AOS from F1 - soon marriage need advise

T

Tania23

Registered Users (C)
Hello everyone,

Could you, please, give me an advise with the following situation. I came to the USA in 2012 in B1 visa for a group project in biology. Later I came back home, was working on my degree there and after finishing it I applied and I was accepted to the university and now it would be the second semester of my studies that I am going to continue (PhD). When I was participating in first project I met my special one, we were keeping long distance relationship, ones he visited me in my country (we did not know how serious our relationship will be) Now we live in the same state but we study in different universities in different cities, we meet as often as possible - few days in one city - few days in another - depend on our schedule. I came home in Europe for this winter break. My special one made me proposal and we were going to get married immediately after my returning from visiting parents this January 2014. I want and ready for this step but after reading forums about visas and documents I have the question. In this situation the fact that I am going to enter the US soon in F1 visa and in few days get married will be considered later on as fraud and costs me some problems. I am going to use F1 visa to continue my program - I don't have time to apply for another visa - and from other side I didn't want to wait with marriage but if it is counting illegal, of course, we will postpone this. As you can see our marriage is real - we are together almost 2 years, but I have F1 visa as we never thought about such things and didn't plan and we couldn't know how it will work for as being not in long distance. What do you think about applying for AOS in my situation immediately after marriage, what problems can we encounter? Thank you a lot!
 
There is no problem with intending to get married in the U.S. when you enter. There is a problem with intending to file for AOS in the U.S. during that trip when you enter on F1. Of course, if you get married to a U.S. citizen and you guys plan to reside in the U.S. in the future, chances are that you're gonna do AOS at some point. But it all depends on what your intentions when you enter are (and what the border officer believes your intentions are). Time of marriage doesn't really change it -- if you have intention to get married in 1 week and then AOS or intention to get married in 1 year and then AOS, it's still intention to AOS. But waiting a while makes it more plausible that you made the decision to AOS after entering.
 
Dear, Newacct, thank you a lot for your response. I have another question. Could you, please, give one more advise. My first intend is studies - my PhD program. Due to my family situation in home-country I am going home each half of year - that is why - every time it will look like I have another intend except studies when enter the country. And it feels that in this case there is no good time for applying for AOS. Yes, we want in future to reside in the US. I read on forums that if we just get married without applying for AOS I still might have problem entering the country and as I go home each semester I am afraid to mess up with my program, as I can't miss any semester - this is one of the requirements of the program. That is why I start looking for applying for AOS immediately for permission to travel. What do you think we should do?
 
Don't make it look too blatant ... wait a couple of months after entering the US before you marry and apply for AOS.

Is your fiance a US citizen?
 
Jackolantern said:
Don't make it look too blatant ... wait a couple of months after entering the US before you marry and apply for AOS.

Is your fiance a US citizen?
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Jackolantern, thank you for your response! Yes, my fiance is US citizen. Do you think that if we get married and apply in few months - around march - then I will get a permission to travel till May or June? Also, if you know something about this, could you answer, please, from forums I noticed the pattern that if you apply with cosponsor (whom we need as we are both students) then the time for consideration the application is longer? Did I understand right, that if one of us makes 125% of poverty level then we don't need a cosponsor, but 125% is need to be for 2 people, as after marriage we are considered as 2 people in household. Do we need to rent an apartment together? Also what do you think about the places where the documents should be sent - I looked on the official site of USCIS and found there that the USCIS Processing Time is very different depend on a location (some places are still working on applications from may, others work in time). Can we choose the location that is in another state but has no delay in processing documents - will this help to save time?

Thank you a lot for your attention!
 
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The travel authorization (I-131/Advance Parole) is usually issued in 2-3 months, so if you apply in March you should have it by June.

But you also have to attend the interview, so be cautious with your travel planning. DO NOT miss the interview because you're outside the US; they can be very unforgiving of missed interviews for green card applicants, denying your application even though you requested a reschedule (because they often don't process the reschedule request until it's too late).

If denied when you're outside the US, that could result in your Advance Parole being voided, leaving you stuck outside the US while you try to reopen the case. So if you travel outside the US before knowing the interview date, be prepared to cut short your plans in your home country and return to the US in time to show up at the interview.

You can't choose the interview location. They will choose the location based on the residential address you gave on the I-485.

Also, if you know something about this, could you answer, please, from forums I noticed the pattern that if you apply with cosponsor (whom we need as we are both students) then the time for consideration the application is longer?
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There is no evidence of applications taking longer because there is a joint sponsor. What could make it take longer is when you have insufficient income (or inadequate evidence of income) and didn't include a joint sponsor at the beginning, then USCIS puts the case on hold until you provide documentation from the joint sponsor.

Do we need to rent an apartment together?
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If you pursue a marriage-based green card via AOS, they expect you to be living together once married, or have a good excuse and other good evidence of your relationship. You probably have at least a couple years left for your PhD, correct? So there's no rush to marry for immigration reasons. If you need more time to get your marriage and finances and living arrangements organized in order to have a strong immigration case, it may be a good idea to delay the marriage and green card application for several months (or even a year) until your circumstances and evidence put you in better shape for a successful green card process.
 
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