EAD and SSN and getting married question

[chrisandamye 0]

Hi,

My fiance and I are pretty distraught at this point. If anyone could help answer some of our questions we'd really appreciate it. Here's our status: after 8 months of this process, my fiance finally got his visa approved yesterday at his interview in London. Yay. But we'd always thought he could pretty immediately work as soon as he got here. However, we're finding that he gets a 90 day work permit (which we knew before) and the EAD doesnt come for up to six months! What the point of the 90 day temporary is I dont know. Who's going to hire a professional for 90 days?! We live in Washington, D.C. and we're wondering if everyone really waits 6 months. How do they afford that? So here are the specific questions from my fiance:

Q- Do I require a SSN to apply for my EAD/AOS? I ask because I understand that I should wait two weeks after entry to apply for a SSN and would like to apply for my EAD/AOS as soon as I arrive .

Q- Does anyone have any experience of the Washington DC local office? I have read that an application for EAD may be made to some local offices on the basis of an NOA from your AOS application. Does this apply to the DC office? If so, anyone have evidence of it being worthwhile or not?

Q- From what I understand, as long as I can demonstrate to an employer that the K1 visa is work enabled I should be able to work legally for the 90 days of its validity without any further documentation needed. Does anyone have experience of this?

I send anyone who can help a thousand thank you's ---Amye and Chris

[English Muffin 59]

Your fiance can't apply for EAD/AOS as soon as he arrives, he can only apply for these after you get married. He'll also only get the temporary (90 day) EAD if his POE is JFK.

Gillian

[Liebi 0]

If you go ahead and try to apply for a SSN right after your fiance arrives it is very much likely that the social security office will not have him in their system yet because it takes USCIS up to 2 weeks to update the system and put him in after his arrival. So save yourself some hassle and wait those 2 weeks!

You do not need to have a SSN to file out the AOS documents. If they didn't issue one to him at the time you file, just leave the field blank. SSN although isn't necessary to receive temp work permit. The potential employer will ask for one, if he doesn't have one yet (because he is waiting on it to be in the mail), show them the official letter from the social security office stating that he will receive one (they give you those letters upon applying).

Your fiance will not be eligible to accept employment with his K1 only. Additional documention is needed! The K1 is a work authorized visa - but only with a temp work-stamp from the POE or USCIS. Like stated above, JFK is the only airport that still issues those stamps. If your fiance doesn't enter the US through JFK he would have to apply for a temp EAD permit and to be honest, this is pretty much a waste of money since it usually takes up to 90 days to approve it and by then the K1 expired already so the temp EAD is useless. So have him fly through JFK if he really wants to work those first 90 days.

I agree - he might not be able to get a professional job in those 90 days, but maybe something like a 'second job', just to have a little extra money on hand. Better than nothing.

Other than that - make sure to get married asap after he arrives and send his AOS package of so he will receive EAD and Greencard as fast as possible. Once the 90 days upon arrival are over he will not be able to accept employment at all without the EAD card or the Greencard.

I received my EAD 11 weeks after I sent my AOS off - so think positive, not everybody waits 6 months!

[TracyTN 237]

I'm not sure where everyone is getting this 6 months till EAD approval idea. Check the timelines on this site - its much more like 2-3 months.

Edited January 11, 2008 by TracyTN

[tanyakaraman 0]

If you get married immediately after he arrives, apply for social security # about 2 weeks after arrival (if you apply too early, it will be delayed because his info will not be in the system yet from the POE), and apply for AOS/EAD right after your wedding, your wait time will be minimized.

EAD typically does NOT take 6 months....it is usually more like 2 or 3.

He can work right away with the temp EAD stamp. If you get married and he applies for AOS/EAD ASAP, there will likely not be a gap between expiration of the temporary EAD and the other one. Then once he receives his green card, he will be set for the next 2 years.

Best of Luck....

[tanyakaraman 0]

Sorry, I didn't read your Q's at the end...

You do not need a SSN to apply for AOS/EAD, but you do need to get married first.

You can legally work after arrival, as long as you receive the 90 employment auth. stamp on the I-91 card at the POE (JFK airport in NY typically gives this...not sure about other POE's).

You can apply for EAD at the same time you apply for AOS (the EAD is included in the fee), or you can wait and apply later by sending the EAD application with your AOS NOA. The former is typically the faster route. Either way, you do not apply at your local office, but to the Chicago office, as indicated on the instructions for the AOS (I-485 form). The applications may later be transferred to a local office or to the California office (in which case, your AOS may be approved without an interview).

Edited January 11, 2008 by tanyakaraman