legal status of green-card-holder's wife

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sdtp

Registered Users (C)
Just curious, F2 is for F1, H4 is for H1, then what is for green-card-holder's wife? i.e., if a green-card-holder gets married, what will be the legal status of his wife?
 
I am confused, what status are you talking about JoeF? Is it the status they were on , prior to getting married or the new status they will avail after marriage? Because I know for a fact that my friend from India after getting married to a GC holder has an EAD with which he can work anywhere. I suppose the same logic would apply to those here. (It should as some one on a F-1 cannot maintain the status for 5 yrs!!)
 
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No no - JoeF is right.

There is a Happy Family Program in place. A person participates in this program if they get married after getting GC.

In the happy family program your spouse can get EAD, gc and citizenship without any problems. The only small issue is that they have to do it on their own and not be because the spouse is a gc holder.

If you participate in this program - your wife is not eligible for any non immigrant visa like F1 or B-2. She/he cannot come on a Visa Waiver Program either.

However the spouse can apply for H1B but cannot attend interviews in the US as he/she would have to come on B2 or VWP.

Once you go through the happy family program and you get to be seperated for many years - you are bound to be happier that your marriage survived so many years of seperation.

Bill Clinton tried to limit the happy family program to only 3 years by allowing V visas.

Right now with the republican congress - there is lots of support for the happy family program to last for many years and the V visa program has expired.

After so many years of being seperated your wife/husband will be thrilled to start from scratch in the US and try to adapt to new life in the US. You will be thankful that you had such a wonderful opportunity in life.
 
Actually JoeF - the spouse should not maintain F1 as it does not allow immigrant intent. The wife should get a status that allows dual intent.

And the spouse should not use a VWP.

Any extensions of F1 could also be denied if they discover that the F1 person is married to LPR. Correct?
 
Maybe I should have clarified , but better late than nevertheless. My friend from India got married to a GC holder in India, before that he never set foot in this country. So Iam of the assumption that he went to the consulate in india with the marriage license and got a visa to come here. He changed his job a few months ago and he def. has not been here for 5+yrs.
So the question arises, if a person outside the country can avail of the benefits of EAD/work why cant someone living here avail of the same?
Doesnt it sound a bit odd?
 
robwoj said:
Actually JoeF - the spouse should not maintain F1 as it does not allow immigrant intent. The wife should get a status that allows dual intent.

Any extensions of F1 could also be denied if they discover that the F1 person is married to LPR. Correct?
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Nope. Incorrect. My friend on J-1 student visa has been maintaining her J-1 status for 3 years now, being married to USC. I-130 has been filed.

As for F-1, one doesn't have to abandon his/her F-1 status if they marry a USC or LPR. They can elect to remain in F-1 status, or file for AOS in case of a marriage to USC. Indeed, the International Centers at school recommend maintaining F-1 status even after filing for AOS, in case marriage fails before F-1 student gets his GC, so that the student could fall back on his/her F-1 status. I maintained my F-1 status for a year after getting married to USC and for 3 months after filing for AOS.

As for somebody claiming the impossibility of maintaining F-1 status for 5 years -- well, that's a surprise. I have maintained it for 9 years, and I know a bunch of other students who have done that as well.
 
Lucy MO, maybe I should clarified , after graduation its difficult if not impossible to maintain F-1 status. You could go on getting degrees but its more of an exception than a norm.
 
raminator said:
Lucy MO, maybe I should clarified , after graduation its difficult if not impossible to maintain F-1 status. You could go on getting degrees but its more of an exception than a norm.
Click to expand...

This is an easy problem. You can go to other schools simply
for the purpose of maintainng F-1 status. If you
visit a community college, you may find a great number
of such students :) a CC is easy to enter, easy not to flunk,
and very cheap to attend so it is a perfect haven for
people who deperately want to maintain F-1 status.
 
LucyMO said:
Nope. Incorrect. My friend on J-1 student visa has been maintaining her J-1 status for 3 years now, being married to USC. I-130 has been filed.
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well, right and wrong...
first off, J-1 is a whole different kettle of fish. the home residency requirement that goes with a J type visa overrides everything else; and by applying for a J visa, one also commits to returning to their home country after the expiration of the J visa and its renewals, notwithstanding one's "intent"; the only way to have the home residency requirement waived is to go through a gov't-approved waiver program. marriage to a USC is not grounds for such a waiver. since a J visa is issued for a term of three years at a time, your friend didn't actually have to "do" anything to maintain her visa: it gets "maintained" by default. she may be in for a rude shock when either her three years of the J visa are up, or when she tries to apply for her i485 once her i130 is approved. BTW, why didn't your friend/her spouse file the i130 and i485 simultaneously? the rude shock might have come a little earlier.
LucyMO said:
As for F-1, one doesn't have to abandon his/her F-1 status if they marry a USC or LPR. They can elect to remain in F-1 status, or file for AOS in case of a marriage to USC. Indeed, the International Centers at school recommend maintaining F-1 status even after filing for AOS, in case marriage fails before F-1 student gets his GC, so that the student could fall back on his/her F-1 status. I maintained my F-1 status for a year after getting married to USC and for 3 months after filing for AOS.

As for somebody claiming the impossibility of maintaining F-1 status for 5 years -- well, that's a surprise. I have maintained it for 9 years, and I know a bunch of other students who have done that as well.
Click to expand...
again, you didn't have to do anything to "maintain" your F-1; it was there by default. however, strictly speaking, when a immigration petition is filed on behalf of a non-immigrant, their non-immigrant visas are "cancelled without prejudice" ("CWOP" stamped in the passport), unless they have a dual-intent nonimmigrant visa (only H or L). so if your i130/i485 approvals have already come through before the expiration of your F-1 term, you are lucky. on the other hand, if they are still pending, then renewal of your F-1 status may turn out to be an issue.
 
Pork Chop said:
again, you didn't have to do anything to "maintain" your F-1; it was there by default. however, strictly speaking, when a immigration petition is filed on behalf of a non-immigrant, their non-immigrant visas are "cancelled without prejudice" ("CWOP" stamped in the passport), unless they have a dual-intent nonimmigrant visa (only H or L). ...
Click to expand...

INS has made me a nervous wreck. OK, I got my I-551 stamped on my passport. The guy at CIS just drew a line across my H-1B, not a CWOP stamp. Is that gonna be a problem?

Thanks.
 
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