Dominican Passport for eventual USA visa

Saludos to all those on this board.

This is my first post and I am quite excited to have stumbled upon what appears to be a very energetic and involved bunch of people.

I post here because my question is legal in nature. Maybe someone has run across this issue and found out what it best in this case. Even if it may have been after the fact in their (your) case I could learn from the experience.

My Dominican bride and I marry in May. I am from the USA but been living here a long while. She is awaiting a name change on her cedula as the oldest record of her birth certificate is different than all her other papers, (current cedula, university diploma, etc.) In any case, she has not applied for a passport until she gets back her new cedula that will match the birth certificate.

At some point we would like to visit the family in the states but are not urgent for this. Obviously she would need a passport and a visa. My question is, is there an advantage in waiting until we have our marriage documented before applying for her passport or does this not matter at all?
Does a Dominican passport indicate marriage status?
What about for the American Consulate?
Would they prefer to see that she have a passport indicating she is married?

Any ideas on this matter would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
MT

How important is timing?

You guys are great!

I will keep you informed. The main issue right now we are trying to measure is the timing. When to start each process...

What has been your experience in using local professional help. (referring to abogados not buscones :tired

details and question on K3

Again, good stuff. I looked at the referenced site and it was definitely an eye opener. :surprised

Something that may be to our advantage is that we are not under pressure economically or otherwise to visit the States soon. Ideally we would like to have the option of visiting there when need be, for a friend's wedding, for vacation, a death in the family, stuff like that. Stuff that tends to be not super foreseeable.

My future wife is a Medical Doctor but has not acquired her specialty. Here in DR that seems to mean she is a "Licenciada" instead of a "Doctora." While she may study for a specialty, we are still undecided. She has had a stable (while not high-paying) job for the past 3-4 years. She is going to be leaving that and doing something else after we are married. Both of us are principally occupied in volunteer work.

Neither of us have substantial assets here in the country or elsewhere. How does money fit into the picture?

I am leaning for first trying the Visitor visa after we have been married a while. Then depending on how that goes, maybe a K3 in the future.

A question I have about the K3, that I did not see clearly addressed is: What happens after the traveler gets to the states and changes his/her status to legal permanent resident? (I see that this is required)

Is that it? Can they move about freely? Or do they have to wait a specific time before returning home to DR?

My biggest nightmare is getting trapped in the States due to immigration status restraints.

What do you say?
Matt

Time married before visa request?

I've been working more than usual the past weeks so had not noticed that my original post had drawn so many replies. An awesome resource! Thank you so much!

It looks as shooting for the multiple entrance tourist visa may be our best shot. We will make detailed effort in our preparations so this may have the happiest of outcomes.

An additional related question: How does the time married before applying for the VISA affect our chances? I am assuming if we go straight from the Oficialia to the Consulate it makes it tougher, right?

I am glad to see that I am not the only one that prefers LIVING in DR compared to usa. Nothing against the States, I was born there. :cheeky: Don't mind visiting and very well may live there again someday.