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I lived in the US for the past 8 years on F1 visa. A few month ago I gave up my F1 status and moved to Canada. Afterwards I got married to my wife (US citizen) and applied for the marriage based greencard (submitted I130 two months ago).

Now we/I would like to move back to the US since things in Canada do not work out as nicely as expected. Unfortunately this greencard process can take 1-2 years.

Is it possible to obtain some work visa (e.g. H1B) while this greencard process is pending if a company (like Google or Apple) sponsors it?

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  • Can you get an advance parole document? – mdd Jan 14 at 1:48
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    @mdd: It sounds like they are not in the US and are doing Consular Processing abroad instead of Adjustment of Status in the US. Advance Parole is only for pending Adjustment of Status applicants. – user102008 Jan 14 at 3:14
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Most types of nonimmigrant visas are subject to the presumption of immigrant intent under INA 214(b), where they must presume that you are an intending immigrant (i.e. you intend to immigrate on this visa), and thus ineligible for the nonimmigrant visa, unless you convince the officer otherwise. And having a petition from a US citizen spouse would certainly make it harder to convince the officer you don't intend to immigrate with it, since you can easily change your mind after you enter the US and do Adjustment of Status to get permanent residency from within the US at any time.

However, H1b (as well as their dependents on H4) and L1 (as well as their dependents on L2) are exempt from INA 214(b). So immigrant intent should not affect your ability to get H1b visa or enter the US on H1b status.

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