H1-B, wife on J1, applying for green card

hariprasad77

Registered Users (C)
I am on F-1 OPT (started October 1, 2006, valid until September 30, 2007).
I have an approved H1-B petition, with work authorization starting on October 1, 2007. It seems likely that my company will start the labour certification process sometime in March 2008.

My wife is currently on F-1 OPT (started January 10, 2007, valid until January 9, 2008). She is looking for a job. It appears likely that she will get a job on a J-1 visa in a university here (possibly in August 2007).

Based on her discussions with other employees at that university, it seems that a waiver of the J1 HRR should be possible, based on NOC from Govt. of India.

My questions:

1. When should she start the application for the J1 waiver?

2. How long does it typically take to get approved?

3. If my labour gets done by June/July 2008, can I add her name to my I-140/485 application?
a. What if the waiver is not approved by then?

4. Should I wait to submit I-140/485 until her waiver gets approved?
a. If so, does my labour approval/priority date get expired at some point?
b. Any other issues here?

5. If I do submit I-140/485 without her name on it, and it gets approved, can I add her name later once her waiver comes through?

Thanks a lot for your help.
-hari
 
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