Status adjustment interviews for marriage in the United States have become more challenging for those who entered on a tourist visa and overstayed their allowed time. Immigration attorney Liudmila Marcelo, in an interview with Tania Costa for CiberCuba, warned that USCIS officials are no longer just verifying that the applicant has no criminal record: they are now going much further.
"What is happening now is that they are not only going to rely on whether you are a person without a record and everything is fine. They are going to go a bit further," explained Marcelo, pointing out that the new scrutiny in status adjustments is a response to a tightening of immigration policies that intensified after the USCIS policy memorandum PM-602-0199, issued on May 21, 2026.
According to the lawyer, the officers are asking specific questions that could lead to the denial of immigration benefits.
"They are asking you: why did you stay longer than the established time? Why didn't you wait outside your country to carry out this process? What problems do you have that prevent you from going to complete a consular process?" Marcelo detailed.
Those most exposed to this scrutiny are those who entered with a tourist visa, whose visa has expired and later married a U.S. citizen, or those who have a citizen child over the age of 21 years.
Marcelo emphasized that several cases have already been reported and that lawyers are identifying the pattern of questions that officials are asking, hence he warned: "Now is not the time to attend these types of interviews" without proper preparation.
The central legal point explained by the attorney is the intent at the moment of entry.
«You cannot have entered with that tourist visa with the intention of adjusting your status later,» Marcelo stated, recalling that the tourist visa permits a stay of three months and that for those already planning to marry, there is the K-1 visa, known as fiancé visa.
"If the officer only has the idea that you used that tourist visa to enter, get married afterwards, and adjust your status, you are using a visa with completely incorrect intent," the lawyer clarified.
This improper use may be regarded as a false statement before immigration, with direct consequences.
"If you enter with a tourist visa thinking about your marriage and your adjustment right away, you are lying. And for that reason, they can also deny your adjustment of status," Marcelo warned.
The lawyer clarified that discretion in status adjustment is not new. "Discretion has always existed, even for status adjustments under the Cuban Adjustment Act, which is not affected by this." However, the current level of scrutiny far exceeds what was applied before, when having a clean record was sufficient.
In that regard, Marcelo insisted that transparency is the only reliable strategy. "It's always better to be told no because you told the truth, than to be told yes because you hid the truth, only for it to later come to light, because in that case, you'll be left with no options."
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