Need help immediately

N

nehasharma

Registered Users (C)
I am on F1 status and my husband is on greencard. I came here on Jan 2 2006 and got married on May 15,2006 and immediately filed I-130. Now my husband has applied for his citizenship and his priority date is July 3,2006. His fingerprinting is done. We are now waiting for his interview letter. My questions are:-

- My I-20 is going to be expired on October 2, 2006. And I do not have OPT and my visa expires on 4 December 2006. Can I stay here without extending my F1 as I have filed I 130?

Please advice me soon!! I am really worried
 
Last edited by a moderator:
To the best of my understanding, since at the time you applied to change status, you were still legal and law really covered you then and still covered you till your case is determined. Just curious, are you still maintainin your student status?
 
justnew said:
To the best of my understanding, since at the time you applied to change status, you were still legal and law really covered you then and still covered you till your case is determined. Just curious, are you still maintainin your student status?
Click to expand...

I have just filed I-130 not any other forms till my priority date becomes current. My husband is in process of getting citizenship. I am currently on F1 status but my I20 is going to expire soon!! Thats why I am askin, whether can I overstay my visa (which is till Dec 04,2006) or not!!

Please advise me!
 
it's the I-20 that's important, not the visa really. if your visa has expired but your I-20 is still valid then you are still in status. i'm curious, why haven't you applied for OPT yet??

i don't think your I-130 means much. it's your I-485 that matters as your status changes to 'pending aos'. so what you can do is wait till your husband gets citizenship, but DO NOT leave the country and then apply for your I-485 immediately. overstay is forgiven for spouses of US citizens.

Also, start counting the days after your I-20 expires to the day you get your notice date for I-485 (this is the day they put you in their system). if it's less than 180 days then you can still get AP and travel if you wish.

if you don't care about travelling then you don't even have to bother about counting and all that, just don't leave the country until you get the GC in your hand.
 
Thanks a lot Candyattitude. I do not have OPT option as my College told me that they count my graduation from India as a 3 Yr degree course. So no OPT option for me!

So I will just start counting my days after my I20 expires. By the way my course got over on 2 September 2006, so what is the date when my I20 is expiring (1 month or 2 months after).

I hope I am not into any kind of trouble due to my overstay and hope that my husband gets his citizenship soon!

Thanks
Neha
 
file I130 itself will not adjusted your status. Only I485 can do that. As soon as you student status expires, you are out of status. That's the difference between married greencard and the citizen. As the spouse of Greencard, you are subject to the visa quota. You can check the www.state.gov for visa bulletin and current processing status. However, you can still overstay in US as long as USCIS doesn't bother you. Once your hubby get the Citizenship, your overstay status will be forgiven.
 
Thanks kelvin_2006 . So I hope there is no problem as to my overstay here. We will file my other forms including I485 as soon as my hubby gets his citizenship. We are just waiting curiously for his Interview letter! You guys are great, you lessened my stress :D.

Please also tell me when my I 20 will be expiring if my course is over on September 2,2006. I hope my overstay is also forgiven by USCIS. Lets hope for the best!

Thanks
Neha :)
 
It depends on your I94. Is there any specific date on that form? I think USCIS has the system to track all the foreign student, and force them to take 9 credit each semester. Hope they will not bother you. By the way, you might want to go to the other school to just keep your status valid. Just my 2 cents.
 
Actually we are expecting that my hubby will get citizenship soon. As we have read on this forum only naturalization process is getting faster and people with priority dates of june and july are getting interview letters, so we may expect that his all the process will be completed soon. Thats why, I do not want to waste money for college ( I am charged International student fees and I am not working, so do not want to burden my hubby).

Just hoping that my overstay would not bother. As few people suggested, overstay of spouses of citizen are excused :p.

Anyways thanks a lot !
Neha
 
nehasharma said:
Thanks a lot Candyattitude. I do not have OPT option as my College told me that they count my graduation from India as a 3 Yr degree course. So no OPT option for me!
Click to expand...


so are you doing your masters here? or are you transfering those credits here? i just odn't get their reasoning.....the reason i'm saying this is because everytime you complete a degree in the US you are entitled to one year of OPT...you are entitled to at least apply for it...maybe they will deny you...but i haven't heard of a school telling you that you can't do it because you graduated somewhere.....if you get a degree from here...be it bachelors, masters or PhD you are entitled to apply for OPT...this is what my advisor told me. if you get a bachelors then you get one year OPT....then lets say you decide to get a masters degree...after you complete your masters, you can get 1 year OPT again.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I have graduated from India and doing a certificate course of 9 months over here. Before admission uviversity people told me that I will not get my OPT. Like me there are other students having 3 Yr of Bachelors and not getting OPT in the same course. Thats why I do not have the OPT option. I hope you got me!
 
One more thing candyattitude, I take your advice and just wait till my hubby gets his citizenship. After expiration of my I20 (I think this month end) will count days till filing of I485 for Advance Parole.

Hope my hubby gets citizenship soon!

Thanks..

Neha
 
ok now i get it. it makes sense why you won't get OPT....well count the days only if you want to travel. and count the days from the expiration to the Notice Date, not the day you send it in, or the day they receive it, but the day they put you in the system. remember if it's over 180 days then don't even bother applying for Advance Parole as you will get a ban when you try to re-enter the country.
hopefully all will go well and your hubby will get his citizenship soon. good luck.
 
candyattitude said:
ok now i get it. it makes sense why you won't get OPT....well count the days only if you want to travel. and count the days from the expiration to the Notice Date, not the day you send it in, or the day they receive it, but the day they put you in the system. remember if it's over 180 days then don't even bother applying for Advance Parole as you will get a ban when you try to re-enter the country.
hopefully all will go well and your hubby will get his citizenship soon. good luck.
Click to expand...

If the OP is on an F1 visa, she also has a 60 day grace period after completing her course in which to depart --- those 60 days do not count as overstay.
 
pianoplayer said:
If the OP is on an F1 visa, she also has a 60 day grace period after completing her course in which to depart --- those 60 days do not count as overstay.
Click to expand...

My question to pianoplayer is that, if I do not receive the OPT still I be getting the 60 days grace period after my course completion?

Thanks in advance!
 
Thanks a lot for all the information Candiattitude! I really appreciate all efforts. I was so stressed out with my problem and now feeling much better!

Regards
Neha
 
i forgot abt the 60 days....when i was applying for OPT, the advisor told me that i have 60 days to still be in status. so i think it counts. start counting after those 60 days are up cuz that's when your out of status begins. but check on this though. you can go to your college and ask them. just don't tell them too many details abt your life..cuz they probably will tell you to leave the country. just ask them when you should leave --- after the 60 days are up or immediately after your I-20 expires.
 
nehasharma said:
Ok , will ask from my college. Thanks a lot!
Click to expand...

By law, you have 60 days to leave the country after your studies are completed --- note that it is NOT 60 days from after your visa expires necessarily, but 60 days after you have completed your studies.

After the 60 days are over, overtime starts to accrue.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top