Tbh that sounds rather suspicious, especially if you are from a country with a relatively high numbers of visa denials. Expect the consular officer to assume you have Immigrant intent.

@Time Time what’s suspicious about it, just wondering.

@Time Time basically I just want to go learn to fly airplane in the US since it’s quite cheap over there and the timeline would be kinda nice since EB1-a will take a few months to approve >>> not wasting any time . but yea I’m just wondering if it’s forbidden to do.

As soon as you enter the US, your case maybe considered abandoned. I’ll say wait it out, if you can to avoid any issues. I would also suggest you consult a US immigration lawyer.

@croto knight the suspicious part would be requesting a non immigration visa when you have (possibly - its a grey area) showed immigration intent. Note what I have said about the denial rates for your country: basically they don’t want you to AoS from an non-immigration to an immigration status, so it would depend on them believing/not believing that you are going to go back instead of AoSing

it is very suspicious because you already show your intent to immigrate at the the time you submitted your i-140. And after that you plan to convince the officer that you will come back to your country for an interview. You also don't need to wait months, just upgrade to premium.

@J A as far as I understand they haven’t filed 485, just the I-140 hence grey area vs NO (period). The issue is they have to prove the non-immigration intent for F1 and they might have issues with that, since they kind of do have it just not short term.

@Time Time Yes, he has made his intentions of coming to the US through the employment route. He may or may not be granted US Visa. if he does, that I-140 could be considered as abandoned because his entry into the US as F1 would be in their database. it’s just a very tricky situation, which I would avoid because of the consequences that may come to be

@J A I specifically asked my lawyers long time ago if a stand alone (not joint with 485) I-140 counts as immigration intent - they said it’s a grey area. A filed 485 is intent for sure. The main issue would be them not granting the petitioner F1 and recording attempted visa fraud in the file. Regardless, I agree that applying would be too risky.

thanks for all the input guys. actually understands more now @Artur D @Time Time @J A

@Time Time its not a grey area, some lawyers just dont care as they get money. Generally filing I-140 shows immigrant intent, any application for Visa (DS 160) asks if you filed an immigrant visa and the applicant need to answer "Yes" if they filed I-140 (irrespective of approval or denial).

@J A You are alright right this individual will have a harder time showing non immigrant tent with a pending I-140. more than likely that Non-immigrant visas will be denied. but your comment that enter the USA on a Non-immigrant visa may result in the I-140 been denied or abandon is not correct. This is not a grounds to deny a I-130,I-140,I-360 or I-526.non of the immigrant underlined basis petition will be denied on this grounds or scenario. However the I-485 can be as this may be seen as misrepresentation fraud that's you lied about your intentions to the CBP officer at the port of entry.Remember the I-140 is just to see you meet the criteria for the category doesn't mean your automatically eligible for the GC. there is a lot of persons with approved I-140 that will never get a GC.

@Sunny P This is a different question: you have to mention it (otherwise it can be counted as misrepresentation) but it doesn’t mean you are automatically denied - see the official answer i have linked to. It will raise the officer suspicion though