Am I exempted from leaving the country when my visa expires? 12 Answers as of October 10, 2011

Unfortunately, no. You are not exempted from leaving the country when your authorized period of stay on the tourist visa expires. Because you are not considered an immediate relative, you will not qualify for adjustment of status in the U.S. if you overstay your visa and will have to return to your home country to process the immigrant visa. If you remain in the U.S. for more than 180 days beyond your authorized period of stay, there will be a 3 year bar to reentry when you leave to process your visa. If you overstay by more than one year there will be a 10 year bar to reentry. For this reason, it is very important that you leave the U.S. when your authorized period of stay on the tourist visa expires.

The I-130 does not give you the right to remain after your I-94 card expires. In order to remain after October 11 you would need to get an extension or change of status on file (received) by USCIS prior to that date. Since there is not much time I would recommend you return before the 11th and if you want to come back consult on options to come back in another category.

No, the filing of the I-130 does not give you a status to remain in the United States. If you don't leave by the time permitted on the I-94 you would be out of status in the United States.

No, you're not exempted.

You must leave the US. AN I-130 filing does not give you status in the US or permission to remain here. If you want to do that, you need to file an extension of status or change of status before the I-94 expiration. Otherwise you need to depart the US by Oct 11 or you are out of status and this can cause a large number of issues in your case.

In your current situation you appear to be in a catch 22 because, if you leave the US you will be charged with unlawful presence and will be barred from re-entry for 10 years. If you stay and your visa becomes available, you will not be able to adjust your status here in the US because you are out-of-status having overstayed your visa. You will have to leave the US and go process your immigrant visa in your country of origin and there, you will be charged with the 10-year bar as well for the same reason. The only way you can process your visa here is if you are grandfathered under 245i of the INA and you meet the physical presence requirement of the Life Act (no need if the grandfathering application was filed before 1/14/1998).

No, you must leave if your I-94 is expiring. If you do not, then you will be in the US without authorization and accumulating unlawful presence. You are authorized to stay in the US after you have filed the I-485, application for permanent residence. The priority date backlog for FB-1 is June 2004, so you have about 7 years or more to wait.

If you remain in the US after October 11, 2011, you will be out of status. Unfortunately, you are not eligible to adjust status as you are not considered an "immediate relative" nor is there is a visa immediately available to you. Your father's I-130 petition is in the family-based first preference category. Review the Department of State's Visa Bulletin to see current cut off dates for visas.

You are not eligible to adjust your status in the United States unless you maintain lawful immigration status. As such, you must depart the United States in compliance with the terms of your visa. If you remain in the United States, not only will you be unable to adjust your status, but you will also accrue unlawful presence.

Is it your I-94 (the piece of paper that you were given when you entered the U.S.) that expires, or the visa that is in your passport? There is often confusion between the two. You cannot lawfully stay in the U.S. after your authorized period of stay, which is indicated on the I-94. The fact that an I-130 has been filed does not automatically extend your authorized period of stay.