TN switching to H1 - Spouse Question

Ozzies

Member
Hello,

I have two questions.

1) I am currently on TN status in USA (Canadian - Born in Pakistan) - I won the H1 lottery in April 2018 and I'm waiting for my approval letter so i can switch to H1B. The letter was supposed to come on October 1st, 2018. Today is November 9th and i'm still waiting. Does anyone know when my approval letter arrive?

2) My spouse is on TD status - Pakistan Citizen (not Canadian). She went to visit her family for a brothers wedding. She is waiting for the H1B approval letter so she can apply for H4 and come back to USA. I'm not sure how long it will take to get my H1 letter. I was wondering, can she apply for F1 to enter USA? My original thought was she couldn't because F1 is not a dual intent visa and since her husband is in USA, she won't be eligible?

Thanks
 
Hello,

I have two questions.

1) I am currently on TN status in USA (Canadian - Born in Pakistan) - I won the H1 lottery in April 2018 and I'm waiting for my approval letter so i can switch to H1B. The letter was supposed to come on October 1st, 2018. Today is November 9th and i'm still waiting. Does anyone know when my approval letter arrive?

2) My spouse is on TD status - Pakistan Citizen (not Canadian). She went to visit her family for a brothers wedding. She is waiting for the H1B approval letter so she can apply for H4 and come back to USA. I'm not sure how long it will take to get my H1 letter. I was wondering, can she apply for F1 to enter USA? My original thought was she couldn't because F1 is not a dual intent visa and since her husband is in USA, she won't be eligible?

Thanks
By apply for F1, do you mean a student visa? She has applied and been accepted to a course of study at a SEVP approved school that will begin soon?
I don’t think dual intent issue matters as you are only H1, not USC or LPR.
 
By apply for F1, do you mean a student visa? She has applied and been accepted to a course of study that will begin soon?
I don’t think dual intent issue matters as you are only H1, not USC or LPR.

She originally came on F1 to usa and switch to TD spouse and was studying part time. She is currently enrolled and studying for her PHD part time.

She was thinking since who knows when my H1 will be approved and she should get in by applying for F1. I thought F1 meant after you finish your studies, you have to return.
 
She originally came on F1 to usa and switch to TD spouse and was studying part time. She is currently enrolled and studying for her PHD part time.

She was thinking since who knows when my H1 will be approved and she should get in by applying for F1. I thought F1 meant after you finish your studies, you have to return.
I understand you need to be studying full time for F1.

Technically you need to return after H1 too, right? I mean, I assume you may want a GC one day as many do but it’s not assured. She can change status down the line from F1 to H4 without it being an issue for immigrant intent, however, unless she changes her registration to full time I don’t see how she can get F1. I’m not sure how the consulate would view her effectively wanting an F1 as a placeholder visa though I don’t technically see anything incorrect about that.
 
Can I ask what is wrong with her staying on TD? Since you presumably haven't switched to H1, you are still in TN status, correct?

And on your H1, are you sure your sponsor doesn't have it? (it does not come to you). What is the online status? if your I-129 was filed correctly, you should have automatically become h1 on October 1, with the approval notice having a new I-94 attached. Consulate can check statuses as well. Was an I-539 submitted for your spouse at same time? It may also have been approved (before she left country) and she too may already have H4 status, although this would be easily obtained with your approval notice. 7 months for approval sounds awfully long. Your approval., while it would have started October 1, should have been sent well before that. How much time do you and your spouse have left on TN/TD?

I don't see the point of switching to F1, when she can go from TD to H4 at the same moment that you go (or went) from TN to H1-B.

And just so we are clear, you having H1 does not mean you have intent to immigrate, and her even less so, so she is free to be in any non-immigrant status that she qualifies for, including B2,TD, or F1 and of course, H4.
 
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I asked the Lawyer and he said they have still not received the Approval notice for me to start on my H1 yet. My wife was not put on the H1 application because she wanted to travel for her brothers wedding and not be stuck waiting for the H4 to arrive.


So she left USA to pakistan in the hopes of that i would have my H1 by now, but i still haven't gotten it.
She is on TD but her current TD has expired and she would have to apply for a new TD (to coincide with my new TN) via embassy.

Can she apply for a TD knowing that my TN is being switched to H1? Won't the embassy find that out or the custom agents find that out that shes coming back on a TD which does not have a dual intent immigration? If there's no issue with that.. then she can just apply for TD and come back on that.

Just to summarize, can she travel back into the USA with TD status with my TN to H1 about to convert any minute?


Thanks in advance.
 
Can she apply for a TD knowing that my TN is being switched to H1? Won't the embassy find that out or the custom agents find that out that shes coming back on a TD which does not have a dual intent immigration? If there's no issue with that.. then she can just apply for TD and come back on that.


.

I don’t know about the TD/H thing but why are you so hung up on her visas not being dual intent when you are not on an immigrant pathway anyway? Or has someone somehow filed a i140 for you in the midst of all these job changes?
 
That's because when you are on a TN. The agent can stop you for entering if he feels you don't plan on returning after the TN status expires.
 
If start date of H-1B is 10/01 it does not necessarily means it will be approved before this date. These days California & Vermont service centers are hugely backlogged it could be few more months before your approval can come. I believe you filed H-4 for your wife along with your H-1B, technically If she has departed US after H-4 filing, then it is assumed that H-4 is abandoned & will be denied. Therefore at this come if she wants to come to US it would be TD or F1 OR on H4 after your H1B is approved.
 
She wasn't on the H1 application because she needed to travel. She was going to apply for H4 at the embassy in Pakistan after I have received my H1.

So you're saying that there is no issue with her entering on TD while my H1 is waiting on approval?
 
Yes, at this enter on TD & whenever principal's H-1B gets approved and status gets changed from TN to H-1B, dependent files I-539 to change from TD to H4
 
just to repeat, your spouse's pending H1 does not make him (nor you) have immigrant intent. It is a temporary immigration status, just like TN. It allows immigrant intent, but it is not a sign of immig intent. So she is quite free to get a TD visa and to enter on TD (if he is still in TN status), even if the next day you switch to h1-B.

It would be best if your H1-B would get approved (with an I-94 attached) before she came back to US, so that your spouse could just get an H4 visa and be done with it. But TD entry is just fine.

Forget F1.
 
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