If I am on a B-2 visa, can I take two academic courses (6 hours) at a university without changing to F-1?

The definition of the B visitor category in the Immigration and Nationality Act clearly bars those coming primarily for the purpose of study. However, this does not preclude a bona fide visitor from incidental study. A tourist, for example, would not violate B-2 status by incidentally taking a short course of study. However, there is very little authority regarding study will be considered incidental.

In answer to the question of whether a nurse might enter the United States in visitor status to study for a licensing examination, the INS has previously stated that B-1 was appropriate for taking the examination but not to study for it. A lengthy period of study was apparently not merely incidental to the taking of a one-day examination.

This is the only official guidance I could find on this issue. Whether or not two academic courses will be considered incidental depends on whether the facts suggests that your primary reason for being in the United States is to study. If you can establish that your primary purpose is a permitted visitor activity and that the academic courses are less significant and of a brief duration, this may be considered incidental to your primary purpose. However, I suspect that academic courses taken over an entire semester are probably not considered incidental because they take place over an extended period of time.

Someone I know was deported from the U.S. upon making a false claim to U.S. citizenship. I have learned that he is permanently inadmissible to the U.S. even if he marries a U.S. citizen, since no waiver exists for this offence. Have there been any cases where this provision in the Immigration Act has been successfully challenged by individuals? People who have been arrested for drug trafficking are only banned from the US for ten years, and yet my friend can never return even though he is in a relationship (one that began before the deportation) with a U.S. citizen that might lead to marriage, and was a model "citizen" while living in the U.S. Is there any hope?

The ground of exclusion for falsely claiming to be a U.S. citizen is contained in INA §212(a)(6)(C)(ii). This ground is still waivable for nonimmigrant entries under INA 212(d)(3). The requirements for eligibility are already discussed elsewhere at this web site, so I will not go into greater detail here.

While there is an immigrant waiver for the misrepresentation ground contained in INA §212(a)(6)(C)(i) at INA §212(i)(1), the waiver does include false claims of U.S. citizenship under INA §212(a)(6)(C)(ii). You are correct in that there is no immigrant waiver available for this ground.

This is very little that can be done to challenge the exclusion ground. Congress has almost unfettered discretion to restrict the admission of aliens. The U.S. Supreme Court stated in United States ex rel. Knauff v. Shaughnessy 338 U.S. 537, 544 (1950) that the Attorney General possesses unchallenged power to exclude an alien, even if the wife of a U.S. citizen. The Court stated, "[w]hatever the procedure authorized by Congress is, it is due process as far as an alien denied entry is concerned." The Supreme Court also took a similar position in Shaughnessy v. United States ex rel. Mezei 345 U.S. 206 (1953), stating that the "respondent's right to enter the United States depends on the congressional will, and courts cannot substitute their judgment for the legislative mandate."

The only hope for your friend is to either qualify under a nonimmigrant category and seek a nonimmigrant waiver under INA 212(d)(3) or arrange for his U.S. citizen wife to immigrate to his country of residence.

For the record, controlled substance traffickers who are excludable under INA §212(a)(2)(C) are NOT entitled to an immigrant waiver. The immigrant waiver for criminal offenses under INA §212(h)(1) does not apply to them.