J1 to B2 - Please help 🥺

[NatMar 18]

Good morning!

 

I hope someone can help me as this is out of my scope.

 

I have a friend who got here on January 19th 2020 with a J1 visa. She got an extension of her J1 in 2021 (new DS). 

This extension expired on January 19th 2022 and she filed her I-539 Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status to a B2 on December 10th, 2021. She got her fingerprints taken in January 4th but hasn't received any response yet from USCIS. We are scared that she is out of status and overstaying here illegally.

 

Her questions are:

 

1.  Should she send a new request even though she's already past 8 months?

2. Can she change to a F1?

3. Is she illegally staying?

4. Is her Ssn affected with any visa change?

5. What are her next steps/options?

 

Thank you so much in advance for any help!

[canadian_wife 1,823]

What is your friend's ultimate goal?  This seems a bit like visa shopping for a person who is desperate to stay in the US.

 

Good luck 

[Boiler 45,756]

She would have stated how long she wanted to stay, but that would have gone by now, why did she not leave?

[Verrou 1,962]

its not easy to "change" visa from J1 to B2 visa. most of the i-539 application usually wont be approved if the request is not " strong" enough. sending new evidence wont change the result. what "reason" did she use anyway?

 

seems like the goal is to stay in US no matter what. her SSN means nothing if she doesnt have proper visa to stay in the US.

 

next step : prepare for the worst, if her i-539 rejected, better go back to her home country than acumulate overstay

Edited August 10, 2022 by Misscloud

[JeanneAdil 6,583]

If the response is a denial, and your I-94 has expired, the USCIS generally allows you 30 days to depart the U.S. starting from the date on the letter notifying you of their decision to deny your extension. If you do not depart within 30 days, you will be considered deportable.

[NatMar 18]

Thank you all so much for taking the time to respond. I was fearing some of your responses because that's what I thought could be going on.

 

I asked her and the reason she said it was COVID and that she could not travel because of that...

 

Does anyone know if she's illegally overstaying while waiting for a response?

 

[Boiler 45,756]

She had COVID for 8 months?

 

As previously mentioned when she applied to change status she would have stated when she was leaving which I assume was some time ago 

[Cathi 5,771]

COVID? As in she had COVID or she won't travel because fear of it? That is not an excuse at this point, people have been traveling internationally for a very long time now. Sounds to me like she just doesn't want to leave.

[SalishSea 17,980]

5 hours ago, NatMar said:

I asked her and the reason she said it was COVID and that she could not travel because of that...

Yeah, that's not going to fly these years later, unfortunately.