F1 visa holder getting married to a US citizen

[f1girl 0]

Hello everyone!

I came here in the US in 2006 on a tourist visa, and I applied for a change of status to an F1 visa. I've been going to school as an F1 holder ever since. My boyfriend and I are getting married on feb 19. I just have a dilemma on whether i should still enroll for this semester or not. My school starts tomorrow (feb 8). I am aware that if I don't enroll 12 units by feb 23, I will get a letter from my school saying that my I-20 will be cancelled (i would most likely be out of status after that). I honestly don't want to waste another $3500 this semester, and my boyfriend wants me to take a break from school since we're going to be busy with moving-in together and processing our immigration papers.

Do you think I would be fine if I don't enroll this semester since i'll be getting married before they cancel my I-20? I'm planning to submit the I-130 and I-485 right after i get married. I'm really confused right now, and i was planning to seek advice from an immigration lawyer, but it costs so much

I really need a good advice ASAP. Thank you so much in advance!

[FortLaudy 10]

Hello everyone!

I came here in the US in 2006 on a tourist visa, and I applied for a change of status to an F1 visa. I've been going to school as an F1 holder ever since. My boyfriend and I are getting married on feb 19. I just have a dilemma on whether i should still enroll for this semester or not. My school starts tomorrow (feb 8). I am aware that if I don't enroll 12 units by feb 23, I will get a letter from my school saying that my I-20 will be cancelled (i would most likely be out of status after that). I honestly don't want to waste another $3500 this semester, and my boyfriend wants me to take a break from school since we're going to be busy with moving-in together and processing our immigration papers.

Do you think I would be fine if I don't enroll this semester since i'll be getting married before they cancel my I-20? I'm planning to submit the I-130 and I-485 right after i get married. I'm really confused right now, and i was planning to seek advice from an immigration lawyer, but it costs so much

I really need a good advice ASAP. Thank you so much in advance!

Go speak to your international student advisor, TODAY. you are allowed to take 1 semester off after you've been enrolled for 1 year at the same school, if you have not taken a full semester off yet you can now and return to school in the summer/fall as a resident, all they do is put a note on the system saying you're taking the semester off and not to report you as "out of status" to immgration.

[f1girl 0]

Go speak to your international student advisor, TODAY. you are allowed to take 1 semester off after you've been enrolled for 1 year at the same school, if you have not taken a full semester off yet you can now and return to school in the summer/fall as a resident, all they do is put a note on the system saying you're taking the semester off and not to report you as "out of status" to immgration.

Thank you for your advice. I spoke to my counselor, and she's forcing me to take classes. She even scared me by saying that I would never get approved for my adjustment of status if i don't enroll although i told her that i'm getting married and filing my immigration papers before i get out of status. She wouldn't let me take a semester break from school because she said she doesn't want to mess and be involved with the immigration. I have a feeling that she's doing this so that the school could make more money with my non-resident tuition since there was a big budget cut on education. I really don't know what to do right now

[FortLaudy 10]

Thank you for your advice. I spoke to my counselor, and she's forcing me to take classes. She even scared me by saying that I would never get approved for my adjustment of status if i don't enroll although i told her that i'm getting married and filing my immigration papers before i get out of status. She wouldn't let me take a semester break from school because she said she doesn't want to mess and be involved with the immigration. I have a feeling that she's doing this so that the school could make more money with my non-resident tuition since there was a big budget cut on education. I really don't know what to do right now

This is absolute BS, go speak to another advisor, mention NOTHING about immigration, just say you want a break from school for a semester to travel or whatever, you are allowed to take a semester off if you haven't done so yet, sounds 100% that they want to charge you in-state fees for another semester. You might have waited too long to try and get this semester off and that might be a problem, but for sure they cannot force you to take this semester full time if you still have the right to take your 1 semester off.

[SweetApple08 2]

Question: Is you boyfriend a US citizen or is he a Green Card holder?

I am not sure that your advisor is totally wrong. The thing is that you talked to an ISO about your plans and nothing real. The best advise that the ISO could give you (in this case) is to register for classes and attend school. You are talking about future plans and nothing "real". You are not married yet to the boyfriend/fiance/e and have not applied for an adjustment of status I-485.

In my opinion, you have two options:

1. register for classes; get married & apply for adjustment of status at a later time.

2. get married tomorrow and send your I-485 right away (if your spouse is USC you should have no problems to get your GC fast). If the spouse LPR is another story, you apply first I-130 and wait for about 4-5 years (stay in school).

The ISO always should advise the student to stay in status while waiting for a COS (change of status) because there are possible complications such as denials or withdraw of I-485. In that case the F-1 student is in big trouble. I don't think the ISO is doing that for selfish reasons but this is how they are told to advise in such cases. If you stop attending ISO will have to "update" your status with SEVIS and you'll be out of status.

Please read the following link about the case of advising F-1 students

http://www.nafsa.org/uploadedFiles/NAFSA_H...y_on.pdf?n=3549

[SweetApple08 2]

Go speak to your international student advisor, TODAY. you are allowed to take 1 semester off after you've been enrolled for 1 year at the same school, if you have not taken a full semester off yet you can now and return to school in the summer/fall as a resident, all they do is put a note on the system saying you're taking the semester off and not to report you as "out of status" to immgration.

In one school (I asked) as an F-1 student they had only summer semester off (even if you went full-time during summer) Their policy is take it or leave it. Another school I went to ask (they had quarters instead of semesters) and they said that after 3 quarters a F-1 student could take one quarter off (not required to take any time off though). It does depend on the school policy and the ISO of the school.

Edited February 9, 2010 by SweetApple08

[SweetApple08 2]

Thank you for your advice. I spoke to my counselor, and she's forcing me to take classes. She even scared me by saying that I would never get approved for my adjustment of status if i don't enroll although i told her that i'm getting married and filing my immigration papers before i get out of status. She wouldn't let me take a semester break from school because she said she doesn't want to mess and be involved with the immigration. I have a feeling that she's doing this so that the school could make more money with my non-resident tuition since there was a big budget cut on education. I really don't know what to do right now

"Adjustment of Status: When a nonimmigrant student files an Adjustment of

Status (Form I-485) but maintains F/M status, the student's SEVIS record should

remain active until the adjustment is approved. The DSO should then manually

terminate the record for Change of status approved. Note the circumstances in

the remarks and provide the student's A-Number or Receipt Number." (Source:

"F and M Student Record Termination Reasons In SEVIS" Handout from SEVP,

NAFSA National Conference, 2006.)

[Darnell 8,479]

This is absolute BS, go speak to another advisor, mention NOTHING about immigration, just say you want a break from school for a semester to travel or whatever, you are allowed to take a semester off if you haven't done so yet, sounds 100% that they want to charge you in-state international tuition fees for another semester. You might have waited too long to try and get this semester off and that might be a problem, but for sure they cannot force you to take this semester full time if you still have the right to take your 1 semester off.

fixxored for ya

[f1girl 0]

Question: Is you boyfriend a US citizen or is he a Green Card holder?

I am not sure that your advisor is totally wrong. The thing is that you talked to an ISO about your plans and nothing real. The best advise that the ISO could give you (in this case) is to register for classes and attend school. You are talking about future plans and nothing "real". You are not married yet to the boyfriend/fiance/e and have not applied for an adjustment of status I-485.

In my opinion, you have two options:

1. register for classes; get married & apply for adjustment of status at a later time.

2. get married tomorrow and send your I-485 right away (if your spouse is USC you should have no problems to get your GC fast). If the spouse LPR is another story, you apply first I-130 and wait for about 4-5 years (stay in school).

The ISO always should advise the student to stay in status while waiting for a COS (change of status) because there are possible complications such as denials or withdraw of I-485. In that case the F-1 student is in big trouble. I don't think the ISO is doing that for selfish reasons but this is how they are told to advise in such cases. If you stop attending ISO will have to "update" your status with SEVIS and you'll be out of status.

Please read the following link about the case of advising F-1 students

http://www.nafsa.org/uploadedFiles/NAFSA_H...y_on.pdf?n=3549

Hi! Thank you so much for your reply. As an answer to your question, my boyfriend is a USC. Based on the things you said, i have a question:

If i get married and file my I-130 and I-485 before the ISO terminates my SEVIS, will my AOS application be ok? I'm just worried that they might deny it because I would be out of status not during the time i filed it but while waiting for the decision.

I am fully aware of the risk of not maintaining my F1 status while waiting for the decision. I know that if my AOS gets denied, I wouldn't have any status since i abandoned my F1 status. That's why I tried adding classes today, but it's very hard to get into a class since they reduced the number of classes offered because of the budget cut. I need 12 units to maintain my F1 status

I'm just scared that if I don't get to add 12 units, the ISO would terminate my SEVIS, and my AOS application might be in jeopardy. The USCIS might think that getting married was my escape from being out of F1 status which isn't true at all. We were planning to get married last January, but due to my grandmother's death last December, my family wanted me to move the wedding to give our family enough time to grieve before celebrating for the wedding.

[FortLaudy 10]

Hi! Thank you so much for your reply. As an answer to your question, my boyfriend is a USC. Based on the things you said, i have a question:

If i get married and file my I-130 and I-485 before the ISO terminates my SEVIS, will my AOS application be ok? I'm just worried that they might deny it because I would be out of status not during the time i filed it but while waiting for the decision.

I am fully aware of the risk of not maintaining my F1 status while waiting for the decision. I know that if my AOS gets denied, I wouldn't have any status since i abandoned my F1 status. That's why I tried adding classes today, but it's very hard to get into a class since they reduced the number of classes offered because of the budget cut. I need 12 units to maintain my F1 status

I'm just scared that if I don't get to add 12 units, the ISO would terminate my SEVIS, and my AOS application might be in jeopardy. The USCIS might think that getting married was my escape from being out of F1 status which isn't true at all. We were planning to get married last January, but due to my grandmother's death last December, my family wanted me to move the wedding to give our family enough time to grieve before celebrating for the wedding.

Thanks Darnell, yes, I meant to say the school is BS'ing you and trying to get another semester of out-of-state fees out of your pocket. You are allowed to take a semester off, other than a summer after 1 year at the same school on F1 visa, if you take off the fall or winter semester you have to take classes during the summer on F1 status, but absolutely you can take a semester off and you can have as silly an excuse of you've bumped your toe too hard, they cannot force you to enroll if you are in good standing, have not taken a semester off yet and want to do so now.

When are you planning on getting married? It is Always a good idea to remain in very good standing during this process with your school. At our AOS interview, the IO asked to see my I-20, I had a signature from my ISO stating that I was approved to take one semester off and I'm in good standing with the school, so it does matter. I did not mention anything to my ISO about my marriage or anything like that, none of their damn business imo, I told them I need a semester off, end of story, she checked on the system that I was in good academic standing and approved my request, end of story. I'm back to school in the summer, taking 9+ credits and paying in-state fees.

[Val Marty 1]

This is the first time I hear that we can take semester off. If I knew I would have done it I am (or was) also on F-1, but graduated. I am currently awaiting AOS approval and my last day of legal stay as a F-1 is Feb 10th (tomorrow lol). I think as long as you have filed your AOS you don't have to worry about being out of status and such things.

[f1girl 0]

Thanks Darnell, yes, I meant to say the school is BS'ing you and trying to get another semester of out-of-state fees out of your pocket. You are allowed to take a semester off, other than a summer after 1 year at the same school on F1 visa, if you take off the fall or winter semester you have to take classes during the summer on F1 status, but absolutely you can take a semester off and you can have as silly an excuse of you've bumped your toe too hard, they cannot force you to enroll if you are in good standing, have not taken a semester off yet and want to do so now.

When are you planning on getting married? It is Always a good idea to remain in very good standing during this process with your school. At our AOS interview, the IO asked to see my I-20, I had a signature from my ISO stating that I was approved to take one semester off and I'm in good standing with the school, so it does matter. I did not mention anything to my ISO about my marriage or anything like that, none of their damn business imo, I told them I need a semester off, end of story, she checked on the system that I was in good academic standing and approved my request, end of story. I'm back to school in the summer, taking 9+ credits and paying in-state fees.

I talked to the head adviser in the ISO. We're not allowed to take the spring or fall semesters off. We're only allowed to take summer and winter classes off. She just told me to talk to an immigration lawyer to make sure that my AOS won't be affected if I won't be able to add 12 units this semester. It's the 2nd day of class, and i haven't been picked in any lottery for adding classes