B-2 medical visa while CR-1 is processed?

[marends]

My wife is Chinese. We recently applied for a spouse CR-1 and submitted our I-130. We've received NOA1 and are waiting for the petition to be approved. Is it possible to get a B-2 medical visa while the CR-1 is being processed? We have all possible supporting evidence for the medical visa. We don't want to cancel the CR-1 if it's possible to do both at the same time. I've posted this question also on VisaJourney. Thanks.

[Randy W]

You might state your circumstances and how the medical B-2 would differ from a tourist visa, but

hu 2: hello ,my mom is american citixen and i already have GUZnumber ,that case take so long time and i want to see my mom by travel in this spring festival and can i get temperatory visa from shenyang embassy?i am living sheyang now and that will convenience for me and thank you for payattention about my question!have a good holiday !

 

Visa Officer Marc Cook: You are able to apply for a non-immigrant visa while your pending IV visa is being processed. But, to receive a B2 visa, you must prove to the interviewing officer that you do not intend to immigrate to the US until after completing the ongoing IV process. For obvious reasons, this is often a difficult thing to prove.

Edited February 22, 2009 by Randy W (see edit history)

[marends]

You might state your circumstances and how the medical B-2 would differ from a tourist visa, but

hu 2: hello ,my mom is american citixen and i already have GUZnumber ,that case take so long time and i want to see my mom by travel in this spring festival and can i get temperatory visa from shenyang embassy?i am living sheyang now and that will convenience for me and thank you for payattention about my question!have a good holiday !

 

Visa Officer Marc Cook: You are able to apply for a non-immigrant visa while your pending IV visa is being processed. But, to receive a B2 visa, you must prove to the interviewing officer that you do not intend to immigrate to the US until after completing the ongoing IV process. For obvious reasons, this is often a difficult thing to prove.

 

The B-2 definitely would not be for tourism. My wife has been hospitalized in Beijing for the past 6 months. Her condition is serious. She's been in three different hospitals in Beijing and has had 5 different Chinese doctors whom have tried different things to help her, with little success. We're beginning to lose faith that the Chinese medical system can help her. We've been consulting with U.S. doctors who are experts about her condition, and we can get letters from these U.S. doctors who would agree to treat her. We also need to get a letter from her current Chinese doctor recommending that she be treated in the U.S. I know we'll have to overcome the assumption of immigrant intent. Do you have any advice about how to do that? We're already married, and we've already applied for a CR-1, so she *obviously* has immigrant intent. I would assure the consular officer that Tracy would return to China after her medical treatment to finish the CR-1 process. All of her family is there, but she doesn't own a house, she does not currently have a job, and she currently doesn't even have an apartment (she moved out of her apartment when she was hospitalized because it was pointless for her to continue paying rent while she was in the hospital).

 

I just needed to know if it was indeed possible to do both a B-2 and CR-1 at the same time. From your reply, I guess the answer is Yes, it's possible? At this point, I would appreciate any advice you might have about how to overcome the assumption of immigrant intent. Thanks.

[Randy W]

We had a recent member, a cancer patient, go through "blue-slip hell" with the consulate for her IR-1 visa, so unfortunately I'm not very optimistic about your chances. Perhaps another website that specializes in medical issues, or the doctors themselves might be better able to help you.

[marends]

We had a recent member, a cancer patient, go through "blue-slip hell" with the consulate for her IR-1 visa, so unfortunately I'm not very optimistic about your chances. Perhaps another website that specializes in medical issues, or the doctors themselves might be better able to help you.

 

does the medical condition need to be "life-threatening"? Fortunately for Tracy, her condition is *not* life-threatening. Do you remember on what grounds that IR-1 member was denied? Did that member apply for a medical B-2? Cancer seems pretty serious to me. It doesn't make sense why the consulate would deny that. Perhaps that member couldn't show how treatment would be paid for (i.e., the member would become a public charge to the state if admitted)?

[Randy W]

We had a recent member, a cancer patient, go through "blue-slip hell" with the consulate for her IR-1 visa, so unfortunately I'm not very optimistic about your chances. Perhaps another website that specializes in medical issues, or the doctors themselves might be better able to help you.

 

does the medical condition need to be "life-threatening"? Fortunately for Tracy, her condition is *not* life-threatening. Do you remember on what grounds that IR-1 member was denied? Did that member apply for a medical B-2? Cancer seems pretty serious to me. It doesn't make sense why the consulate would deny that. Perhaps that member couldn't show how treatment would be paid for (i.e., the member would become a public charge to the state if admitted)?

 

No, sorry for not being clear there. Her husband was living with her in Fujian province, and (I think) the cancer was in remission, so there was no hurry, and no B2 application. They did need a co-spanosr.

 

Being from Fujian, the consulate suspected fraud - even interviewing them in separate rooms

 

My point was that even with her medical condition, they received no special consideration from GUZ. Hopefully, you'll get a better reception.

[marends]

We had a recent member, a cancer patient, go through "blue-slip hell" with the consulate for her IR-1 visa, so unfortunately I'm not very optimistic about your chances. Perhaps another website that specializes in medical issues, or the doctors themselves might be better able to help you.

 

does the medical condition need to be "life-threatening"? Fortunately for Tracy, her condition is *not* life-threatening. Do you remember on what grounds that IR-1 member was denied? Did that member apply for a medical B-2? Cancer seems pretty serious to me. It doesn't make sense why the consulate would deny that. Perhaps that member couldn't show how treatment would be paid for (i.e., the member would become a public charge to the state if admitted)?

 

No, sorry for not being clear there. Her husband was living with her in Fujian province, and (I think) the cancer was in remission, so there was no hurry, and no B2 application. They did need a co-spanosr.

 

Being from Fujian, the consulate suspected fraud - even interviewing them in separate rooms

 

My point was that even with her medical condition, they received no special consideration from GUZ. Hopefully, you'll get a better reception.

 

yea, I'm aware that there will be no special consideration for expediting the CR-1. We're ready for the long wait for that and have no intention to push it. We just need to know if we are allowed to apply for the medical B-2 simultaneously while the CR-1 is processed. Tracy is already on my medical insurance in the U.S. as my wife. I own a house and can pay her medical expenses, so none of that should be a problem. I think we just need to overcome the assumption of immigrant intent.

[Randy W]

Of course, you can apply for a B-2, but even without a pending CR-1, the approval rate is fairly low (around 20-50%).

 

Perhaps someone else will have something to contribute here.

[marends]

Of course, you can apply for a B-2, but even without a pending CR-1, the approval rate is fairly low (around 20-50%).

 

Perhaps someone else will have something to contribute here.

 

Thanks, Randy. We'll see who else chimes in here. Fortunately, pushbrk on VJ has already begun replying to my post. He usually has some good tips.