L2 visa and wait time for EAD approval

sanus

New Member
Hi,

I am having L1 visa and travelling by this weekend to USA. My wife does not have any visa now, and we are planning L2 visa for her as sponsored by my company.

She is also working as Software Engineer and she job openings in the USA location from her company, but the problem is her new manager wants her to start the work immediately but they cannot process her L1 visa as their company policy is minimum 4 years IT experience but she has 3.4 months of IT experience.

I suggested that she can come on L2 visa and work for her same company in USA.

My questions are
1) Can she apply for EAD only after reaching USA or can she apply for EAD from India after getting L2 visa.
2) What is the lead time to get EAD?
3) Can she get L2 visa from my company, come to USA now on B1 from her company - > Apply for EAD on L2 visa status - > Work on B1 visa for the duration while EAD is getting processed - > Once she gets EAD on L2, she can continue her work on L2 with EAD without even leaving USA once?

Please suggest a best option where she can come with me and also continue her career aspirations.

Thanks,
Santhosh
 
1) Can she apply for EAD only after reaching USA or can she apply for EAD from India after getting L2 visa.

Only after entering the U.S. in L-2. She needs an I-94 to file I-765.

2) What is the lead time to get EAD?

It depends on a Service Center which has jurisdiction over where you will live. Go uscis.gov. There are the latest processing reports.

3) Can she get L2 visa from my company, come to USA now on B1 from her company - > Apply for EAD on L2 visa status - > Work on B1 visa for the duration while EAD is getting processed - > Once she gets EAD on L2, she can continue her work on L2 with EAD without even leaving USA once??

It doesn't work like that.
Once she enters the U.S. in B-1, her status is B-1. She needs to be in L-2 status to apply for an EAD. The fact that she also has an L-2 visa in her passport doesn't matter. She can apply for a change of status from B-1 to L-2 and an EAD. I wouldn't recommend though.
 
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