H-3 visa, etension of stay
Hi everyone,
I came to New York to be with my boyfriend whom I have been with for about 2 years now under the Visitor Visa. I am from New Zealand and now living with my boyfriend since June 2008, My I-94 will expire on late December and my return ticket is set for the second week of December.
I really want to be here with him and live with him for good so I started looking for jobs and companies who will sponsor me to work in US. Out of the thousand jobs I applied, the only company who was willing to petition me was a telecommunication company called GAIA (Global Alliance for International Advancements). They hired me as a contact agent for their clients and have signed my petition papers under an H-3 trainee visa. I only have an international certificate on Travel and Tourism and can only meet the standards of the H-3 Visa. Sure enough, on early October GAIA signed my petition and was sent to USCIS. I paid the application fee of $320 as the company did not want to spend money on me yet. Right now, my petition is still currently pending and due to be processed at least 2 months after submission.
Since my petition is still pending, my I-94 is still due to expire on late December, so have decided to apply for the extension of stay for the mean time using the I-539 form. Now this is tricky, USCIS rules out to send this extension application at least 45 days prior to the expiration of the current I-94 authorized date of stay. But when we look at the time frame for this application on the USCIS website, it is not finalized and processed until February. By then my current I-94 will expire long before I will know if my extension was approved or denied. I have been reading some blogs and information on staying after the expiration of the I-94 for the sake of waiting for the extension to be approved, but the only good it will bring is if the extension is actually approved in the end, if it's denied then I am due to be deported and all my US visa that ties with in my passport will then be voided for good. Then that means the next time I want to visit my boyfriend, I would have to reapply for a visitor visa which will be a little complicated in the eyes of US embassy with a background of illegal overstay or deportation. I may never be granted any US visa at all for as long as 10 years.
On the other hand we still have the work petition pending, the Premium Process service speeds up the process up to 15 calendar days for the price of $1000, which is the money that we do not have right now. They say that they will also tie in the application for the I-539 wit this Premium process service but they do not guaranteed that it will be processed faster than a regularly filed I-539.
We initially planned to get married, but since we are a Gay couple, we are not recognized under the immigration law which is the same as the Federal law. This means even if we get married, our paper will only be as good as a paper, it will not grant us the same immigration rights and benefits that straight couple gets.
I already applied for the Lottery Greencard for the year 2010 and will be expecting for the results mid 2009.
We have used all the legal advices and assistance that we could get from family and friends. We have been professional and lawful about the immigration law but it seems like everything is floating up in the air and do not know when everything will finally settle.
I really want to stay with my lover but from our knowledge, I legally have no choice but to use my return plane ticket on December before my I-94 expires.
Do you know or can anyone suggest anything else that we could possibly do for me to stay here longer without having to go back on December?
