Advice needed about marriage with GC holder

A

ArvDesign

Registered Users (C)
Marriage with GC holder

Good Day Everybody,
I got a very important question, and I'd really appreciate answers if anybody can help me.
My situation:
Came to NYC in june 2005 on j-1 :work and travel program, then lawyer suggested to change my status to b-1 turist visa which expires 03-30. I'm not really sure if changing my status form j-1 to b-1 was really a good idea, as I live together with my wife who is a green card holder ( we got married last week).
My question:
What would you suggest now? I belive that the only way for me to stay here is to fill i-130 form and wait few years. What would you suggest?

While reading form i-130 I don't exactly understand question 14 about my arrival to US. Because I came on J-1 status which expired in September, but all the time I had a legal status (I got myself a tourist visa while I still was legally here ) so what should I put in as an expiration date - j-1 expiration or b-1 expiration?

Thank you very much in advance for your help.
Best Regards
ArvDesign
 
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As you mentioned your B1 is due to expire on Mar 30, (2006 I presume)... after that you will be out of status and would start to accumulate days of illegal presence in US... so even if you file I-130, you will not be pardoned for your overstay, because your spouse is a GC holder. This will invite a ban on entry to US for 3-10 yrs. You can only hope that while your I-130 is pending approval your wife gets Naturalized (ie gets her US Citizenship), following which your overstay will be pardoned.

The overstay is pardoned for a spouse of a US Citizen and not for the spouse of a GC holder. You can read more about overstay in this thread.

HTH, USC
 
a_usc - I believe I will be able to make it, because my wife will be a citizen in about 2 years. Approval of my I-130 takes more than 2 years right?

What date I should put on my I-130 form as a date of I-94 or I-95 expiration date - the one from j-1 or b-1 ?
 
a_usc said:
As you mentioned your B1 is due to expire on Mar 30, (2006 I presume)... after that you will be out of status and would start to accumulate days of illegal presence in US... so even if you file I-130, you will not be pardoned for your overstay, because your spouse is a GC holder. This will invite a ban on entry to US for 3-10 yrs. You can only hope that while your I-130 is pending approval your wife gets Naturalized (ie gets her US Citizenship), following which your overstay will be pardoned.

The overstay is pardoned for a spouse of a US Citizen and not for the spouse of a GC holder. You can read more about overstay in this thread.

HTH, USC
Click to expand...

Hm, I thought that the only trouble with the overstaying would be if he decided to leave the country and then wanted to come back here. If he stays here though, and his wife files I-130 while he was still in a legal status, shouldn't it be ok?

arvdesign said:
Good Day Everybody,
I got a very important question, and I'd really appreciate answers if anybody can help me.
My situation:
Came to NYC in june 2005 on j-1 :work and travel program, then lawyer suggested to change my status to b-1 turist visa which expires 03-30. I'm not really sure if changing my status form j-1 to b-1 was really a good idea, as I live together with my wife who is a green card holder ( we got married last week).
My question:
What would you suggest now? I belive that the only way for me to stay here is to fill i-130 form and wait few years. What would you suggest?

While reading form i-130 I don't exactly understand question 14 about my arrival to US. Because I came on J-1 status which expired in September, but all the time I had a legal status (I got myself a tourist visa while I still was legally here ) so what should I put in as an expiration date - j-1 expiration or b-1 expiration?

Thank you very much in advance for your help.
Best Regards
ArvDesign
Click to expand...

I'm not sure, but I think it might have been a good idea that you changed to a B visa, since the J Visas are subject to a 2 year foreign residence requirement. I just don't know if that requirement had been waivered when you changed your visa.

Try to find more about this on www.uscis.gov, or maybe someone else here knows more about cases like these.

Good luck to you!
 
patty579 said:
Hm, I thought that the only trouble with the overstaying would be if he decided to leave the country and then wanted to come back here. If he stays here though, and his wife files I-130 while he was still in a legal status, shouldn't it be ok?
Click to expand...

He needs to file I-485, not I-130 while he is still in legal status in order to be in the good books of USCIS.
 
ari4u said:
He needs to file I-485, not I-130 while he is still in legal status in order to be in the good books of USCIS.
Click to expand...

Ari,
I see. Sorry if that caused more confusion..
 
ArvDesign said:
a_usc - I believe I will be able to make it, because my wife will be a citizen in about 2 years. Approval of my I-130 takes more than 2 years right?

What date I should put on my I-130 form as a date of I-94 or I-95 expiration date - the one from j-1 or b-1 ?
Click to expand...

Staying here illegally is your call. You have to understand that you will not be able to re-enter US if you travel, you will not be able to get a legal job and if USCIS comes to know about this, you will be deported and it will definitely create problems for your future immigration.

As the spouse of a LPR, the I-130 takes ~3-4 years for the PD to become current. As the spouse of a USC, there is no waiting time as the PD is always current.

As for I-94 date, you use the date from the most recent I-94 you received when you entered US. If you got a new I-94 when you changed to B-visa, then use that.
 
Patty said:
Hm, I thought that the only trouble with the overstaying would be if he decided to leave the country and then wanted to come back here. If he stays here though, and his wife files I-130 while he was still in a legal status, shouldn't it be ok?
Click to expand...

My Bad! Yes if he left the country he will be in trouble - that's what I meant when I talked about the ban, didn't put in all the words there. Also, if he fails to maintain his non-immigrant status throughout, he will not be eligible for AOS.

On the other hand... if his wife files I-130 while his stay is still legal, AND the wife becomes an US Citizen while he is waiting for his PD (priority date) to become current AND the wife upgrades her status in the filed I-130, then his overstay will be forgiven. That can work, cuz it is taking around 3-5 yrs for the PD to become current these days. Of course what Ari says also makes sense - he must be able to file a I-485 while still with a legal status.

Someone may like to chime in to shed more info on this.
 
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