Urgent Help F1 & I485 issues

H

Helen_62

New Member
Hi,

I need urgent help. Someone recommended me to this site and I am very new here and hope someone can help me. I am currently on F1 and was supposed to graudate in spring but I failed a major paper and I had to retake the course. I leant that this course will only be offered next spring. So I plan to be a part time student for 2 more semesters and take some minor courses and my main course in Spring 2004. The registrar of my college told me that with the revised immigration policy, under enrollment is cosidered a serious issue and I cannot be a part time student. Bottom line, I need to be a full time student and pay full international student fees.

My husband and I has filed for I-485 and our AP and we just received the receipt. My husband is the primary applicant. I was told that since our status is now being processed, both my F1 and my husband L1 visa is no longer valid. GIven this situation,

a) does anyone know if I qualify to be a part-time student?
b) since my F1 is no longer valid, do I still need the college to issue me with I-20 and reapply for a valid F1 (my F1 expired Dec 2002)

Anyone who has been through this situation, pls help shed some light. I need 7 more credits to graduate: 4 credits is the main curriculum and the rest are just non-majors.

Thanks in advance for those who can reply me.

Rgds
 
Confirm with the university's international students advisor that I-20 is not needed. Hopefully you applied for an EAD as well. You should not travel out of the US until you receive the AP.
 
Helen_62,

Since your husband has applied for I-485, your F1 is no longer valid. So your current status is "pending". As long as I-485 is not denied, you are legal and don't need to worry about F1 and full time student.

But it is always "better" (not mandatory though) to have some status other than pending I-485. In case I-485 be denied, you can fall back on that status. However, only H1/H4 gives you that status since H visa has a dual intent (immigration and non-immigration). But since your husband is on L1, your changing status to H4 is ruled out.

Hence, you can only have pending status which will keep you from becoming illigal as long as I-485 is pending.

so the bottom line is, you are not on F1 now and hence you don't need to be worry about full-time/part-time student.

This is my thought and I believe it is correct.
 
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Thanks abhi123.

Now I am worried. What if my 485 is denied? Then I am with no status? Are there such cases?

My notice date for I485 is shown as May 9th 2003. The same date goes for my application for AP and Employment authorization. How long does it take before I hear anything from BCIS? Is this going to take a year before I know my status change?

Also what does RD, ND, RFE, AD means?

Another question is since my application for AP is filed with the NSC, can I go to my local INS office where I reside and speed up my AP so I can go home and visit my family during this summer?

Thanks in advance.
 
Actually L1, L2 are also compatible with I-485 pending status. L1 and L2 are also dual intent statuses like H1B and H4.

You can try to get the AP earlier - it used to be possible. Not sure if they do it anymore. It might depend on the field office.

RD- receipt date
ND- notice date
RFE - request for information
AD - approval date

Processing times can be found on www.immigration.com.
 
Helen_62,
Since Raj1994 is saying that L1/L2 also has dual intent, you can change status to L2 if you are worried about I-485 being denied.

Keep in mind that if you have EAD and you use it, then all the status like H1/H4/L1/L2/F1 etc will become invalid. If you don't use it, your status will NOT become invalid.

I-485 is currently taking 1.5 to 2 yrs to process. Its speed depends upon multiple factors.
 
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