Adjustment of Status Questions

[B*J 1]

Two questions:

1: My wife has been in the US about two months and we were just married. While we were filling out the wedding application we found that the State of Hawaii takes about 120 days to send out the actual wedding certificate, and we live in Massachusetts. We then applied for advanced processing but not too sure if we'll have this before the 90 days of her K-1 Visa will expire. I called the USCIS 800 number and all they could reall tell me was to fill out the application for adjustment of status and just not include the copy, and wait for an RFE. Anyone have any experience with this?

2. Regarding work authorization: On her K-1 Visa the DHS stamped saying she was vaild to work for the duration of the visa (90 days). I know that then with adjustment of status she is also authorized to work. My questions is, does she have to work for 3 months, quit, and then wait for an approval of the adjustment of status or can she continue working since we've allready married and are in the process of AOS. Seems stupid to have to stop working for the three months overlap it would take to get the AOS approved.

Thanks

[Gage 2]

Two questions:

1: My wife has been in the US about two months and we were just married. While we were filling out the wedding application we found that the State of Hawaii takes about 120 days to send out the actual wedding certificate, and we live in Massachusetts. We then applied for advanced processing but not too sure if we'll have this before the 90 days of her K-1 Visa will expire. I called the USCIS 800 number and all they could reall tell me was to fill out the application for adjustment of status and just not include the copy, and wait for an RFE. Anyone have any experience with this?

2. Regarding work authorization: On her K-1 Visa the DHS stamped saying she was vaild to work for the duration of the visa (90 days). I know that then with adjustment of status she is also authorized to work. My questions is, does she have to work for 3 months, quit, and then wait for an approval of the adjustment of status or can she continue working since we've allready married and are in the process of AOS. Seems stupid to have to stop working for the three months overlap it would take to get the AOS approved.

Thanks

1: There is no requirement to apply for AOS within the life of your K-1. As long as you get married within 90 days, you're fine. If you look on here, you'll see some people who wait years to apply for AOS. It's probably not advisable since you'd be out of status and can't get a (legal) job during that period of time or even a driver's license (in most states), but it's not going to cause any significant issues. In other words, wait until you get the certified copy of your marriage license from Hawaii before filing for AOS. There's nothing to be gained by filing without it and waiting for RFE, and there's nothing to be lost by waiting.

2: If she got the temporary work authorization upon entering the country then yes, she's going to have to quit once that expires and then wait for AOS or EAD before she can continue working again. That is unless you can get some sort of temporary work authorization extension from DHS, which I've never heard of. It doesn't make sense, but very little does when you're dealing with government red tape. We ran in to the same sort of thing when my wife got a temporary driver's license using her I-94, but then lost it for several months after the I-94 expired. In SD, she wasn't allowed to renew it until she got her green card or EAD. That was until we found a neophyte DOL employee who we convinced to give us a renewal using the AP document.

[Greg001 0]

Two questions:

1: My wife has been in the US about two months and we were just married. While we were filling out the wedding application we found that the State of Hawaii takes about 120 days to send out the actual wedding certificate, and we live in Massachusetts. We then applied for advanced processing but not too sure if we'll have this before the 90 days of her K-1 Visa will expire. I called the USCIS 800 number and all they could reall tell me was to fill out the application for adjustment of status and just not include the copy, and wait for an RFE. Anyone have any experience with this?

2. Regarding work authorization: On her K-1 Visa the DHS stamped saying she was vaild to work for the duration of the visa (90 days). I know that then with adjustment of status she is also authorized to work. My questions is, does she have to work for 3 months, quit, and then wait for an approval of the adjustment of status or can she continue working since we've allready married and are in the process of AOS. Seems stupid to have to stop working for the three months overlap it would take to get the AOS approved.

Thanks

Hi B*J,

We got married in Hawaii and were also worried about how long it might take to receive the certified marriage certificate. We ordered 3 extra certified certificates ($18) so we could send one original in with the AOS and have a few extras for other needs.

We were married on 6/26. The 3 extras were received around 7/31 and the one original was received around 8/11.

So, it turned out not to be a problem with the timing of our AOS submission.

Greg

[edp333 9]

Two questions:

1: My wife has been in the US about two months and we were just married. While we were filling out the wedding application we found that the State of Hawaii takes about 120 days to send out the actual wedding certificate, and we live in Massachusetts. We then applied for advanced processing but not too sure if we'll have this before the 90 days of her K-1 Visa will expire. I called the USCIS 800 number and all they could reall tell me was to fill out the application for adjustment of status and just not include the copy, and wait for an RFE. Anyone have any experience with this?

2. Regarding work authorization: On her K-1 Visa the DHS stamped saying she was vaild to work for the duration of the visa (90 days). I know that then with adjustment of status she is also authorized to work. My questions is, does she have to work for 3 months, quit, and then wait for an approval of the adjustment of status or can she continue working since we've allready married and are in the process of AOS. Seems stupid to have to stop working for the three months overlap it would take to get the AOS approved.

Thanks

Actually, there has been much discussion on the work authorization stamp for the K1 visa and some confusion. The new ruling is a K1 visa holder cannot work without an EAD. Read this sticky post for the explanation: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=180237

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Two questions:

1: My wife has been in the US about two months and we were just married. While we were filling out the wedding application we found that the State of Hawaii takes about 120 days to send out the actual wedding certificate, and we live in Massachusetts. We then applied for advanced processing but not too sure if we'll have this before the 90 days of her K-1 Visa will expire. I called the USCIS 800 number and all they could reall tell me was to fill out the application for adjustment of status and just not include the copy, and wait for an RFE. Anyone have any experience with this?

2. Regarding work authorization: On her K-1 Visa the DHS stamped saying she was vaild to work for the duration of the visa (90 days). I know that then with adjustment of status she is also authorized to work. My questions is, does she have to work for 3 months, quit, and then wait for an approval of the adjustment of status or can she continue working since we've allready married and are in the process of AOS. Seems stupid to have to stop working for the three months overlap it would take to get the AOS approved.

Thanks

CBP put that stamp on her I-94 card, not DHS. She is not authorized to work. Read the pinned topic suggested above. The K-1 is not a work visa. Oh, and someone will show you the SS listing that it is. SS does that because they needed to default the K-1 to be eligible for an SSN when some states required that for marriage certificates. SS does not determine who is eligible to work. DHS does and they say NO.

Yes, you can file the AOS without the marriage certificate, you WILL get an RFE and you will send it in after that and I would advise this as the RFE will delay the process LESS than 120 days, particularly if you have the marriage certificate by then. Be advised, if the EAD and AP are applied for at the same time as the I-485, they are derivitive of the I-485 and a delay in the I-485 will also delay the AP and EAD. There have been a few instances where someone got the AP or EAD and THEN got an RFE, but do not count on that.