F-1 visa to Green card?

[Erthwhile 0]

Hi there,

basically this is it. I'm going to marry my US fiancée in italy next October. At the very same time, i will be applying to a MAB program in the USA. if I'll be admitted to the program, I'll have to get a F-1 visa but... my question is... can I go through the green card process while on f.1 status or not? What should I do to be able to stay in the USA after completion of my program to live with my future wife?

thanks a lot for your help!

Roberto

[Lili 3]

If you enter on an F-1 visa already married with intent to adjust your status, it is considered visa fraud.

You will have to come with a spousal visa not an F-1 visa. But i am sure someone will chime in!

[Paul Hanaki 72]

You will not be allowed to come to the US on an F1 visa if you are planning on staying in the USA after you education. You can come to the USA on an F1 visa and meet someone here and get married and then change your status. You though are able to get an F1 visa as you are allready planning to get married and stay. That would be visa fraud as stated.

[Caladan 19]

I'd run this one by a lawyer. The F-1 isn't dual intent, so you can't use it both to study and to adjust status. But it *is* permissible to adjust from an F-1 to a green card (I have friends who have done it having met while in school), and I don't know how they make a determination of intent. I don't know if you'd be allowed to have an F-1 with an American spouse. As far as I know, it's possible. And there would be no problem with coming on an F-1, then leaving after completing the degree to come back on a spousal visa.

In other words, just wanting to live in the U.S. eventually isn't enough to determine intent. I know people who came in on F-1s, then moved to H1-Bs, and then later became permanent residents, all without leaving the U.S. I'm sure when they came to study in the U.S., they hoped to live and work here permanently, and I know that doesn't count as intent.

I don't know what would happen, e.g., if the OP came here, did his degree, and two years down the road filed for permanent residency as a spouse of a U.S.C. I suspect it would be okay, but I'd run it by a lawyer.

[Erthwhile 0]

it seems like it's a very complicated matter...

I'd run this one by a lawyer. The F-1 isn't dual intent, so you can't use it both to study and to adjust status. But it *is* permissible to adjust from an F-1 to a green card (I have friends who have done it having met while in school), and I don't know how they make a determination of intent. I don't know if you'd be allowed to have an F-1 with an American spouse. As far as I know, it's possible. And there would be no problem with coming on an F-1, then leaving after completing the degree to come back on a spousal visa.

In other words, just wanting to live in the U.S. eventually isn't enough to determine intent. I know people who came in on F-1s, then moved to H1-Bs, and then later became permanent residents, all without leaving the U.S. I'm sure when they came to study in the U.S., they hoped to live and work here permanently, and I know that doesn't count as intent.

I don't know what would happen, e.g., if the OP came here, did his degree, and two years down the road filed for permanent residency as a spouse of a U.S.C. I suspect it would be okay, but I'd run it by a lawyer.

[Erthwhile 0]

Would it perhaps be better deferring enrollment (if admitted) for one year in order to obtain a K-3 visa first?

[Caladan 19]

It's not that bad. If you want to come to the U.S. and stay, you need a visa that allows immigrant intent. But the law does allow you to change your mind after entering and stay, so there is a route for that, too.

Would it perhaps be better deferring enrollment (if admitted) for one year in order to obtain a K-3 visa first?

That would be one way to do it, and a safe way to do it, too.

[EstebanTrabajos 7]

ditto ditto,

When I entered the US and applied for the F-1, they made me sign a piece of paper where I assured them that my intent was to study and after complition of my studies, not to stay in this country. In the process and 5 years later after I started my degrees, met my wife, fell in love, got engaged and married, but my first intentions were to go back to Mexico after graduation and OPT.

Apply for the K-3, anyway your waiting time will apply for the 2 years you have to wait for the removal of conditions and getting the 10-year Green Card. The process, I don't think or I hope won't take more than 6 months or a year right?

Edited February 27, 2008 by GueraYTavo

[Erthwhile 0]

ditto ditto,

When I entered the US and applied for the F-1, they made me sign a piece of paper where I assured them that my intent was to study and after complition of my studies, not to stay in this country. In the process and 5 years later after I started my degrees, met my wife, fell in love, got engaged and married, but my first intentions were to go back to Mexico after graduation and OPT.

Apply for the K-3, anyway your waiting time will apply for the 2 years you have to wait for the removal of conditions and getting the 10-year Green Card. The process, I don't think or I hope won't take more than 6 months or a year right?

Waiting time for K-3 in Italy is about 190 days... So, if I marry her in october I will probably have my K-3 visa before the start of the program in June/July, but I don't think soon enough to enroll... It seems everything so messy!

What are my options? Really, going to the USA, taking the MBA and then coming back to italy doesn't make much sense job-wise...

Well, let me know!

thanks!

[Caladan 19]

You have a lot of options. You could come here on an F-1 with the intent to leave once you're done, get hired by an American firm and switched to an H1-B (a work visa), and then file for a green card based on your marriage (The work visa allows dual intent.) You could come here on an F-1, file for the K-3 towards the end of your studies, so all you'd need to do is return to Italy to get the visa. You could defer enrollment and enter on a K-3.

[eau_xplain 2]

Another thing you have to consider is the cost of education.

If you do enter as an F1, you will be paying international student rates. Whereas if you come in as either a K3 or CR1, you can establish residence and then pursue your studies at the local resident's rate. Big difference in $$.

[millefleur 5,047]

**Zombie thread now locked from further comment and hijack post removed. Please start a new thread if you have your own question.**

 

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