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J1 to Green Card, working while waiting for the result

hasan93

New Member
Hello,

I am PhD student and a graduate research assistant (GRA) in US. I am holding a J1 visa and my wife is holding a J2 visa. My wife is DV lottery winner and we want to apply for the Green Card by doing Adjustment of Status. I have a favorable recommendation from DOS for the J-1 waiver.

I was working as a GRA in campus before submitting our AoS application and I will still be employed while waiting for the Green Card result.

I am wondering what happens to my J1 status when I submit Form I-485 (AoS application).
Can I still be employed in campus with my J1 status?
What happens to my J1 Status if my Adjustment of Status gets declined?
Do I need to get a EAD to be able to work while waiting for the AoS result?

Thanks you
 
I am wondering what happens to my J1 status when I submit Form I-485 (AoS application).
Nothing happens to it

Can I still be employed in campus with my J1 status?
If you are allowed to be employed according to the terms of the J1, and you are complying with the terms of that J1 status.

What happens to my J1 Status if my Adjustment of Status gets declined?
Nothing happens to it

Do I need to get a EAD to be able to work while waiting for the AoS result?
Only if you are not authorized to work with your existing status.
 
Thank you for the answers. What I have heard was when you submit AoS application for a green card, your current status becomes unclear, and if AoS gets declined you lose you previous status and need to leave US. Apparently this is not correct.

Given the answers, do you still advise me to apply for EAD together with Form I-485?
 
Thank you for the answers. What I have heard was when you submit AoS application for a green card, your current status becomes unclear, and if AoS gets declined you lose you previous status and need to leave US. Apparently this is not correct.

Given the answers, do you still advise me to apply for EAD together with Form I-485?
If you are still within the period of authorized stay and maintain the conditions of that visa, you maintain your status. It is only if that stay expires after you submit AOS, or you have used a DV-adjustment-based EAD to work, that your initial status will lapse and you will roll into AOS pending”. If this is the situation and you are denied, only then do you need to leave the US.

so whether or not you apply for an EAD (realizing that often for DV AOS you get the green card before the EAD anyway) depends on when your current status expires and you need it, whether or not you want to work in a different job which an EAD enables you to do, and whether you are happy having to leave immediately if the DV AOS is denied, if you have used it. (Receiving it but not using it does not affect your existing status.)
 
Given the answers, do you still advise me to apply for EAD together with Form I-485?
EAD and Advance Parole are free for I-485 applicants, so there is no downside to applying for them even if you don't end up using them.
 
If you are still within the period of authorized stay and maintain the conditions of that visa, you maintain your status. It is only if that stay expires after you submit AOS, or you have used a DV-adjustment-based EAD to work, that your initial status will lapse and you will roll into AOS pending”. If this is the situation and you are denied, only then do you need to leave the US.

so whether or not you apply for an EAD (realizing that often for DV AOS you get the green card before the EAD anyway) depends on when your current status expires and you need it, whether or not you want to work in a different job which an EAD enables you to do, and whether you are happy having to leave immediately if the DV AOS is denied, if you have used it. (Receiving it but not using it does not affect your existing status.)
This one really answered my question. Thank you for that. My DS-2019 is still valid for several years and I don't want to jeopardize my J1 status if I don't have to. As far as I understood applying EAD will jeopardize my J1 status and doesn't have many advantages.

So not applying to EAD is the right thing for me.

My wife is DV2022 selectee and our number is around 22k.
 
As far as I understood applying EAD will jeopardize my J1 status and doesn't have many advantages.
No. Applying for or getting an EAD and/or AP will not jeopardize your status. Using the EAD to work outside of your J1 will cause you to go out of J1 status.
 
This one really answered my question. Thank you for that. My DS-2019 is still valid for several years and I don't want to jeopardize my J1 status if I don't have to. As far as I understood applying EAD will jeopardize my J1 status and doesn't have many advantages.

So not applying to EAD is the right thing for me.

to emphasize what I said before

so whether or not you apply for an EAD (realizing that often for DV AOS you get the green card before the EAD anyway) depends on when your current status expires and you need it, whether or not you want to work in a different job which an EAD enables you to do, and whether you are happy having to leave immediately if the DV AOS is denied, if you have used it. (Receiving it but not using it does not affect your existing status.)
 
Now more importantly, you are DV2022 and you have not yet submitted your AOS application? Have you at least paid the DV fee to KCC and got the receipt, and collected all the documents for the application?
 
I paid the fee and waiting for the receipt and collected all the documents. Is it late now to submit?
It’s pretty late to start now, not impossible to do but you’re probably going to have to be quite active following up on your case. Have you gone through the AOS spreadsheet closely?
 
Yes, I checked AoS spreadsheet out. I think we are mostly ready to submit our package. I have few question, for which you can help me as well.

- As I said, my wife is the latter winner. She is a J-2 and she is unemployed. I am J1 and the stipend I am getting from university is more than the 125% of the poverty limits (I don't remember the exact term for that, it was related not being a public charge.). We are planning to present my financial records and my employment to proof that we both are not going to be a public charge. However, I am not sure whether as a derivative my income can be shown as a proof of our family's income. If you have any idea, can you clarify this one? We don't want to submit an affidavit of support.

- My second question is about the copy of the degrees we are going to send. My and my wife's university degrees are originally written in English. I also have a stamped true copy of my degree, but my wife doesn't have that. We have gotten prepared certified copies of our degrees, however it will take sometime to receive them. My question is should we submit certified copies of our degrees in our package, or is it okay just sending photocopies of these degrees?

Thank you in advance.
 
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