Green Card + I-485 for Parent who has been rejected for a visa before?

[pighand360]

Hello, everyone. This is a question for a friend's parent.

My friend is a U.S. citizen. She plans to apply a green card for her father. The father has a valid B2 visa and has been going back and forth the U.S. and his home country with this visa for many times. In the past, he was always given 6 months of stay upon entry. A few years ago, he decided to apply for an academic program in the U.S. and applied for a F-1 student visa. His application was rejected due to immigration intent (my friend was his only daughter). Since then, he was still able to enter the U.S. for a few times, but he was always detained for questions at the airport Custom and was always given only several months to stay upon entry instead of 6 like he used to.

Now my friend is interested in applying immigration for him and wonder if it is okay for him to enter the U.S. and apply for both I-130 and I-485 during his stay.

Has anyone been in a similar situation before? Will this be okay or will the previous experience make it suspicious for the father's intent to enter with a B2 visa?

Thank you. Appreciate any sharing.

[catparade]

He's not allowed to use a non-immigrant visa with the intent of using it to immigrate. What visa were you thinking of having him come on?

To me it seems like filing I-130 and going through consular processing is the appropriate method. See https://www.uscis.gov/green-card/gre...lar-processing

[pighand360]

He's not allowed to use a non-immigrant visa with the intent of using it to immigrate. What visa were you thinking of having him come on?

To me it seems like filing I-130 and going through consular processing is the appropriate method. See https://www.uscis.gov/green-card/gre...lar-processing

Thank you for your reply! Sorry that I didn't write it clearly. He was going to apply for I-130 and I-485 at the same time. Some people told us that they were able to help their parents to adjust their status from B2 to green card that way. We are just wondering if this could make any potential problems for this father who was rejected on another visa with a suspicious intent to immigrate before.

[Enub4]

My guess is that if this person enters the USA with B2 visa and then applies for GC during their stay, USCIS may deny the application because they will think they entered the USA with the intention to immigrate. They can't approve the GC if they suspect someone entered the USA with a non-immigrant visa with the intention to immigrate.

[SmithB]

My understanding is that the person has had the visa for several years now and has had come and go meaning he had multiple chance to stay and immigrate but he did not, the purpose of the visits were to see a family member which is now a citizen and can apply for him. If he just apply for the visa, came and never left and apply for adjustment of status that might have been seen as intend, but I dont know. Its gonna be hard for them to proof the intend to immigrate. I know many people who had done it including my best friend. The main reason she chose for her mom to be here and adjust status was mainly because my friend is not able to travel and her mom cant really do the whole process by herself, so it was easier for them to do it here and did not have any issues. Every case is different and you should consult an attorney. As far as the previous denial I think the fact that he has been back and forth is a positive in his case.