Can H1B's spouse who holds a B2 visa travel to the US?

[kartik.a]

hi,

I had a question related to my fiancée's travel to the US after we get married.

Currently, she holds a tourist visa for the US and had visited the US last year for a period of 2 weeks.

We are to get married on 26th August, 2016 and wanted to apply for her H4 dependent visa stamping, but appointment dates at any US consulate in India are only available after a minimum of around 50 days in Chennai and over 100 days in other consulates. I need to return by 20 Sept,2016. This would've meant that we would not be able to travel back to the US together and she would have had to get her H4 visa done and then travel alone.

Could she travel to the US with me on her tourist visa itself without any problems? We were advised not to get a H4 visa appointment before her travel on tourist visa, in case she is barred from entering the US on the grounds that she has applied for a non-immigrant H4 visa.

During an earlier consultation with another immigration lawyer, he stated that one may not travel to the U.S. on a tourist visa with the intention of applying for a change of status to H-4. Further, entering the U.S. as a tourist may be difficult because being married to an H1B worker could evidence immigrant intent.

[daggit]

It's ill-advised to apply for, or try to enter the US, for any purpose other than the intention under which the visa was applied for or granted; delay in securing an appointment date is not an exception. As a spouse of an H1b visa holder, she should wait, apply for, and hopefully travel on the appropriate H4 dependent visa. Travelling on a B visa with the intent to cos to any other visa could be construed as visa fraud.

As an aside, USCs or LPRs wait an average of 1 to 2+ years before a foreign spouse is allowed to join. Under the circumstances, a 2-3 month wait is well within reason.