Can a spouse of a U.S. citizen visit the U.S. without intentions to stay there permanently?

Upvote:2

Ideally, Alice and Bob would like the freedom to enter and leave the U.S. at any time and stay for as long or as short as they like, and as often or as rarely as they like.

The simple fact is: this freedom will be next to impossible to achieve.

If Bob wishes to visit for extended periods of time with his US spouse, the authorities will almost certainly suspect immigrant intent, and the only way to convince them that Bob won't settle in the US is bringing solid proof that Alice also isn't going to settle there anytime soon.

And even then, that evidence is going to mean less and less if Bob and Alice keep visiting often for long periods of time. Bob will eventually get in trouble for this.

So sorry to say this, but US law just isn't designed to fit the desires of Alice and Bob. The authorities want to be able to clearly profile each foreigner: either they're a visitor, in which case they don't normally spend extended periods of time there, or they're a resident, in which case they consistently live there.

Upvote:2

Ideally, Alice and Bob would like the freedom to enter and leave the U.S. at any time and stay for as long or as short as they like, and as often or as rarely as they like.

This freedom is only guaranteed to US citizens, therefore the only proper answer to your question is: have Bob become a US citizen. It will take time, effort and dealing with the bureaucratic machinery but at the end of the day Bob will be free to do whatever he wants in the US, whenever he feels like it.

Upvote:6

The only appropriate visa would be a visitor visa (or visit on the Visa Waiver Program, if Bob's nationality is part of the VWP; or if Bob is Canadian, just enter as a visitor without visa), since Bob's intention is to visit temporarily and leave. Yes, he might be denied the visa for failing to overcome the presumption of immigrant intent. He should provide strong evidence of his ties to his home country, that he doesn't intent do leave that country in the near future, that his US citizen spouse doesn't intent to leave that country in the near future either, etc.

There are nonimmigrant visas that are not affected by immigrant intent, e.g. H or L work visas, but he is not intending to work in the US. Applying to immigrate would involve a long and expensive process, and, as you said, he doesn't intent to stay in the US, so would lose his permanent residency anyway, so it's a big waste.

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