An immigration consultant approach that no longer works

Here’s a post by immigration lawyer Amber Davis on a common approach that some immigration consultants recommend that no longer works:

A lot of immigration consultants (non-lawyers) advise clients to:

- Apply to a master’s or certificate program.
- Get an F-1 visa.
- Apply for EB-2 NIW.
- Apply for the adjustment of status (I-485).
- Drop out before they get a final decision.

This happens more often than you think and if you’re about to go down this road, don’t.

Why?

Because EB-2 is no longer current, which means you’ll have to stay in status for at least 6 months to a year before you can file an adjustment application.

What this means is you can’t just drop out of school even if you get an NIW approval, which gives you no special status whatsoever (the EB-2 NIW in itself does not give you status).

Also, even if your NIW is approved, the I-485 is not guaranteed to be approved. It’s safer to hold a backup status so that if the adjustment falls through, you can fix the issues and try again.

All this sounds obvious but so many immigrants fall victim to the false promise of a fast green card.

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Interested in EB-1A, EB-2 NIW or O-1? Feel free to reach out at amber.davis@waypointimmigration.org or via LinkedIn messages and I’ll get back to you shortly!