Currently working on OPT (F1 VISA expires in Nov 09, OPT in Dec 09) Engaged & want to travel before marriage & filing for AOS - Important Question!!

[sverige 0]

Hey everyone!!

So this is the deal.. My girlfriend and I have been dating for 4+ years, and we just got engaged! She is a U.S citizen. I am currently employed full time. I am on my OPT that I received after getting my college degree. My OPT work permit expires in December, and my F1 VISA expires in November. I am going back to Sweden for a couple of weeks in June on vacation. Then I have to go back to work. My question is:

Can we get married and file for the AOS as soon as I get back from my vacation? Because I have heard that you can´t have any intentions of getting married when you re-enter the U.S on an F1 Visa. Is this true?? It doesnt make any sense to me?! I mean, we have been together for 4 years with all the records prooving this. If that is the case, do we get married now and file for the AOS now? But then, can I still go on vacation even though my case is pending?

Please help! These rules are just very overwhelming! Thanks!

-Martin

[christera22 8]

Planning and coming to USA with intention to immegrate is of course visa fraud and if discovered by uscis can lead to ban. MAx people who have applied for adjusting here came in B1/B2 or F1 , may or may not have known their spouses and the marriage took place on the spur of a moment. Both the times i came for a business in which my now wife was involved. This time my wife had to undergo a serious surgery and she wanted me to stay back instead of returning, while on my 1st visit i did go back much before my visa expired. Thats my story why i had to marry here instead of going through the normal K1 process. Now its upto you what course you wd take . The burden of proving that the marriage is a valid marriage and entered into with good faith and that you had intentions of going back while you came in , lies on your shoulders.

Of course most of the times when USCIS gets convinced from the evidences that the marriage is legit and there is a good and ongoing relation going on, hardly the question of intent is asked. The proofs can be different forms of evidences that proves good loving life and any normal stuff that couple does together.

Now you are in F1 visa and wd go back home and wd enter again in F1. So you are showing your intentions as F1. Though your relationsa are for 4 yrs but then its legit that you can marry somewhere in between if you can prove in between that you married to put your 4 yrs relation into a blissful bond while you were stilll in F1. Because you re-enter to finish your F1 job and not to marry. But then it shd not look like your F1 visa expired and then you married and thus the marriage to an USc was done as a path to keep you in usa. BUt then nor visajourney nor me wd encourage you to come to usa with an intent, just to marry your fiance.

On the other hand you are already in usa and in valid F1 visa. You can stiull marry, apply for AOS , get an AP and visit home and coem back to usa. That wonmt harm . As you dnt have an overstay your AP and coming and going wd go perfectly fine. But you need to find out if applying for AOS wd hamper your F1 in any way or not. I am not perfectly not aware of F1 facts.

Hope my advice in other areas help ..... feel free to ask back ... Thanks.

Edited April 8, 2009 by christera22