Can my wife enter U.S. with her current B1 visa after I filed I-130 fo

[zjyxh]

Hello Everyone,

 

Your help is greatly appreciated. My wife currently works in Beijing. She has had 10 yrs B1 Visa before we married in U.S. in 2016. Now she plans to retire in 2 yrs. We are thinking maybe it's time to start I-130, CR1, and so on. But we are not so sure what is going to happen to her current B1 Visa.

1. Can she still use her current B1 travel to/from U.S.?

2. If not, what other traveling document does she need to apply during the period while she would be waiting for her CR1 visa?

3. What any other possible options might be available for her to be able to travel to/from U.S. while she would be waiting for her CR1 visa?

 

Thanks a lot in advance

[dnoblett]

Do you live in Beijing with her? If so, why not wait until closer to the time she intends to move to the states? If living in China the processing time from filing an I-130 to getting the spouse visa is around 4 months. DCF. Or you could always take an extended visit shortly before intending to immigrate and file the I-130 there for the faster process. Lastly if this is done closer to 2 years of marriage the resulting green card will be a ten year unconditional card if use of the IR-1 visa takes place after 2 years of marriage.

 

1. Yes the visit visa is still valid, however the POE may or may not block entry if they suspect she may simply stay in the states and file an I-485 to adjust status based on the pending I-130

 

2. No such thing. At one time a person may file an I-129F for a K-3 visa, but that was at a time when the I-130 was taking an excessive time to process, now a days they simply tie the two petitions together and send them together to DOS at the same time where NVC drops the I-129F.

 

3. The B-2 is the only option.

[zjyxh]

1. Yes the visit visa is still valid, however the POE may or may not block entry if they suspect she may simply stay in the states and file an I-485 to adjust status based on the pending I-130

 

 

Thanks for your advices. My wife should have round trip airline tickets when she travels to/from U.S.. Does that help her at POE even though her I-130 may still be pending?

[dnoblett]

 

1. Yes the visit visa is still valid, however the POE may or may not block entry if they suspect she may simply stay in the states and file an I-485 to adjust status based on the pending I-130

 

Thanks for your advices. My wife should have round trip airline tickets when she travels to/from U.S.. Does that help her at POE even though her I-130 may still be pending?

Quite often a round trip is less than a one way ticket, so people often buy RT and abandon the return trip.

 

Showing intent to return to a job may help, though I can't remember anyone posting being denied entry at the POE on a visit visa with an I-130 in process. But It can happen,

[PnL]

Yes you can. We travelled to USA one time after we filed the I-130. There was no question about it. Just to be safe we printed all of the documents showing we were returning to China (return flight itinerary, work contract, etc.) In the end, they didn’t ask for any of it.