F1 to K3 OR F1 to AOS?

[korswe 0]

Hello! Thank you for helping to answer some of my questions in the past. I was hoping to get some feedback regarding my situation. Here are the facts:

I am a US citizen, and my wife is a Swedish citizen. We recently got married in California while she was on a 90-day tourist visa. Before her tourist visa ran out, she went back to Sweden to finish out the last semester of her college program. I will moving temporarily to Sweden in a couple of weeks to be with my wife (The Swedish government issued a permanent residence visa to me based on familial status). My wife has applied to some year-long graduate programs in the US, and it looks like she will be accepted to quite a few, so she will receive a F1 student visa sometime in July, at which time both of us will move to the US.

We are both young and do not know where we are going to settle down after graduate school. We could settle down here in the US or in Sweden. Since K3 allows her to travel in and out of the US for two years upon issuance (or entry?), wouldn't it make sense to apply for a K3 visa while she is here in the states on a F1 visa? Is this even allowed? If it looked like we are going to end up settling here, then I would hate to have her adjust her F1 status to AOS and deal with potential complications with the INS. Moreover, I think that some schools discourages this practice.

In summary, is it permissible to apply for a K3 while my wife is here on F1 OR should we just start the K3 process now notwithstanding the F1 issuance?

I hope I have been clear in asking the right question.

Thanks you!

~JM