Published on Lawyers.com and the Epoch Times on September 27, 2013

Q & A 1. 2. 3. 4.

Q&A 1.


Can I Change My B2 Tourist Visa While in USA to a F1 Student Visa.


Mr. Lee answers:

Provided that you did not have the intent to be a student at the time that you entered the US, you may be able to change status to F-1 student in the States provided you have the proper I-20 school acceptance form and adequate financial support. Kindly note that U.S.C.I.S. does not issue visas – it only issues changes of status. In the event that you must leave the country after you change status, you would have to visit the American consulate or embassy and apply for the F-1 visa to return unless you are a national of Canada.


Q&A 2.

I am Getting Married With an US Citizen While on a J1 Visa. Can I Still Work Until My Work Permit Expires?

I know you don't get a work authorization until a few months after u get married. However, I am getting married the 24th of August and my visa expires the 13th of October. Can I still work until then?

Mr. Lee answers:

If you have work authorization under your J-1 visa until October 13th, you can continue working on the status until that date regardless of whether you have already filed an I 485 adjustment of status application. Such filing does not invalidate your current nonimmigrant status.



Q&A 3.

My I-539 Was Denied and My I-94 Has Expired, What Can I Do? Please Help.

Mr. Lee answers:

Where the I-539 is denied and I-94 expired, an individual has certain choices. If you believe that the decision was incorrect, you can file a motion to reopen or reconsider within 30 days on form I-290B. If you do that and U.S.C.I.S. approves the motion, then you will have incurred no illegal time. The difficulty may arise that the agency may not adjudicate the motion within six months. Then you would be on the horns of the dilemma since you would have been accruing illegal presence since the I-539 denial date (assuming that the filing was timely). If you have illegal presence of 180 days, you would be barred from returning to the States for three years if you left the country. Persons who have motions which are pending close to the six month mark would have to make a decision as to whether to leave the country and avoid the three-year bar or staying in the country for the result of the motion adjudication in the hopes that the decision would be overturned. Another option available to you would be to seek any other type of available nonimmigrant status and have the visa consular processed overseas. And of course, many individuals overstay their visa statuses and remain illegal in the States in the hopes that they can later legalize their statuses. That is not a course that we would recommend.


Q&A 4.

What is the Best Immigration Form or Approach

My husband is here in the us since age 16 however he can not prove the timeline. we are now married and expecting our child how can he become legal ? what is the steps to do so ?

Mr. Lee answers:

I assume by your concern over your husband's age of 16 that you were both thinking that he might qualify for the administration's program, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. Another alternative available to your husband if you are a US citizen may be the administration's other signature program, the I-601A under which you would apply for his I-130 alien relative petition; he would apply for an I-601A provisional waiver while here based upon extreme hardship to you; and upon approval, consular process the rest of his paperwork at his home country's American Embassy or Consulate. The I-601A program offers a much better choice for consular processing than prior practice under which the petitioner would file the I-130, have it consular processed, the applicant interview overseas, be denied, and only then given the opportunity to apply for the waiver. The other alternative for your husband is for him to remain in the States and await the results of this year's debate on comprehensive immigration reform.

 

 

Copyright © 2003-2013 Alan Lee, Esq.
The information provided here is of a general nature and may not apply to any particular set of facts or circumstances. It should not be construed as legal advice and does not constitute an engagement of the Law Office of Alan Lee or establish an attorney-client relationship.

 
   
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