Visa option to fill gap until next H1B application period

[Jennifer121 0]

Hi everyone! I am new to the forum so excuse me if someone asked this before. 

I am from Germany and my boyfriend is a U.S citizen born and raised there. We met in 2017 when I lived over there for 2 years for my studies and academic training program. I then returned twice (February 2019 & October 2019) on a WVP for my bachelor thesis and after my studies while I was searching for a job. The first time I stayed 60 days, the second time 90 days. I am back in Germany since mid January 2020. 

I am currently self-employed and work as a freelancer consulting an organization which is currently trying to register in the U.S.. I work remotely, pay my taxes in Germany and have my home domicile here.

For us a marriage visa is not an option yet but I would like to come back to the US for as long as possible before we take that step. I still have a valid WVP until December 2020 but would like to apply for a B1/2 visa to be able to stay 6 months instead of only 3. Now the problem is that the company I consult (and get paid but am not employed by) wants to register in the US and to my knowledge you are not allowed to apply for a B1/2 visa if you "get payment from a US company". Does this also hold if I am not employed by the company but just consulting them as a freelancer while being self-employed and paying taxes in Germany? The organization has not yet gone through the whole registration process so technically they are not a US organization yet. Should I hurry up applying or would I have to change that information anyways once they finish the US registrations (it usually takes a couple months to half a year to register an organization in the US).

 

And more general: should I even apply for a B1/2 visa during the pandemic or would I risk being denied? In that case, what would happen to my WVP? Would it still be valid after a B1/2 denial? And does a denial jeopardize any future visa applications (e.g. H1B or K1, IR-1...)

 

Are there any other option we have that I might have not looked at yet..? We are getting desperate because we want to be together but are just not ready yet to take the next step and marry.

 

I highly appreciate any thoughts, ideas and comments. I researched visa options so much these past years that I now reached a boundary where I just don't know what to do anymore without getting married...

Thank you in advance for replying!

Jen

[arken 4,197]

Usually B1/B2 applications from VWP eligible countries are scrutinized a bit more and are more susceptible to being denied regardless of your specific consulting services. On too of that your providing consulting services to a company if registered in the US will complicate more for sure. So I recommend keep using VWP and not apply for B1/B2. 
 

If you do apply for it and get denied, your existing ESTA becomes invalid as well, so you have to apply for new ESTA during which you have to mention your B1/B2 denial which may affect ESTA decision. See the ripple effect it may cause.

 

Yours B1/B2 denial may affect your future non immigrant visas like even H1B but not the immigrant visas if you intend to immigrate to the US in the future.

[SusieQQQ 11,584]

24 minutes ago, Jennifer121 said:

should I even apply for a B1/2 visa during the pandemic or would I risk being denied

You can’t now anyway, all routine visa services are currently suspended. 
 

Be very careful about working remotely from the US even for a foreign company paid offshore. A friend of mine (on a derivative visa unable to work in the US) did that and was advised by their immigration lawyer that doing so counts as working in the US and is a violation of the visa, by extension it would be too for any other non-employment authorized status such as VWP or B visa. 

[Sm1smom 242]

A visitor’s visa is not for temporarily living in the US while working and getting paid remotely. 
 

“A “visitor” visa is a nonimmigrant visa and generally is used to enter the United States temporarily for business (B-1), for pleasure or medical treatment (B-2), or a combination of these purposes (B-1/B-2).”

Visitor’s Visa as defined by US DOS