In this video, you'll discover if you can change your status after a visa overstays
in the United States stay tuned.
Hello everybody.
My name is Jacob Sapochnick an I'm immigration attorney based in central California.
In this video answer very common question that I get is, can one person change their
status once they're already in the United States but they already overstay their visa
or lost their status.
How can you change your status and what are there for cases of overstayed.
So typically if a person comes here on a visa it's a tourist visa or student visa.
There is a duration of status that is attached to it typically by that form identity for.
And right now this form is electronic and you can get it when you enter the United States
you can find it on the CBP website.
So let's take a look at the tourist visa example if you come as a tourist you can typically
stay up to six months and you can extend that stay for another six months.
But during this six, the first six months during this time you are considered to be
in legal authoress status.
And during this time you can change to another status maybe a student or maybe a work visa
or investor visa.
But once you overstayed so let's say you are not able to extend your status or your application
to change status is denied.
Once you lose that status it is very very difficult once impossible to move to another
legal status.
For example if you overstay your tourist visa by even a week or two weeks it will be very
difficult to obtain another status like a work visa like an HRB or E2.
And the reason is because when you find application to change your status the Immigration Service
is going to reply back and say hey you've lost your status right now and therefore you're
not eligible to change your status.
Now we also have to look at how the lack of the overstayed.
Any person that overstays more than 180 days is not only risking the possibility of denial
for a change of status but also they're risking of bars from the United States.
The moment they depart the 3 to 10 year bars which we have other videos that we've done
discussing those matters.
But at this particular video talking about the possibility of changing status once he
overstayed even a day or week or month.
So typically once you overstay you're not able to change status to any other legal status
like a work visa or investment visa.
The only exception to the rule is if you marry a U.S. citizen if you marry a citizen and
even if you overstay your or two years or more then at the moment of adjustment of status
they overstay will be waived at the time of the interview.
If you have not done any other violations.
But if you want to get in any other non immigrant status it's virtually impossible once you
overstayed your visa.
And the reason is because you no longer have status at that moment.
How about people that enter the United States without a visa.
So if enter the United States without a visa.
You know, if you were smuggle it or somehow you were not inspected at that point you're
not able to change your status at all, to any visa, because you never had a visa in
the first place.
And even if you marry a U.S. citizen you need a waiver, A special waiver to be able to do
to obtain status.
You're not able to change your status because you entered without a visa and you are not
inspected.
So to summarize if you overstayed your visa it's virtually impossible to change status
and the exception to that is if you marry a United States citizen and then you can adjust
your status.
And in the time of the interview, the overstay will be waived, if you have any other question
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