V Visa Question
Jul 17th 2002, 1:20 am
#1
Guest
Posts: n/a
V Visa Question
Hi
I am a US Citizen. My parents hold green cards. I have two sisters, 20 and 19 years
old, who recently got their V-Visas. They arrived here last week. According to all
documentation we have seen (even what the state department faxed me), a V-visa is a
multi-entry visa. So they could come and go while their visa is valid. However, the
INS officer at the airport told them that their visa was only a 1 time entry, and if
they leave their green card priority date would reset. My sisters need to go back for
few months to finish off some course work before permanantly moving here. Would
anyone know the details on this? By the way, their country of origin is Iran, so I am
wondering if that has something do to with what they told my sisters.
My second question is my older sister would be 21 in about 9 month. I know she would
have to change her status here from V-visa to something else. What exacly does that
mean? Does that mean she has to start working? or going to school here?
Thanks for your time Mohammad
I am a US Citizen. My parents hold green cards. I have two sisters, 20 and 19 years
old, who recently got their V-Visas. They arrived here last week. According to all
documentation we have seen (even what the state department faxed me), a V-visa is a
multi-entry visa. So they could come and go while their visa is valid. However, the
INS officer at the airport told them that their visa was only a 1 time entry, and if
they leave their green card priority date would reset. My sisters need to go back for
few months to finish off some course work before permanantly moving here. Would
anyone know the details on this? By the way, their country of origin is Iran, so I am
wondering if that has something do to with what they told my sisters.
My second question is my older sister would be 21 in about 9 month. I know she would
have to change her status here from V-visa to something else. What exacly does that
mean? Does that mean she has to start working? or going to school here?
Thanks for your time Mohammad
Jul 17th 2002, 2:20 am
#2
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: V Visa Question
The problem is with your sisters' country of nationality.
Visas for Iranians are almost always issued for a single entry EVEN if the actual
visa category is a multiple-entry category. For example, H-1B visas are
multiple-entry for everybody except Iranians.
I doubt that you can do anything about it.
"M Sadeghi" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Hi
>
> I am a US Citizen. My parents hold green cards. I have two sisters, 20 and 19 years
> old, who recently got their V-Visas. They arrived here last week. According to all
> documentation we have seen (even what the state department faxed me), a V-visa is a
> multi-entry visa. So they could come and go while their visa is valid. However, the
> INS officer at the airport told them that their visa was only a 1 time entry, and
> if they leave their green card priority date would reset. My sisters need to go
> back for few months to finish off some course work before permanantly moving here.
> Would anyone know the details on this? By the way, their country of origin is Iran,
> so I am wondering if that has something do to with what they told my sisters.
>
> My second question is my older sister would be 21 in about 9 month. I know she
> would have to change her status here from V-visa to something else. What exacly
> does that mean? Does that mean she has to start working? or going to school here?
>
> Thanks for your time Mohammad
Visas for Iranians are almost always issued for a single entry EVEN if the actual
visa category is a multiple-entry category. For example, H-1B visas are
multiple-entry for everybody except Iranians.
I doubt that you can do anything about it.
"M Sadeghi" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Hi
>
> I am a US Citizen. My parents hold green cards. I have two sisters, 20 and 19 years
> old, who recently got their V-Visas. They arrived here last week. According to all
> documentation we have seen (even what the state department faxed me), a V-visa is a
> multi-entry visa. So they could come and go while their visa is valid. However, the
> INS officer at the airport told them that their visa was only a 1 time entry, and
> if they leave their green card priority date would reset. My sisters need to go
> back for few months to finish off some course work before permanantly moving here.
> Would anyone know the details on this? By the way, their country of origin is Iran,
> so I am wondering if that has something do to with what they told my sisters.
>
> My second question is my older sister would be 21 in about 9 month. I know she
> would have to change her status here from V-visa to something else. What exacly
> does that mean? Does that mean she has to start working? or going to school here?
>
> Thanks for your time Mohammad
Jul 17th 2002, 7:20 am
#3
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: V Visa Question
On Tue, 16 Jul 2002 16:57:32 -0700, M Sadeghi wrote:
> Hi
>
> I am a US Citizen. My parents hold green cards. I have two sisters, 20 and 19 years
> old, who recently got their V-Visas. They arrived here last week. According to all
> documentation we have seen (even what the state department faxed me), a V-visa is a
> multi-entry visa.
Yes, they usually are. What counts is the actual visa in their passport - not what is
generally true of V visas. If it is indeed a multiple-entry visa, it should say
something like "Entries: M" somewhere on the visa.
> So they could come and go while their visa is valid. However, the INS officer at
> the airport told them that their visa was only a 1 time entry, and if they leave
> their green card priority date would reset. My sisters need to go back for few
> months to finish off some course work before permanantly moving here. Would anyone
> know the details on this? By the way, their country of origin is Iran, so I am
> wondering if that has something do to with what they told my sisters.
The priority date would not be reset, but if it indeed is a single-entry visa, they
would have to return to a US consulate and get another one.
> My second question is my older sister would be 21 in about 9 month. I know she
> would have to change her status here from V-visa to something else. What exacly
> does that mean? Does that mean she has to start working? or going to school here?
That's tricky. Her V visa would indeed end because it is only available for certain
spouses and children under 21 years of age. Most likely, she will have to leave the
US at that point and wait for her priority date to become current (which will be
longer than for her sister because she'd be in the Family 2B category, rather than
the Family 2A category). Depending on when the priority date is, her sister may get
hit by the same effect.
She could of course try to get a student visa, but I'd consider it unlikely that it
would be approved. There are just too many factors against her:
- having an immigration petition pending makes it near impossible to get a
non-immigrant status (except for H-1B or L-1, which she doesn't qualify for).
- applications for student visas are particularly scrutinized.
- the 9/11 effect means that it will be even more difficult for an Iranian.
So I would plan for her to leave the US again on her 21st birthday, and expect to
study in Iran or maybe in Europe or other countries.
Ingo
> Hi
>
> I am a US Citizen. My parents hold green cards. I have two sisters, 20 and 19 years
> old, who recently got their V-Visas. They arrived here last week. According to all
> documentation we have seen (even what the state department faxed me), a V-visa is a
> multi-entry visa.
Yes, they usually are. What counts is the actual visa in their passport - not what is
generally true of V visas. If it is indeed a multiple-entry visa, it should say
something like "Entries: M" somewhere on the visa.
> So they could come and go while their visa is valid. However, the INS officer at
> the airport told them that their visa was only a 1 time entry, and if they leave
> their green card priority date would reset. My sisters need to go back for few
> months to finish off some course work before permanantly moving here. Would anyone
> know the details on this? By the way, their country of origin is Iran, so I am
> wondering if that has something do to with what they told my sisters.
The priority date would not be reset, but if it indeed is a single-entry visa, they
would have to return to a US consulate and get another one.
> My second question is my older sister would be 21 in about 9 month. I know she
> would have to change her status here from V-visa to something else. What exacly
> does that mean? Does that mean she has to start working? or going to school here?
That's tricky. Her V visa would indeed end because it is only available for certain
spouses and children under 21 years of age. Most likely, she will have to leave the
US at that point and wait for her priority date to become current (which will be
longer than for her sister because she'd be in the Family 2B category, rather than
the Family 2A category). Depending on when the priority date is, her sister may get
hit by the same effect.
She could of course try to get a student visa, but I'd consider it unlikely that it
would be approved. There are just too many factors against her:
- having an immigration petition pending makes it near impossible to get a
non-immigrant status (except for H-1B or L-1, which she doesn't qualify for).
- applications for student visas are particularly scrutinized.
- the 9/11 effect means that it will be even more difficult for an Iranian.
So I would plan for her to leave the US again on her 21st birthday, and expect to
study in Iran or maybe in Europe or other countries.
Ingo
