I just submitted my EB-5 application to the National Visa Center. How can I travel to the United States with a visitors visa while that is still processing? What obstacles am I likely to encounter?
You are not precluded from traveling to the U.S. pending an EB-5 application, provided you have an appropriate visa. The risk is that an immigration officer may turn you away upon arrival if he/she feel that you are a risk, meaning you will stay in the United States before the EB-5 petition is approved.
You face serious obstacles to justify your non-immigrant intent. Please discuss with your immigration counsel.
Yes; you may use your visitor''s visa to enter the United States as long as the purpose of your entry is for a temporary visit, business or pleasure.
You can still travel to the United States under a visitor''s visa, as long as you have the intent only to stay in the United States for a temporary period, then return to your home country and pursue U.S. consulate processing there for the conditional permanent residency.
In traveling under a visitor''s visa, you only need to establish that your present intent at the time of the travel is indeed as a visitor irrespective of a pending EB-5 petition for immigrant investor, which is your future intent. You should be able to travel without a problem, especially if you already have a valid visitor''s visa in your passport and would not need to apply for one through the consulate before your planned travel.
Just because you filed an EB-5 application does not mean you should have any problem in traveling on a visitor visa to the United States. In your case, the EB-5 application is filed from your own country, and the National Visa Center will eventually forward the application for consular processing in your home country. A visitor visa to the United States will not confer any immigrant status on you, because you can''t adjust your status while in the United States on a visiting visa. One of the obstacles you seem to envision is the old view that people with a pending immigrant application, such as I-485, should not be allowed to enter the United States because, rather than waiting to do consular processing in their home countries, they would not return home and instead stay put in the United States and try to adjust their status in the United States. This is not applicable in EB-5 cases and it should not be used against you in securing a visitor visa. Advisably, get detailed advice from an immigration attorney. In filing your visitor visa, though, you must observe one rule: you must never misrepresent the fact that you have an EB-5 application pending with the National Visa Center. In essence, tell the truth.
Assuming you already have the visa, just tell the truth to the officer at the port of entry and be prepared to document that your trip to the United States is temporary and that you have ties abroad that will compel your departure from the United States.
Dual intent! Now that you have actually applied for conditional permanent residency, applying for a non-immigrant visa would likely result in a denial, as you would be unable to prove you intend to return to your home country after your travels to the United States.
If you already have a valid B-2 visa in your passport, you can certainly travel to the United States while your case is pending, but you have to be ready for additional questioning, as the officer at the border may want to make sure you''re really coming in to visit this time and not to stay for good.
Since you have a pending immigrant visa, you face the burden to prove that your travel is temporary.
