US Immigration Law Services LLC

National Immigration Consultants

Changing Status from Tourist Visa to Green Card

U.S. immigration law (under section 245(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA)) allows people to file for a change of status (Adjustment of Status) if they enter the United States on a visitor visa and meet the requirements to apply for lawful permanent residency (LPR) in the U.S. 

According to the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), Section 245(a), the following must occur in order for you to adjust status in the U.S. This applies whether you entered the U.S. on a tourist visa or some other non-immigrant visa:

  1. You must have been inspected and admitted into the U.S.; or inspected and paroled into the U.S.  For example, you have a tourist visa, and you entered at a U.S. port of entry and presented yourself to an Officer, who reviewed your passport and visa, and admitted you into the U.S. for 6 months. 
  2. You must properly file an adjustment of status application. Note the use of the word ‘properly’.  
  3. You must be physically present in the U.S. 
  4. You must be eligible to receive an immigrant visa
  5. An immigrant visa must be immediately available when you file for adjustment of status and at the time a final decision is made on your application. 
  6. You are admissible to the U.S. for lawful permanent residence or eligible for a waiver or other form of relief if you are inadmissible.

Immediate Relatives of U.S Citizens

Spouses, unmarried children under 21 years of age, and parents of  U.S. Citizens are generally eligible to change status while on a tourist visa in the U.S.  These family members are considered to be immediate relatives and visas are always immediately available for the spouses, unmarried children under 21, and parents of U.S. Citizens.

Scenario 1: Parent(s) of a U.S. Citizen.  Your mom is here visiting the U.S. from India so she can go to your daughter’s high school graduation in New York.  When she enters the U.S. she is asked the purpose of her trip and she tells the Customs & Border Protection (CBP) officer that she is going to the graduation ceremony and also intends to visit her other children and grandchildren who live on the West Coast.  The CBP officer tells her that she can remain in the U.S. for 6 months. 

During her visit, your mom sees how you struggle with balancing going to work and caring for your three children; she also realizes that she misses you all very much and would not like to be so far away anymore. 

Since you are a U.S. citizen and your mom has no history that makes her inadmissible to the U.S., you can file a family petition for your mom (the I-130 Alien Relative Petition), and she can file a green card application based on your I-130 petition.

Our law firm helps with changing status from Tourist Visa to get a family member permanent residence status, call Alejandro Hernandez today.