Q & A October 26, 2003
Q & A 1 2 3
Dear Mr. Lee:
I filed I-730 forms for my daughter and husband, and they were
approved in 9/02 and 10/02, respectively. There is no reply yet.
Currently, my daughter goes to school in U.K.
Questions:
- How much longer do we have to wait until we get the interview
notice from the United States Embassy in Beijing? How long after
the interview will they be able to enter the U.S.?
- Can my daughter apply for an F-1 visa in U.K. with an I-20
of a U.S. university? Or does she need to go back to China to
apply? Will the U.K. visa on her passport brings a negative effect
at her interview?
- Will it affect her F-1 visa application if the council realizes
her I-730 was approved?
- Can she request the consul to expedite her I-730 case with
an I-20, so that when she goes to school in the U.S., she will
have a B-2 visa, instead of an F-1 visa?
- If the consul rejects her F-1 visa, will she encounter any
problems when interviewed for her I-730 case?
- Can she adjust to an I-730 status after entering the U.S. with
an F-1 visa?
- I have a job and file for tax return in the U.S., will it be
helpful for their visa petition cases?
Jenny
Massachusetts
Dear reader:
- It is difficult to state the waiting time to receive an interview
notice from the American Embassy in Beijing. The processing overseas
now appears to be very slow. In the past year, we have seen processing
times exceed a year from the date of I-730 approval. We have also
seen cases in which security clearances were not completed by
the date of interview, and the applicants have had to wait months
after interview for security to be completed. We were, however,
pleasantly surprised at a recent I-730 which cleared processing
in the States and then took less than three months to be scheduled
for interview overseas.
- Since your daughter is studying in the UK at the present time,
she can apply for an F-1 visa in the U.K.. If the consular officer
believes that U.S. consular officers in China would be better
able to know your daughter situation, they can refuse the visa
in the U.K.. I do not believe that the U.K. visa on your daughter's
passport will have a negative effect as it shows that she has
traveled around, but returned to China to apply for a U.S. visa.
- It is possible that the U.S. consul will look negatively at
the request for F-1 visa if he or she knows that an I-730 follow
to join asylum petition has already been approved on your daughter's
behalf. An F-1 visa presupposes a non immigrant intent -- that
your daughter has no intentions to immigrate to the U.S.. That
would be belied by the I-730 approval.
- If your daughter enters the United States with an I-730 approval,
she will be allowed to attend schooling in the U.S. without the
need for further status changes.
- If your daughter applies for an F-1 visa disclosing all relevant
facts of the I-730 petition upon request, she should not have
any problems on that score while she is interviewing for the I-730
case.
- Yes, it is possible to adjust to I-730 status after entering
the U.S. with an F-1 visa.
- Questions of financial support are generally not relevant to
I-730 processing.
Dear Sir or Madam:
One of my friends has a G-5 Visa. She intends to change it to another
kind of visa, so she can stay in the U.S. before her G-5 visa is
expired.
Question:
Is it possible for her to change her G-5 visa to whatever fits her?
Mei
Dear reader:
A G-5 visa holder is an attendant, servant or personal employee
of persons in the G-1 through G-4 categories or a member of the
immediate family. The G category is restricted to representatives
to and employees of international organizations, eg United Nations,
World Bank. In order for your friend to change status, the law provides
that the change of status request must be accompanied by a form
I-566 (Interagency Record of Individual Requesting Change/Adjustment
to, or from, A or G Status; or Requesting A, G or NATO Dependent
Employment Authorization), completed and endorsed in accordance
with the instructions on the form; and that if the Department of
State recommends against the change, the application for change
of classification is to be denied. If she is able to secure the
requisite approval on the I-566, her application for change of status
would then be on the same footing as any other applicant's for change
of status in the United States.
Dear Sir or Madam,
I have a friend who entered the United States with a visitor’s
visa to visit her husband. While she was in the States, she asked
a lawyer to extend her visa. Unfortunately, her lawyer failed to
let her know that it wasn’t extended and was expired in June
2002. Now, she is an illegal visitor.
This May, her husband applied for naturalization.
Question:
- Can her husband apply for her permanent residence without leaving
the State?
- What is the proper way of handling this issue?
Anonymous
Massachusetts
Dear reader:
An individual who overstays the period of time in the U.S. and
becomes married to a U.S. citizen under most conditions would be
allowed to adjust status to permanent residence without leaving
the United States. As soon as her husband finishes the naturalization
process, he can apply for her permanent residence.
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