EAD vs H1/J1

W

windsorguy2005

Registered Users (C)
My wife has applied for EAD as a derivative of my I -485 application. I am wondering if she should apply for residency just on EAD or also on H1/J1 ?
In case my I-485 gets rejected for some reason, her EAD will get rejected too. If one starts their residency on EAD, can you later switch H1 or J1?.....How does she cover the risk of my I-485 getting rejected?

Any help would be much appreciated.

much worried.
 
windsorguy2005 said:
My wife has applied for EAD as a derivative of my I -485 application. I am wondering if she should apply for residency just on EAD or also on H1/J1 ?
In case my I-485 gets rejected for some reason, her EAD will get rejected too. If one starts their residency on EAD, can you later switch H1 or J1?.....How does she cover the risk of my I-485 getting rejected?

Any help would be much appreciated.

much worried.
Click to expand...


Why are you so worried about your 485 getting rejected?
Using the EAD is probably in her best interest as far as getting a good position.
If she wants to have a visa, the EAD has no use really, might as well save your fees.
Worse yet, if she takes a J1 visa then, her 485 won't be adjudicated until she finishes her waiver, even if yours is approved. Furthermore there was a part of the stalled immigration bill recently that all medical residencies for FMGs should be on J1 visa, if that happens sometime in the next few yrs and she started on H1, she may be asked to go on J1 and face the 2 yr home residency requirements as well.
 
Thanks for your reply. The I-485 could get denied for whatever reason. I just don't want her to residency to suffer because of this. Ofcourse, the very reason I filed for I-485 is because she could get an EAD and so that its becomes easier to get a residency spot this year. If everything goes fine, there is nothing to worry. In case we have a problem, can one switch from EAD to H1/J1 in the middle of the program?


Hadron, other gurus - can you shed some light please?
 
That is entirely up to the program, about whether they sponsor you for a visa and if so then which type of visa. However usually if the person is already in the program they tend to look sympathetically at that situation since, it is a win/win for them and your wife, i.e your wife gets to complete the residency and they get to maintain their GME funding for her spot.
BTW Is your 140 approved? If yes then I think you should just let her start on EAD. If it would help you feel more secure, try to get your 140 PP once that option opens up and let 6 months lapse after 485 fiming(AC21 protection) then you might feel more confident in everything. Either way I presume she wont need to make that decision until next July right?
Just my opinion however. I am not a lawyer.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thanks again for your reply. Yes my I-140 is approved. I am not sure what you mean by "Either way I presume she wont need to make that decision until next July right?"....we need to start applying in Sept....so we need to specify the current visa status and the status on which residency will be done. Should we select status as EAD in the application? or should we select all three: EAD, H1, J1 ?.......would selecting all 3 visa types make the whole EAD advantage go away?

I presume we cannot select Permanent Resident/Green card because the I-485 is not approved yet. correct?.....anyone else in the same boat?
 
What I meant by that is that you can always advise them you have an EAD and start on that. Even if they filed for a visa that can be withdrawn in favour of your EAD at any time. The other way around might pose more difficulty.
As time passes, you will get more comfortable in your petitions eg, your security checks clear, your file processing starts, your medicals are sorted out etc. Eventually at 6 months you have ac21 to back you up as well, in case you lose your job or in case you have to change job for X,Y or Z reason.
Given the definite advantage of leveraging your EAD into a good residency spot, you have to give it a lot of thought. You may have to decide what you want to join on soon, but not have to act on that decision until July next year when you join. That is what I was saying.
 
Thanks postmd again for your reply. Right now, the million dollar question is what should we just say in the residency application -expected visa type - EAD or EAD, J1, H1 ?...thinking of couple of scenarios

a) If we say EAD, that might help my wife atleast get the interviews. Does this scenario totally exclude the option of H1/J1?....

other scenario
b) If we select EAD,J1,H1 - programs might think she needs a visa and might not even entertain her application. In case they do invite her for an interview - can she ask them for h1 sponsorship (if necessary)

would appreciate your reply.
 
posmd said:
there was a part of the stalled immigration bill recently that all medical residencies for FMGs should be on J1 visa...
Click to expand...

Hey posmd, is this really true? I mean I heard about the stalled immigration bill but I did not read the fine print I guess....

Do you think this bill is likely to be passed in the future?

Please enlightne us more...

Thanks
 
There was a time you couldn't do residency on a H1b in order to push everyone into J1s.

Everyone send a letter of thanks to the AMA (the epicenter of evil for all things bad for FMGs) for that one.
 
drvic said:
Hey posmd, is this really true? I mean I heard about the stalled immigration bill but I did not read the fine print I guess....

Do you think this bill is likely to be passed in the future?

Please enlightne us more...

Thanks
Click to expand...

Might happen might not. It just shows that it is the current line of thinking in the policy making settings. I suspect when the next modification is made affecting immigration law, this will likely find its way in there just a hunch................chance or design, I do not know, I find thats how things work here.
 
windsorguy2005 said:
Thanks postmd again for your reply. Right now, the million dollar question is what should we just say in the residency application -expected visa type - EAD or EAD, J1, H1 ?...thinking of couple of scenarios

a) If we say EAD, that might help my wife atleast get the interviews. Does this scenario totally exclude the option of H1/J1?....

other scenario
b) If we select EAD,J1,H1 - programs might think she needs a visa and might not even entertain her application. In case they do invite her for an interview - can she ask them for h1 sponsorship (if necessary)

would appreciate your reply.
Click to expand...

That is really up to you and your wife to decide. It depends on the strengths of your application, your job situation, your wifes desire to start this year and other such factors.
 
1. I think Under NO cicumstance should your wife accept J1 (Even if she is getting into HArvard and thats the only visa they give, just not worth it).
2. On EAD, she will probably get more interviews, and will potentially have the chance of joining a better rated residency program. But assuming the worst scenario, if your I485 gets rejected, she will be out of status from that day on. I think it will be hard for her to change to ANY visa once she is out of status. So if you have any valid reaso nto believe that your I485 may be rejected, then she should join on H1B.
3. If you dont have any reason to believe your I485 will be rejected, than joining on EAD will be better as she will have more options.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top