GC holder marrying jobless H-1

K

kaashi

Registered Users (C)
Hi,
I have a GC. Came across someone who have an H-1 till 2010, just came to the US 5 months ago, but have no job.

Strange case. I thought you got a job first in India and then got an H-1. In this case, she got an H-1 through an agency, and now the agency is trying to find a job for her. The agency pays for boarding, food, and a small monthly allowance as well.

Could I marry this person and have her maintain her H-1 status (while she still has no job and the prospects look quite grim in finance)? Meanwhile, I'd file for her papers through me and see how long the process takes. Could the agency let her go and come live with me BUT let her maintain her H-1 status? Don't they have to report to someone when someone has no job or gets laid off? This seems like a big farce to me.

H-1 people are either bound by their employers, can't leave them (to maintain their status), or they don't want to leave them (why spoil a good gig?) and marry. This case seems perfect. No job restrictions and she still has a valid status. Could it work?

What possible hurdles am I looking at when I go to our interview (after marriage)? Thanks so much.
akash
 
You can file I-130 after marriage for her but not I-485 since you are LPR (Lawful Permanent Resident), there is wait time of 4-5 years before you can file I-485 for her.
 
kaashi said:
Could I marry this person and have her maintain her H-1 status (while she still has no job and the prospects look quite grim in finance)?
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If she is not working she is already out of status.

Could the agency let her go and come live with me BUT let her maintain her H-1 status?
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No.

Don't they have to report to someone when someone has no job or gets laid off?
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Yes, but they appear to be a bunch of fraudsters so I am not surprised.

No job restrictions and she still has a valid status. Could it work?
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She has no valid status, and will not get one by being married to you, until you become a citizen.
 
kaashi said:
Could the agency let her go and come live with me BUT let her maintain her H-1 status? Don't they have to report to someone when someone has no job or gets laid off? This seems like a big farce to me.
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Yes it is a big farce. She arrived 5 months ago and is still without work? It's not even like she is in between projects. That is speculative employment which is illegal under the H-1 program, a visa that is only supposed to be used to fill positions when there is real demand, not to bring people to the US in hopes of placing them somewhere.
 
This is a common scenario for GC holders who want to marry foreigners and do every thing possible, legal or illegal. Sometimes go to tourist visa, not straight forward H and so on.
 
Thanks for your replies. Every scenario for marriage for a GC holder seems tough.

If I were to marry someone with a valid H-1, valid job etc, marry her, file I-430, would it still take 4-5 years for the process to get completed? Still 4-5 years before the person can quit their employer and come live with me on a full-time basis (if she is based in a State far away from me)? Is she bound by her employer for that long? No lawyer seems to know how long it might take her/us to clear the papers, filed through me.

What is one to do? The only other options seem to be to marry another GC holder or a US citizen? I am sure there are tons of people in this situation. Thanks for all your help.
akash
 
kaashi said:
If I were to marry someone with a valid H-1, valid job etc, marry her, file I-430, would it still take 4-5 years for the process to get completed?
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Yes, because the FB2 category is oversubscribed, and it takes 5-7 years for a visa number to become available.
 
kaashi said:
What is one to do? The only other options seem to be to marry another GC holder or a US citizen? I am sure there are tons of people in this situation.
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Sure, there are many others a similar situation. But there is still no easy way out. They either end up with the non-GC spouse living outside the US for years, or they hang on to their H1/F1/whatever visa until the I-485 can be filed years later, or try to qualify for their own GC via their employer (which also is likely to take years unless they're in EB1), or they end up staying illegally.
 
You will have your US citizenship before she is even allowed to file I-485 as spouse of GC.

You won't be helping her by marrying her, so don't go bother.
 
She is in a bad situation. I would doubt that USCIS will allow a change of status to B1/B2 as she has violated the terms of her status. Plus, if she marries a GC holder and goes through F2A, she won't be able to adjust status in US, she will have to go through consular processing, AFAIK. If she gets another job in H1, USCIS will probably not give her a I-94 and make her go to the home consulate to get a new H1 visa.

If you really intend to marry her, your and her best option at this point is to marry her and establish a priority date as soon as you can (and keep finding another job). She can remain out of status but stay in US until no more than 6 months on her last I-94 to prevent any 3/10 year re-entry bar. Hopefully, by that time, the priority date becomes close to current for her.
 
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