Legal Question in Immigration Law in Virginia

Re: Converting J1 to a tourist visa

I see no reason as to why your wife would be precluded from applying for a tourist visa under the circumstances which you've described.

As to your question regarding a "transit visa" (which I'm not familiar with, I simply don't know.

Re: Converting J1 to a tourist visa

You can apply for multiple categories of visas, as long as they are consistent. They only possible problems I am aware of would be if the type of visa is contradictory. For example, if you apply for an H-1 work visa (which is temporary and includes the intent to return to the home country) and a green card (which includes the intent to indefinitely remain in the U.S.) these are self-contradictory. The BCIS is very sensitive to intent to return to the home country. So if the different visas include contradictory information or contradictory intent, that can be bad. But there is nothing wrong with applying for as many different types of visas as one can possibly qualify for, all at the same time.

You should check the terms of the J-1 (which applies until it is waived). I don't recall if the restrictions of a J-1 visa would include visiting as a tourist during a 2 year period. You should look at her documents for when she got the J-1 visa.