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US Permanent Residency/Change of Status
Perrsun
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I'm a US Citizen. My girlfriend was on a Student Visa, then had 1 year of OPT where she could be employed here. That OPT is set to expire in June. We recently got married, and I am in the process of starting to look through all of the greencard stuff to get her permanent resident status. I found a spot that said as long as there's a pending application she won't be forced to leave the country. What I couldn't find a clear answer on was; will she still be able to work while there is a pending application, or will she need to wait until the application is approved before she can start working again?
Also, I've been following mostly stuff on this site for step by step stuff and walkthroughs, but if anybody else has any good resources they used, I'd appreciate them.
Also, I've been following mostly stuff on this site for step by step stuff and walkthroughs, but if anybody else has any good resources they used, I'd appreciate them.
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The best thing you can do is get a POC (Point of Contact) who you can follow up about the application. Having a direct line makes dealing with government officials much easier. Calling and following up every 3-4 weeks will get your application moved through much faster than send it in and wait.
If you need her income, you could invest in an immigration attorney to move things along faster, that falls under you to determine if the cost/benefit analysis is worth it to you.
You need to get her greencard application started ASAP. It's a fucking long process, there's a shitload of waiting, and it's expensive. You're gonna get super fucking good at (and sick to death of paying for) filling out the god damned biometrics forms. Get it started while you still have two incomes to pay for all the forms ( @Tofystedeth is right it's not super expensive as immigration forms go, but that's all relative) , and don't waste any more days than you have to. It will (sadly) help if your wife is from somewhere that speaks english as first language, or western Europe.
You'll be interviewed by a USCIS agent who will ask you questions about how you met and how long you knew each other and stuff. It didn't personally happen to me, but I've heard horror stories that they can ask some extremely personal questions about your relationship, including things such as the last time you had sex. My wife and I both agreed that in the event we were asked that question, our answer was going to be "About 20 minutes ago in the parking garage." YMMV.
We were told to expect it to take 6+ for them to tell us when the interview would be, and that it would most likely be 12+ months after we filed.
Maybe because we're in a less populated part of country but within just a few weeks we got a letter letting us know when the interview was, and it was during a time we were going to be out of the country visiting family.
Barring like, serious emergencies, they don't let you reschedule without considering it to be you abandoning the process and needing to restart.
You live in NY or Texas or southern California? Hah! Update us in 2017.
Also yeah we've been getting the evidence of the legit relationship ready.
Anybody that has prices on an attorney, it'd be appreciated to get even an estimate on how much it'd be.
Look them up online and call around, you'll be able to see some for free for a consultation and get a feel for if you really need one or not. Chances are, probably not. Your wife was in the country for a long time, plenty long enough to establish your had a legitimate relationship. Any bills in both your names, your rental agreement, any credit cards or store cards you hold jointly, joint bank accounts, car titles, loans, and then all those letters from friends and family. I would imagine you have a lengthy history even prior to your marriage. You should be ok without a lawyer. Of course, IANAL.
Otherwise, it was pretty straightforward. It was a while about, but I recall that our interview lasted less than 5 minutes, and my wife got every question 'wrong', since I think she was nervous (she gave the wrong address, etc.) it didn't matter though. Good luck and congratulations.
there, that being out of the way:
in general, if your spouse is applying for a green card through you, as a U.S. citizen, your spouse will be able to apply for temporary work authorization while the green card is pending.
there are two halves to the process, which can be filed at the same time: the I-130 immigrant visa petition filed by the U.S. citizen spouse on behalf of the foreign national spouse, and the I-485 adjustment of status application filed by the foreign national spouse based on the I-130. the I-485 can be filed with an I-765 application for an Employment Authorization Document, or just EAD, and an I-131 application for Advance Parole, which basically permits international travel while the I-485 is pending. in short, the green card application includes applications for a work permit card and a travel card. both take around three months to be issued after the applications are filed. the green card itself is supposed to take around six months, but i've seen it take longer recently.
you should at least consider consulting with a local immigration attorney, because there are quite a few places that can cause hangups. you can also check out www.usimmigrationlawyers.com, which is run by Nolo.com. there are a few good guides there (some of which i've written :P).
steam | Dokkan: 868846562
Also - do the I-131 even if they don't think they need it. Leaving the country without advance parole can cause your petition to be considered abandoned (depending on where your spouse is from and where they're going).
the current fees for the I-485 AOS already covers the I-765 work permit application and the I-131 advance parole. you might as well send in all the applications together, because shit be expensive yo.
also, USCIS no longer charges for I-765s and I-131s connected to family-based I-485s filed after June 2007. so if for some reason you do have to file the I-485 separately first, you can follow up with the I-765 and I-131 without extra government fees.
but seriously though, it's a pain to file them separately.
steam | Dokkan: 868846562
I'd like to think this is verbatim what you advise your actual clients.
...
uh, anyways, consult a lawyer if you have specific questions. right.
steam | Dokkan: 868846562
An update on the situation:
We talked to a local immigration lawyer and while they did offer a "we do everything, you give us information and we do the rest" type service, they also had a much less expensive "You fill out your own paperwork, then I'll double-check everything and tell you what you missed, and from there you're on your own" type service that we ended up going with.
So, we sent all the paperwork in, and received back a Form I-797C, which appears to be a receipt that they got all the forms we sent in.
Is this the form that would allow my wife to keep working while everything else is pending, or is there another form we'll be receiving later that would do that?
that's correct, the I-797C is the receipt notice only. it does not unfortunately provide work authorization.
the document that does provide work authorization is the actual Employment Authorization Document (EAD) card itself. USCIS is citing times of 75 days from the date of receipt to approval, but we've been seeing them take longer recently. there is no way to really expedite the approval...
steam | Dokkan: 868846562