Comment by radsj
19 hours ago
I don't think it applies to folks on H or L visas. Wording from the site:
"Nonimmigrants, like students, temporary workers, or people on tourist visas, come to the U.S. for a short time and for a specific purpose. Our system is designed for them to leave when their visit is over. Their visit should not function as the first step in the Green Card process. "
I'm not sure I share your optimism. What is a worker on an H-class visa, if not a "temporary worker"?
I read this with the assumption that "nonimmigrant visa" applies to every category of visa listed here under "Nonimmigrant Visa Categories":
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/visa-inf...
A “non-immigrant” is everything under 8 USC 1101(a)(15): https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=(title:8%20section:1...
Includes H and J. The letters used to refer to those visas comes from the subsections under 1101(a)(15)
It specifically lists H1B as non-immigrant visa on that page, so if you are here working at Google you must leave the country.
If you read the actual policy (it’s on the ISCIS website), it specifically says dual-intent visa are appropriate for AOS in the US.
This is a pretty broad swath of immigrants - H visa (worker and family), L1 (corporate transfer and family) and K1/3 (spouses of US citizen or green card holder).
What this limits are the truly temporary visitors - tourists, students, etc
I originally thought that this new regulation would only apply to, say, B-1/B-2 visitors applying to adjust their status (which is how some immigrants bring their parents, for example), but nowhere in the policy it explicitly excludes so called “dual intent” visas (H or L), so given the whole anti-immigration approach of the current administration, I won't be surprised if it turns out that the regular work visa pathway to green card is affected by that too.
Edit: the policy actually indeed mentions dual intent categories:
> USCIS reminds its officers that applying for adjustment of status is not inconsistent with simultaneously maintaining nonimmigrant status in a category with dual intent.
It does it in a way that will, for sure, cause confusion though.
[1]: https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/memos/PM-...
My understanding is that the dual-intent visa categories have change-of-status rules written into law.
The adjustment of status process is written into law for all non-immigrant visa categories (except for a couple weird ones, like the visas for crew of ships and aircraft).
5 replies →
Looks like it applies to all visitors.
From https://www.uscis.gov/green-card/green-card-processes-and-pr...,
> Adjustment of status is the process that you can use to apply for lawful permanent resident status (also known as applying for a Green Card) when you are present in the United States. This means that you may get a Green Card without having to return to your home country to complete visa processing.
"Non-immigrants" is a legal term that means surprisingly more than you think. People on H visas, for example, are "non-immigrants" and would fall under this.