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Background
The Legal Immigration Family Equity Act and its amendments established a
new nonimmigrant category (V) within the immigration law that allows the
spouse or child of a U.S. Lawful Permanent Resident to live and work in
the United States in a nonimmigrant category. The spouse or child can
remain in the United States while they wait until they are able to apply
for lawful permanent residence status for an immigrant visa, instead of
having to wait outside the United States as the law previously required.
Who is Eligible?
A person may apply at a U.S. consulate abroad for a V-1 or V-2 visa or
seek V-1 or V-2 nonimmigrant status while in the United States, if that
person:
，
is lawfully married to a
Lawful Permanent Resident of the United States (V-1), or is the unmarried
child (under the age of 21) of a Lawful Permanent Resident (V-2); and
，
is the principal beneficiary
of a relative petition (Form I-130) that was filed by the Lawful Permanent
Resident spouse/parent on or before December 21, 2000; and
，
has been waiting at least 3
years since the petition was filed for status as a Lawful Permanent
Resident because the petition is still pending, or has been approved but:
，
an immigrant visa is not yet
available; or,
，
there is a pending application
to adjust status or application for an immigrant visa.
The derivative child of a V-1 or V-2 nonimmigrant
is eligible for a V-3 visa or for V-3 status.
How Do I Apply?
If outside of the United States, you should contact the U.S. State
Department consular office or embassy to apply for a visa.
If inside the United States, you must file the Form
I-539, Application to Change Nonimmigrant Status, and pay the application
fee, or request a waiver of the application fee. All aliens 14 to 79 years
of age who are filing Form I-539 to obtain V nonimmigrant status must
submit a service fee for fingerprinting with their application. In
addition to the instructions listed on the Form I-539, all aliens applying
for V nonimmigrant status must follow the supplemental instructions found
on Supplement A to Form I-539. Applicants must also undergo a medical
examination and submit Form I-693, Medical Examination of Aliens Seeking
Adjustment of Status, without the vaccination supplement.
Applications should be submitted to:
U.S.
Immigration and Naturalization Service
P.O. Box 7216
Chicago, IL 60680-7216
Will I Get a Work Permit?
Persons in V-1, V-2, or V-3 status are eligible to apply for a work
permit. You should use INS Form I-765 (Application for Employment
Authorization) to apply for a work permit. Applicants should use the code
＾(a)(15)￣ as the answer to question 16 on Form I-765. You must submit
the application by mailing a Form I-765 along with the $100 application
fee to:
U.S.
Immigration and Naturalization Service
P.O. Box 7216
Chicago, IL 60680-7216
Can I Travel Outside the
United States?
If you obtain a V nonimmigrant visa from a consular office abroad, you may
be inspected and admitted to the United States in V nonimmigrant status
after traveling abroad as long as you continue to possess a valid,
unexpired V visa and remain eligible for V nonimmigrant status.
When you are granted V nonimmigrant status in the
United States by the INS, you will need to obtain a V visa from a consular
office abroad in order to be inspected and admitted to the United States
as a V nonimmigrant after traveling abroad. (You will not need to apply
for a V visa abroad in order to be admitted if you have traveled to
contiguous territories or adjacent islands, have another (different
category) valid visa, and are eligible for automatic revalidation.)
Procedures for obtaining a V nonimmigrant visa abroad are found in the
Department of State regulations 66 FR 19390, April 16, 2001. In addition, you must remain
eligible for admission in V nonimmigrant status.
A V nonimmigrant with a pending Form I-485,
Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, does not
need to obtain advance parole prior to traveling abroad. This means that
an alien in V nonimmigrant status may be readmitted as a nonimmigrant
despite the fact that he or she is an intending immigrant with a filed
application for adjustment of status or an immigrant visa. The departure
of a V nonimmigrants with a, pending applications for adjustment of status
is not considered to have abandoned the adjustment application upon
departure.
Important Note: If you have accrued more than 180
days of unlawful presence in the United States (or 365 days), then travel
abroad and are admitted or readmitted as a V nonimmigrant, you have
triggered a 3- or 10-year bar to admission. The law exempts V
nonimmigrants from the 3- (or 10-) year bar for purposes of admission to
the United States as a V nonimmigrant but does not exempt them from the
bar when they later apply for an immigrant visa or for adjustment to LPR
status. That means that although you will be admitted or readmitted to the
United States in V status, you may be unable to adjust status to LPR
unless an individual waiver for that ground of inadmissibility is
granted.
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