you be able to do that? Will U.S. immigration allow it?
The first question is, can your spouse come to the US as a tourist? A tourist can only come to the US temporarily. But for many, that is all that is wanted. A few short tips a year You can also take occasional longer trips — 6 months to a year. And surely the fact that your spouse is married to a US citizen will help smooth the process.
Actually, it is not at all certain that your spouse will be able to come to the US as a tourist. And the fact that you are a U.S. citizen actually makes it more difficult for your spouse to get a tourist visa. The problem is that a tourist visa is for a person who only wants to come for a visit, and who fully intends on returning home to his home country after the visit. But, you have to prove that intention to the person at the consulate and to the person at the border. If they are doubtful about your intent to stay in the US, they will deny you a visa or entrance into the US.
They will look at a number of factors. Is your spouse from a country where most people do not over stay, or is she from a country where a high-percentage of people do over stay. How strong are your ties to the other country? The longer the two of you have lived abroad the more likely they are to believe that you intend on returning there. The fact that your spouse is married to an American makes it more likely that he will want to stay in the US, because it is rather easy for a person married to a US citizen to “change his mind” and decide to stay.
Some people find it very difficult to get tourist visas — even if they have been married a long time and have lived for years in a foreign country. For these people, the only option is immigration. The US citizen spouse will file a petition for them and, once it has completed its processing, they go to the consulate, get an immigrant visa and come to the US. If they intend on staying here in the US that is the end of the process.
However, if they want to continue being m-ssionaries abroad, there are two other options. The first, if the non-U.S. citizen spouse doesn’t want to become a U.S. citizen, she can apply for a Re-entry Permit. The Re-entry Permit will allow her to stay out of the US for up to two years at a time for the first four or five years, and then one year at a time. The downside is that it costs about $600 each time you need to renew it. And, you always face the possibility of a grilling from a suspicious U.S. customs officer.
The other option for a spouse of a U.S. m-ssionary who wants to continue serving abroad is citizenship. Normally, you have to wait three or five years, and spend most of that time in the US before you can get US citizenship. But the spouse of a U.S. citizen m-ssionary can usually apply for citizenship immediately after he gets his green card. The advantage of this is that puts an end to all the questions about coming and going and “will I have trouble when I enter?” questions. Just so you know, the US fully allows dual citizenship — but some foreign countries do not.
I hope this is interesting and helpful. Remember that this is not legal advice. It is just a summary of certain aspects of immigration law which may or may not apply to your situation. I encourage you to consult an attorney if you think any of this may apply to your situation.
Gunnar Armstrong