My parents have a visit visa but now I’ll be filling for their immigration visa ? Can this affect their visit visa?

[tinabina1 3]

Normally I’ve heard that if your immigration petition is on file and your case is in progress they don’t allow you to apply for a visit visa; 

so what happens if you already have a valid visit visa but are now in the process of your immigration case. Will this affect anything? Can my parents still visit me? While their immigration case is still very slowly progressing?

[SusieQQQ 11,584]

They can certainly try visit, but they will need to bring strong evidence that they will return home after the visit (job letter etc).  It will be up to the cbp officer at entry to determine if he thinks they will return home to await their visa, or if he thinks they are at risk of overstay to wait for AOS. In the latter case he would refuse them entry.

[vnewhouse 8]

34 minutes ago, tinabina1 said:

Normally I’ve heard that if your immigration petition is on file and your case is in progress they don’t allow you to apply for a visit visa; 

so what happens if you already have a valid visit visa but are now in the process of your immigration case. Will this affect anything? Can my parents still visit me? While their immigration case is still very slowly progressing?

I had a pending immigrant visa petition when I applied for a visit visa which was granted. I then visited the US twice on that visa with no problems. 

[geowrian 22,335]

32 minutes ago, vnewhouse said:

I had a pending immigrant visa petition when I applied for a visit visa which was granted. I then visited the US twice on that visa with no problems. 

Tourist visa or ESTA?

[vnewhouse 8]

5 minutes ago, geowrian said:

Tourist visa or ESTA?

Tourist visa. I also indicated on my application form that I had a pending petition.

[SusieQQQ 11,584]

1 hour ago, geowrian said:

Tourist visa or ESTA?

I also travelled on first an existing then a renewed B1/B2 visa with an I130 in place, but being F3 I wasn’t the same kind of overstay-to-AOS risk a parent or other immediate relative would be.

[JFH 12,189]

They can still attempt to visit during the process. 

 

Visiting the USA whilst waiting for an immigrant visa is bot illegal or agsinst the rules. However, the onus is on the visitor to demonstrate to the CBP officer upon arrival that they are just visiting and have no immigration intent. That’s tough with a concurrent immigrant visa petition in the works. It can be done. I visited several times during the process (IR-1 spouse of USC - and spouses are considered to be one of the most likely to overstay) but I had a good travel history prior to the filing and I’m from a VWP country. Others with no prior visits or limited previous travel and from non-VWP countries have been less successful. 

[JFH 12,189]

They can still attempt to visit during the process. 

 

Visiting the USA whilst waiting for an immigrant visa is bot illegal or agsinst the rules. However, the onus is on the visitor to demonstrate to the CBP officer upon arrival that they are just visiting and have no immigration intent. That’s tough with a concurrent immigrant visa petition in the works. It can be done. I visited several times during the process (IR-1 spouse of USC - and spouses are considered to be one of the most likely to overstay) but I had a good travel history prior to the filing and I’m from a VWP country. Others with no prior visits or limited previous travel and from non-VWP countries have been less successful. 

 

***added*** Just skimmed through your past posts and your parents were previously denied due to “no strong ties” because you are an only child. What’s changed to make this application stronger? Have they had another child? How have their ties changed? If their situation hasn’t changed, the outcome of the visa application won’t change. 

[SalishSea 16,770]

23 hours ago, vnewhouse said:

Tourist visa. I also indicated on my application form that I had a pending petition.

Auckland consulate?  I think they may be unique in terms of approving B-2s.  My husband got one easily (prior to our K-1 filing), despite being from a VWP country, and hearing from everyone here that B-2s in VWPs are seldom approved.

[SusieQQQ 11,584]

37 minutes ago, Jorgedig said:

Auckland consulate?  I think they may be unique in terms of approving B-2s.  My husband got one easily (prior to our K-1 filing), despite being from a VWP country, and hearing from everyone here that B-2s in VWPs are seldom approved.

Mm, it’s in how you interpret that last sentence. Most people from VWP countries who apply for B visas do so because of ineligibilities to use VWP, and those same factors often lead to a B denial.  As an example, the B visa refusal rate for New Zealand nationals is 22%, which is very high on the face of it for a low risk country - until you take into account the fact that many of those rejections likely represent the category I just mentioned.

[vnewhouse 8]

1 hour ago, Jorgedig said:

Auckland consulate?  I think they may be unique in terms of approving B-2s.  My husband got one easily (prior to our K-1 filing), despite being from a VWP country, and hearing from everyone here that B-2s in VWPs are seldom approved.

This was actually at the Sydney consulate. Back then I held a passport from a country that required a visa to visit the U.S.

[SalishSea 16,770]

13 hours ago, SusieQQQ said:

Mm, it’s in how you interpret that last sentence. Most people from VWP countries who apply for B visas do so because of ineligibilities to use VWP, and those same factors often lead to a B denial.  As an example, the B visa refusal rate for New Zealand nationals is 22%, which is very high on the face of it for a low risk country - until you take into account the fact that many of those rejections likely represent the category I just mentioned.

"Most"?   I wonder what the actual numbers are.  My husband sought the B visa not because of VWP ineligibility, but because CBP at a very small POE in the Washington islands seemed wholly unprepared and unaware of the VWP when we crossed there from Canada.

[SusieQQQ 11,584]

26 minutes ago, Jorgedig said:

"Most"?   I wonder what the actual numbers are.  My husband sought the B visa not because of VWP ineligibility, but because CBP at a very small POE in the Washington islands seemed wholly unprepared and unaware of the VWP when we crossed there from Canada.

Hardly likely to be the reason for most B applications, either. My understanding is the majority of B applications from VWP countries are either they are ineligible to use VWP, or they wish to stay longer than the 90 days including neighboring countries that is granted with a VWP. 

[az2014 381]

31 minutes ago, Jorgedig said:

"Most"?   I wonder what the actual numbers are.  My husband sought the B visa not because of VWP ineligibility, but because CBP at a very small POE in the Washington islands seemed wholly unprepared and unaware of the VWP when we crossed there from Canada.

That makes no sense.

[SalishSea 16,770]

1 hour ago, az2014 said:

That makes no sense.

Maybe not, but it happened.