140 approved, EAD acquired and 485 Pending. fulltime study and career change?

[gc_seeker987]

Hi,

my status:
H-1B third year.
EB3. PD in august 2007.
140 is approved, 485 pending. (way past 180 days)
Also have EAD and AP.

Goal: study fulltime and change career(possibly drastically..explanation below)

My occupation is Unix System administrator. The job description starts off as "The position requires the theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialized knowledge of Computer Science or a related field or, its equivalent in training and/or experience"
then it slowly narrows down the description(i can provide that if necessary).

I have admission in a top school to pursue graduate studies in CS. This is where my heart is and if all goes well, i will graduate with a phd in about 5 years in CS. After completion, i surely hope not to do the same or similar job as described in the previous paragraph. I will most likely go teach and research CS in some college.

given the retrogression, i probably wont get my gc for years to come and i cannot postpone my studies indefinitely. So i plan to quit my job, study fulltime and use my EAD to work as a graduate assistant to support myself. researching previous posts on this forum indicates that doing this is not illegal or immigration fraud. please correct me if my understanding is wrong.

Now, my current employer most likely will not keep the door open after i quit, in case i get my gc in the future and request to go back and work there temporarily to fulfill my side of the obligation. Since gc is very important, when i get my gc, even if it is in the middle of my phd, i would like to take a break and work same/similar job temporarily to fulfill this obligation. The question is what is the safest way to do so?

One solution that comes to mind is to befriend a consultant shop that can help me reply to any RFEs while 485 is pending via a future offer letter for a job similar to what i have now. (during this time, i will be studying and supporting myself as i explained two paragraphs ago). When i do get the gc, i can either work for this consultant shop if they actually have an opening or find something on my own, again, to fulfill the obligation of working for the similar job for which gc was petitioned. Is this a feasible solution? Is this risky for any reason? For my situation, is there a better solution than this?

Here is another question in the mix. I will be marrying an indian citizen(presumably before my gc is approved) who will be on her own visa. When my PD becomes current, no matter what i am doing at the time (working or studying), living with EAD and AP, i can add her to my pending I-485, correct?

Thank you very much for reading my post. This forum has been helpful to me in the past and i hope someone provides accurate response to this, my first post.

[inLineforGC_1]

Hi,

I'm considering a similar option for future studies. I didnt see any replies for your post. Any chance you received responses on this? I'd like to get some level of background information before approaching my company's attorneys on this question.

My background -
H1B - 7th year
EB3, PD - Dec 2006
140 approved (over a year back) and have EAD and AP

Thanks a lot!

[ginnu]

Originally Posted by gc_seeker987

Hi,

my status:
H-1B third year.
EB3. PD in august 2007.
140 is approved, 485 pending. (way past 180 days)
Also have EAD and AP.

Goal: study fulltime and change career(possibly drastically..explanation below)

My occupation is Unix System administrator. The job description starts off as "The position requires the theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialized knowledge of Computer Science or a related field or, its equivalent in training and/or experience"
then it slowly narrows down the description(i can provide that if necessary).

I have admission in a top school to pursue graduate studies in CS. This is where my heart is and if all goes well, i will graduate with a phd in about 5 years in CS. After completion, i surely hope not to do the same or similar job as described in the previous paragraph. I will most likely go teach and research CS in some college.

given the retrogression, i probably wont get my gc for years to come and i cannot postpone my studies indefinitely. So i plan to quit my job, study fulltime and use my EAD to work as a graduate assistant to support myself. researching previous posts on this forum indicates that doing this is not illegal or immigration fraud. please correct me if my understanding is wrong.

Now, my current employer most likely will not keep the door open after i quit, in case i get my gc in the future and request to go back and work there temporarily to fulfill my side of the obligation. Since gc is very important, when i get my gc, even if it is in the middle of my phd, i would like to take a break and work same/similar job temporarily to fulfill this obligation. The question is what is the safest way to do so?

One solution that comes to mind is to befriend a consultant shop that can help me reply to any RFEs while 485 is pending via a future offer letter for a job similar to what i have now. (during this time, i will be studying and supporting myself as i explained two paragraphs ago). When i do get the gc, i can either work for this consultant shop if they actually have an opening or find something on my own, again, to fulfill the obligation of working for the similar job for which gc was petitioned. Is this a feasible solution? Is this risky for any reason? For my situation, is there a better solution than this?

Here is another question in the mix. I will be marrying an indian citizen(presumably before my gc is approved) who will be on her own visa. When my PD becomes current, no matter what i am doing at the time (working or studying), living with EAD and AP, i can add her to my pending I-485, correct?

Thank you very much for reading my post. This forum has been helpful to me in the past and i hope someone provides accurate response to this, my first post.

1 GC is for future job. if you are not on the same/similar fulltime job or don’t have same/similar permanent job offer then I-485 cant be approved.

2. EAD is based on pending I-485 and pending I-485 is based on I-140 and if you are not going to do the same/similar job as on LC then I-485 can be denied as you don’t have intent to work with the employer after GC. If employer revokes the I-140 then at this time you are eligible for AC21 IF you get permanent job offer with same/similar job duties and have intention to work full time.
3 if I-485 gets denied EAD, AP are invalid as EAD AP is based on Pending I-485.
4 You want to marry X and if X is on valid status and your I-485 is pending and you marry to X before I-485 approval then he can file derivative I-485.

You don’t have Intention of full time work after getting GC and that seems like a fraud. Your intention should be to work full time in same/similar job once get GC.

You need a very good lawyer. Write all your questions and go to good lawyer and get your answers.

[madras90]

My PD is April 2004. My I-140 was approved more than 6 months back. I also got my EAD. I have been applying only for jobs in the same/similar classification. Considering the retrogression, it does not seem like my I-485 case will be taken up for another 3/4 years.

Will it be ok to work for jobs in other classifications for 2/3 years and then switch to old similar/same classification when the I-485 is more likely to be taken up?