Abandoning green card while in process

[SeJo]

hi,
My mother in law had applied for a green card a few months back. But, since then she has had a change of heart and doesnt want to be tied to the terms of time limit of staying in US to maintain Green card. Therefore she wants to abandon the green card application process and return back to her home country (India). She may be visiting us later next year for a few months on visitor visa. I want to know if abandoning the green card while in process will have any impact on future visits to US on visitor visa? Will she be denied a visa/ entry to US because she dropped the green card process?

Thanks!

[Trinity71]

hi,
My mother in law had applied for a green card a few months back. But, since then she has had a change of heart and doesnt want to be tied to the terms of time limit of staying in US to maintain Green card. Therefore she wants to abandon the green card application process and return back to her home country (India). She may be visiting us later next year for a few months on visitor visa. I want to know if abandoning the green card while in process will have any impact on future visits to US on visitor visa? Will she be denied a visa/ entry to US because she dropped the green card process?

Thanks!

She would not be denied a visitor visa because she dropped the green card process, but let's look at what that means that she was even in the green card process in the first place.

People cannot just come in to the U.S. on a visitor visa and file for their green card. You filed a family based green card for her. So trying to get a visa and coming to visit in the future could go one of 2 ways.

1. She came here under the pretense of "visiting" on a visitor visa, then applied to immigrate. You could file again later for her if she changes her mind, so she could very well always be considered a risk. Of course this is assuming you can even file a family based green card in the future. Immigration is being looked at for extensive reform and specifically in regards to the family based green card due to exactly this type of situation.

2. Or they may say, she had the chance to stay and chose not to and therefore that makes her less of a risk. There is no way to know what the chances are of a visa being issued in the future would be, but they will always have record of the immigration attempt, abandoned or not.

This is my opinion and not legal advice. Use of this information is strictly at your own risk.

Trinity71