H1B with I-130 pending

[mstein 3]

I hope posting in this forum is ok! 

 

I am a Canadian citizen, currently living in Canada and I'm married to a US citizen. We sent our i130 application last year and got our NOA1 on December 6th (in Nebraska). Now anyone who has been following the Nebraska service centre knows how painfully slow the progress has been. I am happy to wait like everyone else but I have a job offer with a start date at the end of October. The likelihood that everything will go through by then is about 0.

 

Now my future employer has agreed to sponsor me through an H1B visa with premium processing (they're exempt). We're hoping that this would be a bit faster than waiting for our I130 to go through. 

 

From my research, it looks like I can have both processes running concurrently. Does anyone know if I need to do anything for our I130 application? Once we get approved, do I need to get back to Canada for my interview? Or should we apply for AOS? 

 

Thanks in advance everyone

[cd37 229]

I think you can apply for AOS once you enter US with h1b visa. Officer may ask you about your immigrant intent at port of entry because of i 130 application. They can also deny you entry although H1B is dual intent visa.

 

 

Edited August 12, 2017 by cd37

[xyz12345 260]

This looks similar to your case but it was in 2007.

 

 

[Hypnos 6,576]

As stated, H-1B is dual-intent, so you can have both running concurrently. If you happen to receive the H-1B first you can enter the country and then file for AoS based on the I-130.

[mstein 3]

1 hour ago, cd37 said:

I think you can apply for AOS once you enter US with h1b visa. Officer may ask you about your immigrant intent at port of entry because of i 130 application. They can also deny you entry although H1B is dual intent visa.

 

 

 

52 minutes ago, Hypnos said:

As stated, H-1B is dual-intent, so you can have both running concurrently. If you happen to receive the H-1B first you can enter the country and then file for AoS based on the I-130.

 

That's good to hear! Do you think the adjustment of status will work at the NVC stage or even once my paper is transferred to the Montreal consulate? 

[Hypnos 6,576]

You can file an I-485 based on the pending or approved I-130 at any point before receiving the immigrant visa.