Kevin Keane

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Home All FAQs Working Visas H-1B and L-1 I am in H-1B status and recently got married. My fiance had arrived as a tourist, and we got married in the USA. Can he or she change to H-4 status?

I am in H-1B status and recently got married. My fiance had arrived as a tourist, and we got married in the USA. Can he or she change to H-4 status?

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If your spouse used a visa waiver

No. The visa waiver program does not allow changing to any other status, except for marriage to a US citizen.

If your spouse used a B-1/B-2 tourist visa stamp

If your spouse obtained a tourist visa from a consulate and explicitly stated as purpose "marrying an H-1B non-immigrant and changing status to H-4," then this should not be a problem. Also note that while you cannot legally use this to get married to US citizen, visiting to get married to an H-1B and changing status is permissible activity for a tourist because an H-1B is a non-immigrant.

If you got a tourist visa without this annotation, then you may still be able to change to H-4 status. It depends on the circumstances. For instance, if the visa is old and you have travelled to the US multiple times before, then there would be less of an issue than if you just got the visa.

Do be prepared to be questioned on admission. It is entirely possible that you will be denied admission. Don't panic - you can always get married outside the US and then apply for an H-4 visa at a US consulate. Simply being denied admission is usually not harmful.

 

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