appleblossom

Oooh good point. Yes, it asks about overstays, so if the OP’s wife didn’t leave by mid July that would mean ESTA would be very unlikely to be granted in the future.

Have you seen the news today?!? I really wouldn't count on that at the moment, and with the high risk of your wife being refused entry on ESTA, plus the cost of her giving birth in the US, I honestly can't see why you'd not just have her give birth in Austria. Less risky, cheaper, and yes you'll need to petition the baby as well, but in the grand scheme of things is that really such a big deal? Your call of course, and you can try and have her enter to give birth. But do talk to her about the chances of being refused entry and see if she's happy to do that. If she is, she'd be detained until she can be put on a return flight. I personally wouldn't put my pregnant wife through that.

Just to be clear, you're aware that she cannot enter on either ESTA or a B visa with the intent to actually adjust status and stay, right? It would be easier, as there is no interview for ESTA and she's not likely to have it refused unless she's ineligible for some reason (i.e. criminal history, etc). But if she turns up with a baby bump and a husband already living in the US, you may find she is refused entry, so it's up to you if that is a risk you want to take just for her to visit you. I would strongly suggest you visit her instead personally, as that's a lot of stress to put a heavily pregnant woman through.

What do you mean? You can search timelines if that's what you're referring to? As above, have you delayed your own case so your children's can catch up? Don't go to an interview until they have!

They've changed it now, I-824's aren't required any longer for this if the I-130 hasn't been approved. That was introduced fairly recently, I think they were drowning in I-824's hence the backlog. https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-6-part-b-chapter-5#S-D-1

You're misunderstanding. She cannot be out of status, she needs to leave before 14th July. If she's from Austria then she won't need a visitor visa, is she not eligible for ESTA?

Another employment based visa? But it would need to be dual intent and I assume not likely anybody will sponsor her if she's pregnant. I think you need to be prepared to travel to her for the birth instead. When are you eligible for citizenship?

I'm not saying it will definitely not be an issue, who knows with the current administration! But I don't see any obvious reason to worry about it. Fair enough, that makes sense and I understand now. I'd be surprised if you got an interview before Sept though anyway even if you submitted now, it'll take 2 weeks to be DQ'ed, and then it's usually around 6-8 weeks before the interview even at the quickest consulates. You could always reschedule the interview too rather than reschedule your flight if for any reason it was sooner. But if you don't want to risk it and are happy to move in Oct/Nov then holding off is a good idea. Best of luck.

No guarantees of course, but I can't see why it should be an issue at all, plenty of people visit whilst their petitions/visas are being processed. But why are you holding off sending the rest of your docs? I can't see any reason to delay, and if you want to move in September you should get them in asap.

The 'My Progress' bar is utterly useless, please ignore it completely! For example, for my daughter's case the day before we got her approval it still said '16 months' on it, and the day we got the approval it jumped up to '27 months'. 😂 Go with the official USCIS processing times page as that's usually far more accurate. The 'My Progress' bar is pointless and I wish they'd get rid of it as all is does is cause unnecessary stress.

Then there's no option but to wait out the ban.

No negative impact as you’re EB2 NIW, so it’s not like you need the job offer to get the visa. Just tell the truth, exactly as you did above.

As @Boiler said, even if her PD is current in August she won’t be eligible to adjust status if she overstays. Overstays aren’t forgiven unless an immediate relative of a USC, so she needs to leave by 16th July (ideally 13th/14th ish to avoid the risk of an inadvertent overstay due to the flight being cancelled).

You say your BIL is ‘100% Chinese’? So he has a Chinese passport? I didn’t think China allowed dual nationality but if he does then there are exemptions to the ban and having dual nationality with a country that isn’t banned is one of them. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/06/restricting-the-entry-of-foreign-nationals-to-protect-the-united-states-from-foreign-terrorists-and-other-national-security-and-public-safety-threats/

Nope. That would essentially be trying to 'live' in the US on a visitor visa and would be a sure way to get her visa revoked. If employment based isn't an option, then I think a spouse visa is probably the only realistic route - as @Boiler said, you could try for DCF which would be much quicker. But you'd need to decide if it's all worth the hassle and cost if you only want to be there for a max of 2 years.

OK. Hopefully it will arrive before then, but if not you can inquire on the date given. Good luck.

There's no temp visa for spouses of USC's, so it would have to be a full immigrant visa application if based off your status. Assuming the job can't wait until you get one of those for her, which will take at least 18 months, then she'd need to look at her own visa independent of yours i.e. employment based. What does she do?

He may have done but if it was before the date given on the link above, it'll usually just be ignored. What date do you get on there?

If you applied 4 months ago and quoted processing times are 3.5 months then I wouldn't think you'd be outside of normal processing times yet (remember the 3.5 months is only for 80% of cases). You need to put the date it in at the bottom of the page and it will tell you exactly when you can inquire.

Not sure when you applied but check current processing times here - https://egov.uscis.gov/processing-times/ And then scroll down the page to the 'Get Inquiry Date' and you can put the date in and see when you will be outside of normal processing times and can send an inquiry. If you've sent it before that date then that's why they won't have responded.

Another vote for Skyscanner. But check return prices too, they're often cheaper than a one way!

You’re in it. I remember your case, just checking you’ve held things up at the NVC stage so your kids applications can catch up? You’ve not got an interview scheduled yet? You can request they are all scheduled together when the time comes.

Then it’s produced once you’ve entered the US on your immigrant visa and paid the green card fee. Takes ~90 days to arrive after the latest of those two things. As @Lemonslice said, please fill in your timeline. It’s really hard to answer questions without it and it pays it forward and helps others too. It’s on your profile.

Then that’s why they said she abused her visa. She was in effect working illegally - as said above it’s a job that she took from a USC, even if she wasn’t paid to do it then somebody else could have been. So that coupled with trying to enter the US when she had a ban in place means there’s no point in reapplying for another visitor visa this soon. Leave it a good few years then try again. In the meantime, your wife might want to petition her sister for an immigrant visa, if you think there’s any chance she might want to move permanently in the future? It’s a long old wait and her past history shouldn’t impact that so I’d get the I-130 submitted asap even if you only think there’s a small chance she’ll want to move at some point. Good luck.

Entering as a visitor though, not entering on your immigrant visa and becoming a LPR.