A Very Specific Case

[Noah_]

My friend and I have a couple questions about the process of returning to the US on the H4 visa. First, here is her situation:

Her father is a holder of the H1B work visa, and her mother, brother, and her are subsequently living in the US as H4 visa non-permanent residents. Every member of her family is a solely Canadian citizen, but their green card applications have been pending for over 4 years, because the US considers her parents as Chinese, and not Canadian (they were both born in China), even though they have Canadian citizenship, and no citizenship ties to China whatsoever. She's currently 17 years old and entering into her freshman year in college, but has been wanting to go back to Canada for some time. However, I?m worried that she will be denied re-entry, and many sources are telling me many different things about what she needs to come back.

Therefore, I suppose my questions are: is it allowed/safe for her to go to Canada on her own as a minor? And, what will she need to come back to the US due to her H4 visa status? And finally, how does her age affect these requirements?

Thanks so much!!

[newacct]

My friend and I have a couple questions about the process of returning to the US on the H4 visa. First, here is her situation:

Her father is a holder of the H1B work visa, and her mother, brother, and her are subsequently living in the US as H4 visa non-permanent residents. Every member of her family is a solely Canadian citizen, but their green card applications have been pending for over 4 years, because the US considers her parents as Chinese, and not Canadian (they were both born in China), even though they have Canadian citizenship, and no citizenship ties to China whatsoever. She's currently 17 years old and entering into her freshman year in college, but has been wanting to go back to Canada for some time. However, I?m worried that she will be denied re-entry, and many sources are telling me many different things about what she needs to come back.

Therefore, I suppose my questions are: is it allowed/safe for her to go to Canada on her own as a minor? And, what will she need to come back to the US due to her H4 visa status? And finally, how does her age affect these requirements?

Thanks so much!!

Immigration quotas are based on country of birth; country of citizenship doesn't matter. H1b and H4 are dual-intent; as long as her parent remains in H1b status, I don't see any reason she would have a problem returning to the US, until she turns 21 (when she would not qualify for H4 status anymore) as long as she remains unmarried. As a Canadian citizen, she would simply travel to any US port of entry with her Canadian passport without a visa, and she would present her parent's H1b petition, and birth certificate showing that she's the child of that parent, and she would be admitted into H4 status.