J1 to F1 Options?

S

springbranch

Registered Users (C)
Here is the scenario

J1 Holder/Au Pair willing to change to F1.
Her DS2019 expires on 9/30/2007.

Options:

1. Change the Visa before DS 2019 expiration date and cut the contract short and go to school for fall season starting August 26 2007.

2. Wait untill Spring Semester which starts in January 2008. There is at least 90 days gap though between DS expiration date and start of the school.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of these options? Does it matter if the school is college or university? Does she need an attorney or school takes care of everything? When should she apply?

You all's input allways appreciated.

Thanks,
 
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for a fall semester the application deadline is usually in December-January.

3) leave after J-1 program ends and return later with F-1
 
Thanks for the prompt response.

Leaving is not an option since there is a chance of visa denial. We don't want to take that route.
Do you foresee any problem that may be caused by the other options?

Looking forward to the posts.
 
She is going to take her chances and apply to change of status in US.
Yesterday I talked to a counselor and she stated staying after 9/30/07 till the start of scholl in January won't be a problem. Only thing she was concerned about was that the info on I94. She wanted to find out whether or not J1 visa could be changed to F1. We are in the process of faxing the copy of I94 to her.
Could you please provide me some pointers during this process?
Thanks a billion.
 
it doesn't matter what I-94 says, as long as your friend applies for a change of status before I-94 expires. If I-94 has D/S in it, then it's important to apply for a change of status before DS-2019 expires. Other than that, I-94 has no bearing on whether a person can or cannot change his/her status.

You may have misunderstoon the counselor or she may not be very knowledgeable. It happens. By the way, staying past 9-30-07 may present a big problem, but it depends on your actions/intentions, speed of adjudication of your application, etc.
 
Guess, it ain't gonna be easy. I agree with you that complications may occur during the process. But
-One of her friends did the same thing and she succesfully changed the status.
-I talked to a friend who is going thru status change and already out of J1visa expiration date and he mentioned that his lawyer stated he is alright until USCIS makes a decision.
-I will talk to my lawyer regarding this.

Hoping for the best. Preparing for the worst.
Thanks for the pointers.
 
he mentioned that his lawyer stated he is alright until USCIS makes a decision
Click to expand...
. that's correct. However, what happens if the decision is a denial? and what happens if the petition is adjudicated long before "within 30 days of the beginning of classes"?
 
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LucyMO said:
. that's correct. However, what happens if the decision is a denial?
Click to expand...
I get your point. This is the risk she is willing to take. We are still hoping my citizenship will go thru soon (just a hope) and we won't need none of this. She may still go to college though. I want her to get a degree in US.

LucyMO said:
. and what happens if the petition is adjudication long before "within 30 days of the beginning of classes"?
Click to expand...

The lady the counselor mentioned that problem and stated we should apply within the 30 days before DS expires. She said it usually takes 90 days to get the status adjudicated.
Do you still think we may have a problem with it?

By the way I received an email from my attorney questioning whether or not change of visas could be handled over here or travel is required to outside US . He says he is going to look into that. Any thoughts about this issue?

Thanks again for your help.
 
The lady the counselor mentioned that problem and stated we should apply within the 30 days before DS expires.
Click to expand...
i didn't mean the application period, I was talking about the adjudication moment.
By the way I received an email from my attorney questioning whether or not change of visas could be handled over here or travel is required to outside US .
Click to expand...
the attorney questioned you?
 
LucyMO said:
the attorney questioned you?
Click to expand...

I guess I got misunderstood.

The email I recieved from my attorney just mentioned that there is a possibility that J1 holder Au Pairs have to go to an US embassy to change their status. He is going to check that with his fellow attorney. I am supposed to call him back this Wednesday.

Has any au pair had to leave US to get F1 Visa? Or whole process completed here in US?

Thanks again.
 
au pair to student

Hi,

My friends and myself have changed status to F1 from J1.

Recently, one of them (German) went to Canada and got F1 visa stamp to go back to her country for a vacation. The lawyer supported her so it seemed there was no difficulty to get F1 visa stamp.

I heard that some Thai also changed their visa status successfully, and my best friend (Turkish) also changed it but she said she would have a problem once she gets out of the states, I don't know the reason, maybe 2-year-restriction.

It seems like there aren''t much difficulties to change status, but changing status means that "you have a legal paper to stay" and it doesn't mean "you can go back your country and enter the US again for sure."

As long as you want to stay in here, it's easy to do. All you need to do is just filling some papers and waiting about 2 months.

dove0810
 
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