GC and F1

I

I140helppls

Registered Users (C)
My I140 is pending at CSC for abt 7 mths now. Also my wife is studying on an H4 and she is not able to take any assistantship /internship that is being offered to her etc .
She is currently on an H4 .Recently I had got an H4 extension approval for her till 9/30/2006.


She graduates in dec 2004 . i am thinking whether it is wise to transfer her to F1 now . i am thinking what will happen if we do not get an EAD till 1 year from now (worst case scenario). atleast she will have an OPT.
My company will not file concurrent in any case.
Pls comment
 
See how long I-539 takes in CSC. It is current in VSC. Depending on that you should probably apply for F1. Don't make the mistake of waiting for your GC process. But if your I-140 gets approved in 2 months and your wife's application is also pending, then it might cause some confusion.

If you are sure I-140 is going to take many more months, you should go for I-539 for your wife.
 
re:

thx for ur response .
she is going to school in missisipi , so does this mean that we have to apply in texas even though we are maintaining an address in vermont .

also is there any risk later for her if she goes on F1 , remmember ultimately she needs to be on my 485 application
 
There is no problem in adding her to your 485 even if she is on F1 status. My husband was on F1 status (started studying on H-4, then changed to F-1 after seeing the pathetic situation of GC).

Just applied 485 for him along with my application.
 
re:

i had heard that some people got an RFE to show intent to go back when they applied for change of status to F1 . that can be difficult to prove in case for my wife since her husband is applying for GC .
also another question , did ur husband get the F1 visa stamped in his passport .if yes where did he do it ??
also thx for ur help
 
I140helppls,

Getting an F1 Visa in the home country/outside U.S.A might be very difficult in your wife's case. My husband's F1 outside U.S.A was declined for the same reason that you mentioned. We then applied for F1 - change of status within U.S.A. He cannot leave the country now. He doesn't have F1 stamped in passport.

We hired an attorney to file I-539. Paid around $500 + filing fees.
 
re:

is there any other country beside India where i can get her F1 stamped once approved . or can i changer her back to H4 after studies .(i know its a stupid question but still)
 
Spouse currently F1 and Applied for 485

Hi All,

This is some grey area and has not been discussed in details in other forums. I wanted to update my case here so that others can learn from my lawyers mistakes.

I am currently on H1B and My wife is on F1- student visa. I applied for my 485 and also filed derivative 485 for her in March,2003.
While applying we asked our attorney whether we also need to apply for Advance parole for her if we intend to travel. The suggestion from Attorney was to go ahead and travel on F1 and dont apply for EAD or if wife has an EAD not to use it.

We have gone over the topic over and over couple of times..

In the meantime I got my Advanced Parole done and we were all ready for our travel. My wife went to ask the internationla student advisor for some other questions and then we came to know that she must also travel on Advanced Parole otherwise her 485 will be abandoned and also she may not be allowed to re-enter USA even though she has valid I-20 and F-1 visa stamped on her passport.

I am not an Immigration/ Legal savvy person per say and wanted to verify the information from horses mouth and went to INS today.
They confirmed that ANYONE on F1 visa currently in USA and has Adjustment of Status pending can not travel based on F1- visa stamped, because on re-entry, Immigration officer will mark the pending 485 as abandoned and may also reject the person from entering USA because of the intent of stay is different (Immigration) than the intent of F1 status (no intent of immigration.. basically study and get lost !!).

I have now applied fr her AP and wuld like to know whether anyone on F1 with 485 pending has ever travelled aborad with an AP? Whether there was any issues during re-entry etc.

I have posted my case here so that others who fall prey to incmpetent immigrations attorneys can learn from this misleading information. I would suggest anyone in the simialr situation to clarify your specific case from the local INS (USCIS) office before taing on attorneys words as gospel.

Appreciate if anyone can share their experience with travelling abroad with AP while in F1 & 485 pending.


Cheers !!

Anindya_72
 
This is because of confusion between H1 and F1.

H1/H4, L1 /L2 are dual intent visa. Meaning which he can show an immigrant intent and still stay on non-immigrant visa.

Where as F1/ B1 are pure non-immigrant visa. Even if you show immigrant intension they will cancel these visa. And once you apply for immigration i.e. (I-140 / I485) you have clearly indicated your immigrant intents. So that will void your F1 automatically.

For your information it is not gray area. It is very clear. Person cannot have two intensions at the same time.

In fact attorneys suggest not marrying immediately if some one enter using B1. Because in order to get the B1 visa, you have shown the non-immigrant intent hence lied to consulate.
 
re: anindya

did ur wife take a transfer from H4 to F1 or was she originally on F1 .were there any issues and it is correct that as soon as u apply for AOS ,your F1 will be invalid.
 
Re: re: anindya

Originally posted by I140helppls
did ur wife take a transfer from H4 to F1 or was she originally on F1 .were there any issues and it is correct that as soon as u apply for AOS ,your F1 will be invalid.
Click to expand...

She came on F1 and is (was) on F1 for last four years. We applied for AOS in April,2003. The attorney clearly did not explain what would be the issue with her status.

Surprising that the school issued her renewed I-20 even after we filed her AOS. The visa stamping was done earlier though.

Now that she is in AOS does she need an EAD to be eligible for assitantship ?
Has anyone on F1 with AOS status travelled abroad? What is the status when they come back? also was there any issue when entering back to US ?

Anindya_72
 
Anindya_72

She needs to get AP before she decides to go out of US. Without AP she will have problem with pending AOS.

.
 
does anybody know if she will get assistantship if she goes to India and comes back with AP? Does she need EAD to get for assistantship?
 
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