J-2 by wedding

T

thot

Registered Users (C)
Hi,

I am a French visiting scholar with a J-1 and my girlfriend doesn't have a work authorization (she has a F-1).
We both know it would be simpler to get married, in order to give her a J-2. The questions are:
1) Where do we need to get married?
2) As foreigh citizens, is it compulsory to transfer this status to our home country, or is it sufficient to go to any American Embassy abroad with a US wedding certificate to obtain the J-2?
3) How long does it take to obtain this visa?

Thank you guys.
 
1. Place of marriage does not matter.

2. In order to get J-2, either appear at a US embassy or consulate in France or home country of your wife-to-be (if other than France) - or Canada or probably Mexico, too. [Visit: https://www.nvars.com/use/wWelcome.jsp ] It is possible to get J-2 status (and subsequently the employment card) even without leaving the US. Your dependent will need to file INS form I-539 alongwith prescribed documents [visit:http://www.ins.usdoj.gov/graphics/formsfee/forms/i-539.htm ]. However J-2 visa stamp can not be obtained within the US. One does not need a visa stamp if there are no international travel plans.

3. Change of visa status from F-1 to J-2 should take less than 3 months. However, if you go outside the US for obtaining J-2 visa stamp, then you can get it on the day you appear in front of a consul.

However, please keep in mind that if you are subject to 2-year home country residency requirement (HRR), then your J-2 spouse, too will automatically be subject to the same 2-year HRR condition - so think before you do it if any of you have any plans for future immigration or future employment on H-1B.

Best wishes,

Jigesh

Disclaimer: Personal non-legal point of view only.
 
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Thanks!

Hi Jigesh

Thank you very much for the precious informations contained in your email.

I am not subject to the HRR.

I would like to clarify some points:

1) Obtaining J-2 status and J-2 stamp are apparently 2 different things. Therefore can we matter only about the visa before caring about the stamp?

2) Do you mean obtaining a J-2 stamp as you said in answer (3) takes one day abroad since the J-2 status is valid or obtaining both visa and stamp in one day?

3) I mean: is the duration of the procedure more or less the same wherever it is done (here or in our home country)?

4) Change of visa status from F-1 to J-2: would it be faster than 3 months if she just had a tourist visa? The meaning behind this question is: if she stops studying or if she goes back to France, her F-1 is cancelled, automatically transferring her to a standard tourist visa. This is because it took me 2 weeks to obtain the visa with the IAP-66.

Again, thank you so much for your help.

Thomas
 
Thomas....

[A] After you marry, contact your sponsor for getting another IAP-66 for your dependent. Based on this IAP-66 and your marriage certificate, file I-539 for your wife that will convert her F-1 status into a J-2 status. Once INS issues approval notice for this change of visa stauts, your wife is automatically on J-2 status. INS takes approximately 3 months to send you approval notice, also known as I-797.

This status is NOT a visa. Her stay in the US will be legal without J-2 visa stamp in her passport; but with valid status as above.
One can get visa only outside the US.

Instead of doing as in [A] above, if you marry and if your wife returns to France, she should take with her (or you can mail later on to her) the new IAP-66, and marriage certificate. And now she can appear for visa at the US consulate/embassy. This way there won't be any need for visitor's visa and stuff that you mentioned. Typically, one gets J-visa stamp on the same day of visa interview. I don't know specifically about the US consulates in France. If she re-enters the US on J-2 visa stamp, her visa status becomes J-2.

Procedure [A] saves you some money because it does not require any traveling to France - but takes more time. Procedure , on the other hand, is fast but will cost you airtrip (unless you already planned honeymoon in Paris!!). Also, if at anytime, she leaves the USA after procedure [A], before re-entering the US again, she will anyway need Procedure .

After she has J-2 status either by [A] or by above, she has to apply now to the INS for employment card (permit). This procedure takes around one-and-a-half month after filing I-765 [Visit: http://www.ins.usdoj.gov/graphics/formsfee/forms/i-765.htm ].

Best wishes,

Jigesh

Disclaimer: Personal non-legal point of view only.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
J-2 by wedding ... end

Dear Jigesh,

Thank you very much for all those clear amd accurate answers.You've been very helpful, and more than immigration attorneys I met.
I would like to ask you a last question, which is semi-unrelated to the first matter which was wedding.
My girlfriend passed American nursing exams. But she need to be first "registered" to be able to fill in the i-140, etc... (these are the words of the hospital attorney).
To be registered is apparently as simpler as getting an "identification number" either a social security number or an individual tax id number.
The first on seems impossible to obtain before having a job (cath-22). The 2nd one seemed simpler, but the IRS refused to give her one since she is not going to pay tax.
My question is: does the IRS able to refuse to deliver this number? Is there a way to enforce them to give it?
I know this is a very specific matter, but if you know someone who can help.
If you don't, thank you anyway for all the precious info already given.

Thomas
 
Hello thomas,
It is strange that your would-be being on F-1 still doesn't have a SSN. As she was attending school, and probably receiving any (?) compensation in the form of fellowship, scholarship or tuition waiver etc should have been reported to IRS with her own SSN. If on the otherhand she did not receive any sort of compensation, she could have been alright otherwise she might land up in trouble. You may be still able to get an ITIN from IRS by applying from them.
 
Thomas........

Deb already clearified several of your doubts.

Once your girlfriend becomes your dependent (J-2), you can easily apply for her ITIN (income tax identifiction number) because you can claim an income tax exemption for dependent. Then the IRS won't refuse it.

Second, once she gets employment card (after being on J-2), social security office can easily give her social security number (SSN) if she applies for it.

However, I think the attorney you mention probably meant something else by "register number" because it is not compulsory to have SSN or ITIN in order to file I-140 (you can visit INS website, download I-140 and read the instructions). Probably, in order to become a registered nurse the US, she might need to register (probably equivalent to getting a professional license??) with some professional society/organization of nursing and that's what that attorney might have hinted at. I am not sure about this - sorry; I never happened to come across registered nurse kind of a situation.

Best wishes,

Jigesh

Disclaimer: Personal non-legal point of view only.
 
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Hi,

I have one additional question concerning this topic : we (I and my wife) did applications for visas at the consulate in Paris using my IAP-66 form. I got a stamp in my passport for the J1 visa and my wife didn't get anything in her passport. Her DS-156 was sent back with the mention J2 issued.

(1) Is it normal or is it an error from the consulate ?

We will travel together to the US.

(2) Will she be admitted with J2 status even without any stamp on her passport ?

(3) When she will travel to France alone, will she have to do another application at the consulate to get a stamp and be able to go back to the US ? And if yes, why she didn't get it the first time ?

Thank you
 
Error....

It looks like they made an error. Please go back to the consulate again - there has to be a J-2 visa stamp in your wife's passport (and her DS-156 should be retained by the consulate instead of returning it to your wife!). Without J-2 stamp, she won't be admitted in the US on J-2 status.

Please note that here I assume that the IAP-66 that you and your wife produced in front of the consul also covers dependents in addition to you (check the upper right box on the pink copy of IAP-66 to see which box is checked and whether it includes dependents.) If not, you will need another IAP-66 for dependent (contact your sponsor). The consulate can not issue J-2 if no IAP-66 for dependent was made available.

Best wishes,

Jigesh

Disclaimer: Personal non-legal point of view only.
 
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