H4, F1 stamped, entering before 30 days of class start

[IndianDeepBlue]

Hi,

My wife has H4 visa and is going for F1 stamping in India.
Does getting F1 will have an impact considering the fact that she already holds H4, has travelled to US and husband works in US on H1?

Her classes are starting from Jan 29th 2007 (date on I-20), orientation on Jan 25th 2007. She is travelling to US on Dec 24, 2006 to spend sometime with me before attending school. Is this permissible?

If she is not permitted to enter on F1 then can she enter on H4? And then we can plan to go to Canada and re-enter on F1? I hope the stamped F1 visa will hold true for her to enter.

Or otherwise do you suggest changing the status from within US? But this might be time consuming procecss. Please suggest.

Thanks in advance.

 

[jay999]

I believe you can start and continue studying on H4. You may have her change her status later, but while change of status is processing, i believe she can continue studying on H4. you may later wish to change to F-1 to take advantage of OPT

 

[ashirwadb]

H4 to F1

DeepIndianBlue,

My wife is in a similar situation and I came here to check if someone's doing the same.

This is what my attorney said regarding converting from H4 to F1.

Pros:
1. She is no longer dependant on you for her visa status
2. Can avail advantages that come with F1, viz CPT and more importantly OPT.

Cons:
1. F1 visa is a visa with non-immigration intent and since I am here on an H1 which is a visa with immigration intent, there is a chance of CBP officer at the port of entry might deny admission (if the embassy somehow doesn't deny F1 upon seeing her H4 on the passport) if he comes to know that the spouse is on H1 on the pretext that she would want to stay back with me after her F1 (which is always an unsaid truth). The only way to avoid such a scenario is to avoid leaving the country until she gets her own H1.

However, as you might know and as the other post above mentions, your spouse can study on an H4 though the advantages of an F1 cant be availed of.

This is not to dis-hearten you but i wish to get into a dialogue with someone here who's done this before which i am quite sure there are a lot who have and to get some feedback from him/her.

AB

 

[LucyMO]

Her classes are starting from Jan 29th 2007 (date on I-20), orientation on Jan 25th 2007. She is travelling to US on Dec 24, 2006 to spend sometime with me before attending school. Is this permissible?

F and J student visa holders may enter the U.S. up to 30 days prior to
their program start date listed on their I-20 or DS-2019.