I changed status to O-1 inside the US - can I travel abroad?

Community answers

The answers below are translated from the original Russian - the language of the community chats.

• When changing status to O-1 inside the States, there is no visa in the passport. Upon leaving and wanting to re-enter, you will have to schedule an interview and obtain a visa. As we know, interviews and obtaining a visa can take time, so any departure in such a situation becomes a complicated matter. If you have an O-1 visa, you can leave and re-enter.

• There is no US consulate in the US, so you can't get a visa there. To enter the US on an O-1, you will need to plan for an appointment at a consulate in another country, a possible administrative review for months, and possibly a denial.

• In the States, you will get status, but the visa must be stamped at the embassy. If you do not plan to leave the States during the status period, you can continue to stay there peacefully. If you need to leave the States, you will have to schedule an appointment at the embassy in another country - to be able to return on a visa.

• It's different with EB-1: once you get a green card in the US, you can exit and re-enter. The application process is quite long, but when it's all over, you can relax and exit and re-enter without restrictions.

The answers are anonymized community experience from the public chats, not legal advice. Officers may decide similar cases differently.

Sources

• USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 6, Part F, Chapter 2
• USCIS: the EB-1 category
• USCIS: petitions returned by consular offices

Related on this site

• Life on O-1 status
• Consular process
• Port of entry

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