J-1 out of status questions

D

Dave4S

Registered Users (C)
Some questions regarding J-1 out of status. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

My friend came to the U.S. as an Au Pair on J-1 visa. Her J-1 visa is NOT subject to two year home residency requirment. After working for 6 months, unfortunately, she did not like the job and quit the program. But she chose to stay in the U.S. (for a few more months) instead of going back to the home country. Her J-1 duration is from July 2006 to July 2007. I know her situation is definitely not encouraging, but she had to do it due to some personal issues. Now my questions are:

1. She is certainly "out of status", but is she considered "unlawfully present"?

2. Is it possible that she can pass USCIS checking to get a driver's license in California? Or is it a bad idea to take the risk?

3. If she took a domestic flight within the US, would she be found out by USCIS? Would she be detained or arrested at airport?

This is a great forum. I would really appricate anyone's help on anwsering my questions. Thank you very much.

Best Regards,
Dave
 
1. Yes. She is not performing her J-1 duties (lost status), and does not have a change of status application pending (thus accruing unlawful presence). If she stays like this beyond 180 days, as you may be aware, she will be barred from reentering the US for 3 years.
2. Does California check with the USCIS? If so, it's definitely risky.
3. Unlikely, if her I-94 is still valid. But again, there is always a risk.
 
1. Yes. She is not performing her J-1 duties (lost status), and does not have a change of status application pending (thus accruing unlawful presence). If she stays like this beyond 180 days, as you may be aware, she will be barred from reentering the US for 3 years.
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if she has D/S in her I-94, then if she didn't ask USCIS for anything, she is out of status, but she is not accruing any unlawful presense yet.
 
Lucy is correct. Sorry about the confusion. She is not accruing unlawful presence *yet*, but if she, for example, applies for a USCIS benefit and is denied (which is likely to be the case because of her being out-of-status), she will begin to accrue unlawful presence upon denial of the application by USCIS regardless of the expiration date (or D/S) of the I-94.
 
jk0274 and Lucy... thanks a lot for the advices.

Another questions:

1. If my friend found a job here and would like to apply for H-1(B), dose she have to leave U.S. to get the visa?

2. Besides marrying to an U.S. citizen, is there a way she can stay in U.S. and become "in status" again.
 
1) yes, because in order to change a status you have to be in status
2) no (unless she is under 21 and one of her parents is a US citizen, or if she has a baby in the US and 21 years later the baby can apply for her GC - but I think these two are not applicable in her situation).
 
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