Existing Tourist Visa Cancellation in lieu of I130?

[Onepitch 0]

Hello All,

I had a quick question- I plan to file I-130 for my brother (married with a kid). They all have tourist visas for past 5+ years, and visit me for a month or so every couple of years for vacation. Current 1-130 processing timeline is 6-8 years for siblings, and he doesn't wish to move here for the next 5-7 years, but in the meantime, he'd still like to have an option to visit me for a family vacation or such on his tourist visa. I was wondering if filing the I-130 would cancel out his tourist visa? Can anyone please share if anyone's sibling got their visa cancelled because of the I-130?

 

Is there any written verbiage/laws anywhere on the USCIS website that can confirm that his visa will remain intact.  Thanks for your help.

[SalishSea 16,769]

10 minutes ago, Onepitch said:

Hello All,

I had a quick question- I plan to file I-130 for my brother (married with a kid). They all have tourist visas for past 5+ years, and visit me for a month or so every couple of years for vacation. Current 1-130 processing timeline is 6-8 years for siblings, and he doesn't wish to move here for the next 5-7 years, but in the meantime, he'd still like to have an option to visit me for a family vacation or such on his tourist visa. I was wondering if filing the I-130 would cancel out his tourist visa? Can anyone please share if anyone's sibling got their visa cancelled because of the I-130?

 

Is there any written verbiage/laws anywhere on the USCIS website that can confirm that his visa will remain intact.  Thanks for your help.

A valid B-2 visa will remain valid even with a pending immigrant petition, as long as the bearer complies with the conditions (no overstays, etc).  

 

He will want to pay special mind to bringing evidence of ties to home (which country, btw?) at POE, to show the CBP officer that he fully intends to return home while still on the B-2 visa, as the presence of an active petition demonstrates eventual immigrant intent.  Ties could be evidence of family, a home, jobs, etc.  Anything he can show that keeps him living abroad for however many years it takes for approval of the IR visa.

[arken 4,197]

Filing i-130 does not cancel out the existing B2 visa. It may be hard to find the written verbiage to prove that the same way it may be hard to find a written verbiage to prove cops will not arrest you if you don’t steal from a store.

 

they can visit us with existing visas, the entry to US is always upon CBP discretion. If CBP finds an immigrant petition has been filed, they may be further questioned and allowed or not allowed based on CBP’s mood.

Edited July 2, 2019 by arken

[SusieQQQ 11,584]

It will probably be fine, we visited regularly with both existing and renewed visas while having an I130 (F3) filed.

 

But if your brother is planning to move to the US in 5-7 years he needs a plan B, because the sibling visa will probably take around 15 years (longer from some countries). It’s not the processing time but the priority date getting current that matters.