Marrying at the end of an I-20 ~ Staying legal

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exchode

New Member
My girlfriend will be here for a year starting in May of 2011, till May of 2012. Her I-20 will be valid during this time. I will graduate the May of 2012 so we decided this would be a good time to get married. Perhaps a little bit before. I am a United States citizen, she is Korean.

I understand how the adjustment of status works, and all the documents necessary to complete that process. However, if the semester ends in May and we get married a couple of weeks before the end of the semester ~ her I-20 would expire, correct? Thus leaving her out of status and risk getting her green card application denied. Is there a way to extend her sojourn period to keep her in legal status until the green card is issued?

thanks in advance for any and all advice offered, appreciate it very much :)

-Eric
 
anderson24 said:
Once you file for adjustment of status automatically you'll lose the F-1 status, because F-1 visa doesn't allow dual intent.
Click to expand...

So will this automatically put her out of status and she'll have to leave the country? Or will she be allowed to stay until her I-485 is decided upon?
 
Hi,
I think your I20 expires once you graduate (i.e. fullfil your cource requirements) or at the expiration date it has, whichever is earlier. If your I20 would expire once you apply for adjustment of status, NO ONE on F1 would be able to get married and get their GC while in USA which is not the case as a know million people who did that and were fine. I read the sticky on this forum, but I think every situation is different. People adjust status from non-immigrant to immigrant left and right.... May be she should seek advice from her International Advisor? Just be careful and don't reveal too much, sometimes those folks are total douchebags.

I was in similar situation at one point, you have several options to bridge the gap:

1. She can apply for another major/minor, update her I20 and take more classes until you guys get married.
2. She can apply for OPT (1 year employment card granted after graduation) but she needs to make sure to apply 3 months before graduation
3. or you can get married earlier such as now, no one cancelled Vegas yet:-)

I think #2 is your best bet, at least thats what I did (graduated December, OPT started January and would expire in a year, we got married July of same year, I got my GC-related EAD in November right before my OPT expired).

Hope this helps anf good luck!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
iglauf said:
Hi,
I think your I20 expires once you graduate (i.e. fullfil your cource requirements) or at the expiration date it has, whichever is earlier. If your I20 would expire once you apply for adjustment of status, NO ONE on F1 would be able to get married and get their GC while in USA which is not the case as a know million people who did that and were fine. I read the sticky on this forum, but I think every situation is different. People adjust status from non-immigrant to immigrant left and right.... May be she should seek advice from her International Advisor? Just be careful and don't reveal too much, sometimes those folks are total douchebags.

I was in similar situation at one point, you have several options to bridge the gap:

1. She can apply for another major/minor, update her I20 and take more classes until you guys get married.
2. She can apply for OPT (1 year employment card granted after graduation) but she needs to make sure to apply 3 months before graduation
3. or you can get married earlier such as now, no one cancelled Vegas yet:-)

I think #2 is your best bet, at least thats what I did (graduated December, OPT started January and would expire in a year, we got married July of same year, I got my GC-related EAD in November right before my OPT expired).

Hope this helps anf good luck!
Click to expand...

So if while waiting for her adjustment of status to get approved, would she have to leave the country if her I-20 expires?
 
exchode said:
So if while waiting for her adjustment of status to get approved, would she have to leave the country if her I-20 expires?
Click to expand...

I think she's better off maintaining some type of status while waiting for approval. otherwise she may have problems whne going through 485 approval and further, but I don't think she will get deported once you guys are married and live together. You should denefetelly consider OPT or getting merrid 3 months before I20 expires and applying for EAD. looks at 485 application on uscis web-site, may be it has some info as well....
 
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