J1 to F1 to LPR

S

Sabina829

New Member
I am on a J1 visa and I am planning to get my MBA here in the US. My J1 visa expires on April 20. I am planning to apply for an F1 visa and start my MBA in May. I have a partner and we are planning to get married before the year ends. I am subject to the 2 year residency requirement under my F1 visa. I am curious if this residency requirement will still apply even if I am already on the F1 visa? Thank you in advance. :)
 
I think you should apply for waiver first. Then, if your 2 year home requirement is waived you can apply for change of status. And then you'll see from there.
Your 2 year home requirement will still be valid even if you were to get married right away. You need to apply for the waiver. When did u enter the country? It's important not to leave any doubts that you entered the U.S. with the intent to study here. Good-luck!
 
Thanks

Thanks for the quick reply. I am actually waiting for my divorce ruling. My original plan was to go back home after my training and apply for a job there. But the hotel I was interning at liked me so much and has even promoted me to supervisor even if I was only an intern. I was hoping I would continue to work at the hotel while doing my MBA here. Do I need to apply for the waiver even if I am only adjusting my status from J1 to F1? Thank you so much.
 
BYou do need to apply for waiver either way. By the way, you cannot work off campus with F-1 unless you apply for a special permit and I believe you can only do that after 1 year. Best of luck to you.
 
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Talk to your university and ask them to keep you on J1 status. This way you should be able to work full time and study, provided your studies and job are in the similar areas.
 
J1 maxxed

My J1 visa will expire in April. I have already maxxed the 18 months. :( Can I still do the J1 visa for my MBA?
 
yes, since it's going to be a different subcategory of J-1 - exchange student. It does not have a limited validity. My friend kept extending it for 13 years.
 
Hi I am kalingan
Recently laws have changed.

If you fail to get a waiver before 3 years you can not change your visa to any other visa. Getting a waiver is of vital importance for you to change it to H1 or F1 or even a tourist visa.

J1 visa can not be extended more than 3 years. Exceptionally another 6 months may be granted. Further to that you will have to change it to H1 visa. In the mean while you have to work towards getting a J1 waiver from USDOS.

To get a H1 visa some body should offer you a job which is very difficult to find for international students.

To get a F1 visa, First you should enroll in a state funded university for any degree program for which you will have to write a TOEFL exam, GRE or GMAT exam. If you get good scores they will accept you , provided you show them sufficient funding for 2 years.... say.....(35000$/ 2 years) Without this document you will not be given an admission letter and an I-20. Private universities will give admission and as well as an I-20 if you show them the money. Private universities will not ask for TOEFL or GMAT Scores but they will be lot more expensive.

After you get an I-20 the university international admission will guide you to wards the transformation of visa process. it will take 3 to 4 months for INS to transfer your J1 visa to F1 visa.

You can not work off campus while you are on J1 visa and F1 visa. At the same time if you are working in a hotel as a supervisor, INS will not blindly offer you a H1 VISA for you to work in a Hotel. Only certain categories of Professions are given H1 visas.you have to qualify under that classification to get a H1 visa. Say....... for an example...... a Nurse can get a H1 visa but not a school teacher or sociologist working in a community center.

Be careful before you choose to join a major in a school.
Kalingan
 
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aKalingan said:
Recently laws have changed.

If you fail to get a waiver before 3 years you can not change your visa to any other visa. Getting a waiver is of vital importance for you to change it to H1 or F1 or even a tourist visa.
Click to expand...


could I please get a link to that official government information?
 
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