Morristown Immigration Lawyer Discusses Filing for a Green Card with a Visa Waiver
This past month I had several clients as a Morristown Immigration Lawyer with the same scenario: they had entered on a visa waiver instead of a B2 Visitor Visa and they all came to me with the same question: can they extend their status or can they change their status to something like a student visa? It’s a very important question and the answer does not always please everyone. The visa waiver program is a wonderful program. About 40 countries participate in the visa waiver program and it enables individuals to enter the US without having to go to the US embassy to apply for an actual visitor visa stamp and their passport. That’s a real pro, because they don’t have to show the real reason that they’re going to the US, they don’t have to show their permanent ties back home, and they don’t have to spend their time or money dealing with the US embassy.
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I advise clients as a Morristown Immigration Lawyer that there is a con: the con is that when people come to the US only under the visa waiver program, they are only admitted for 90 days. That’s one con. The second con is that they cannot extend their status. It is not possible to extend your status when you enter for 90 days under the visa waiver program. Likewise, it is not possible to change your status when you enter the US for 90 days on the visa waiver program. If you desire to change to a student visa or an H1 Professional Visa, it would require that you go outside of the US to change your status rather than if you entered on a visitor visa, you could attempt to change your status locally.
The one exception is that if you marry a US citizen and the marriage is based on love, it would be possible to change your status from visa waiver holder to green card holder if immigration finds that your interview goes well and it’s a bonafide marriage.
If you have further questions or need help on filing for a green card or extending your visa waiver, contact our experienced Morristown Immigration Lawyer.
This educational blog post was brought to you by Susan Scheer, an experienced Morristown Immigration Lawyer.
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