Time ?

[SunDrop 59]

Well i had my appointment with my lawyer and i think he might have taken me for a ride coz by what i have heard from here i could have just got engaged in Pakistan got back to US and apply for AOS, but he made me go for the K1 route and my girl had to drop her studies for 1 year go back to france, sit ideal for the whole 1 year just for the K1 process to complete, she got into US on a valid student visa sponsored by her parents in mid of 2007, and we had no intentions of marrying then it was only after i met her a few times at a relatives place that we decided we need to get married, and he told me that I should go for K1 and she should drop an year go back to france. I am so pissed off on him, can i sue a lawyer? cos from what i have understood i could have just adjusted her status as she was already on a student visa and we didn't have any prior intentions of getting married.

So, you have the K1 and she is now in the US having entered on the K1, and are soon to be married and AOS. All is clear now!

You are correct, you could have married her on her student visa and adjusted from that assuming her F1 had no home residency requirements, which it doesn't sound as though it did. I personally wouldn't bother suing the lawyer since you're now together and getting married. But that's just me...

When you file the adjustment, you have the option - included in the total filing fee - of applying for AP and an EAD. The first will allow her to leave the country and the second is a temporary employment authorisation document. Typically these take 60-90 days to arrive from filing. As someone said, she can leave the US for up to 1 year once she has received her AP, but how wise a decision that is is arguable.

Knowing the USCIS as we do, I personally wouldn't want them to challenge the validity of my marriage when it comes to lifting conditions. I also wouldn't want to jeopardise my eligibility to apply for naturalisation after 3 years because I don't meet the ongoing residency requirements.

Green Cards usually take more than 3 months to come through. I believe 6-9 months is the average processing time but again, it can take longer.

[giselle 0]

Thanks for that informative post, but what is home residency requirement, she was living with her relatives while she was studying at cape atlantic community college, and it was not required of her to leave US or had any kind of restrictions like that on her.