Articles Posted in Change of Status

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Can you apply for a green card while you are inside of the United States on a tourist visa? In this video, attorney Jacob Sapochnick addresses this important topic.

Overview

B1/B2 Tourist Visa and Nonimmigrant Intent

The B1/B2 tourist visa is a nonimmigrant visa type that allows foreign nationals to visit the United States temporarily for one specified purpose, to engage in tourism or engage in permitted business activities like attending a business conference. The maximum period that a B1/B2 visitor can remain in the United States is 6 months.

Those traveling on such a visa must maintain what is called “non-immigrant” intent when arriving to the United States, meaning that travelers must intend to depart to their home country at the conclusion of their trip.

Misrepresenting your true intentions for traveling to the United States may spell disaster for you in the future and lead to serious immigration consequences including a bar on your future entry to the U.S., due to misrepresentation or fraud.

Those who intend to live or work in the United States must apply for the appropriate visa type and should not enter the United States on a B1/B2 visa.

Change in Circumstances After Arrival in the U.S.

Now let’s imagine that after your arrival to the United States on a B1/B2 visa, your life circumstances have changed. You’ve become engaged to a U.S. Citizen, you’ve secured a job offer for your dream job and your employer wants to sponsor you for a green card, what happens in these situations? Is it possible for you to change your status from a tourist to a permanent resident? The answer is it depends.

The key consideration here is whether you maintained “non-immigrant” intent at the time of your entry to the United States. Under immigration law, a temporary visa holder who enters the United States and gets married or files their green card application within 90 days of their entry, is presumed to have misrepresented his or her true intentions for traveling to the United States on a temporary visa. Such individuals are generally not eligible to apply for adjustment of status to permanent residence (a green card) from inside the United States.

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In this video, we touch on a very common question: what are the possibilities of changing your status after a visa overstay?

If a person comes to the United States on a visa, whether it is a tourist visa or a student visa, there is a duration of stay that is attached to the visa. To determine the amount of time you are allowed to remain in the United States you must obtain your I-94 arrival/departure record from the CBP website.

If you entered the United States on a tourist visa you can typically stay for up to six months, and you can extend your stay for another six months. During your initial authorized stay, you may change your status to another category such as a student or investor visa. Once you have overstayed and essentially lost your legal status, it is very difficult to change to another legal status.

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