Question regarding tourist visa renewal for my dad/green card application

[littleConfused]

Hello,

Hoping that someone would be able to guide me here. My dad came to USA in the month of January 2020. He was originally due to return to India back in June 2020, but due to COVID he had to extend his stay (flight tickets were also canceled). We filed for a stay extension and USCIS guidelines state that while we were waiting to hear back, he could stay. He ended up staying a year and left for India in January 2021. Meanwhile during his entire stay in USA we didn’t hear back on the status of his visa extension. Finally we heard in the month of March 2021 that his visa extension has been denied (We only heard back after he returned to India).

 

His 10 year multiple entry American visa recently expired (In March 2021). He is now in the process of renewing his visa. We have 2 questions regarding the form:

1. In the visa form there is a question if an American visa has ever been denied for him. We are not sure if we would need to reply “Yes” as his visa extension has been denied or if we would need to reply “No” since his visa has never been denied.
2. In the form, there is also a question of when he intends to travel back to USA. He wants to travel in the month of May or June 2021 and in the form he has mentioned the date as June 15th. One of our friends advised that due to the COVID situation in India now, they may deny the visa based on travel dates and that it would be better if we mentioned the date as sometime later in the year. Any advise regarding the dates?

 

 

Meanwhile, I recently became an American citizen. I am planning to file for a green card for my dad. Can we file for both a visa and a green card in parallel? If that is not allowed, then what is the optimal time to file for his green card?

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you so much.

[Attorney_15]

This is a very unfortunate situation!

Your Questions: (1) Generally, the "denial" question is asking about denials at the Consulate, so a 214b or even 221g refusal of a visa application means the applicant must answer Yes to that question. (2) At this point in time, the Consulates are limiting or cancelling appointments but it's best to be honest in the situation. Generally, a stay of up to 6 months is what a person is eligible for when they enter the United States, so asking for a later day may not help. If someone in this situation gets asked about the prior stay, being able to explain that it was due to unanticipated events should be helpful. (3) If a B Visa application is submitted to the Consulate after a I-130 Petition is filed, then the applicant must answer Yes to the question about whether a visa petition has been filed. If the B Visa is issued and the person is traveling to the US while the I-130 Petition is pending with USCIS, then the CBP may ask questions. The only way to prepare to respond to such questions and have the I-130 Petition and travel to the US on B Visa, is for the I-130 Petition to be filed for Consular Processing and with the B Visa parent not filing an I-485 Application.

If you have more questions for specific legal advice, I recommend scheduling a standard phone consultation with a Murthy Law Firm lawyer. If you are interested in hiring Murthy Law Firm to represent you with preparing and filing the I-130 Petition for your father's Green Card Case (for Consular Processing), you can contact us by email: law@murthy.com or using the Chat feature on Murthy.com.

[sgrcres]

This is a good answer by Attorney_15.  I am in somewhat similar situation.  I am a US citizen and filed for my mother's green card in 2018, her petition was approved in 2019 in USCIS and was sent to Mumbai consulate for consular processing in late 2019.  However last year due to Covid and due to Trump ban, the interview appointment (April 2020) was cancelled.  Again  now in March 2021, the processing started, but now we are unable to get any fingerprint or consular appointments for the interview.  And currently due to Covid all the consulates are closed except for emergencies.

My mother has a B1 visa valid till mid of 2022, and due to the excessive delays, I was wondering if I can have my mother visit me and then transfer the processing from Mumbai to a city in US.   Also she cannot visit now anyway due to the Covid ban, but this is in case the ban is lifted or we manage to arrive in US after spending 14 days outside India in some other country

[JoeF]

Having an I-130 approved is detrimental to using a visitor visa. A visitor visa doesn't allow immigration intent, the I-130 shows immigration intent, though.

Traveling with a tourist visa while having an I-130 is very risky. She would likely be denied entry.