[angelapapyan]

I had applied for I-130 for my husband and it was approved in 2004. However, no actions were taken since then because I moved to his country. Now, 2015 he applied for Non-immigrant visa to see his children in the US and was denied. The officer said by the law Non-immigrant visa will be always denied because petition I-130 has been applied before. Is that correct that he has no right to get Non-immigrant visa that he has to immigrate? I have not found anything like that on the USCIS site. Please advise.

[newacct]

It's not absolute. Someone with a petition filed for them can still visit the U.S. on a tourist visa. However, it's more difficult. Someone entering the U.S. on a tourist visa has to show they have no immigrant intent, i.e. that they have no preconceived intention of staying there during that trip, usually by showing ties to the home country. Lots of people get denied for this reason even when they have no relatives in the U.S. let alone someone who is the spouse of a citizen.

The fact that a petition was filed for him makes it much harder to show that he has no immigrant intent. You could withdraw the petition; that may or may not help. But again the fact that you are a citizen, means that as soon as he comes to the U.S. you guys can at any time change your mind and file a petition and concurrently file for Adjustment of Status. Perhaps if will help if he can also show that you have ties to his home country that you don't plan to abandon.

If he still can't get a tourist visa, basically the only other way to get to the U.S. is to apply for an immigrant visa, even though he doesn't want to immigrate. The process costs a lot of money and takes a long time, maybe around a year, and even after he gets permanent residency, he will lose it again if he doesn't maintain residence in the U.S. which will make the whole process a big waste.