F-1 Visa Student Marries US Citizen - AOS Pending

[natedog_cool 1]

I am an American citizen. I taught English in China for a year (July 2007 - July 2008) after graduating from college. While there, I met my (current) wife and we became good friends over the course of a few months. My teaching tenure was done and I was offered a job at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City and moved home.

We kept in touch via Skype for a year while I helped her apply to American graduate schools (it had always been a dream of her's but the application process was too intimidating until she met me). She was accepted to many but chose to attend the school offering the best financial aid package which happened to be about 90 minutes from where I live (Utah State University in Logan, UT).

She applied for her F-1 visa, was accepted, and came to the U.S. on July 29th 2009. I flew to San Francisco to pick her up from the airport and escort her to her new apartment in Logan, Utah.

During the year apart, we both dated other people and talked about this openly with each other. We didn't originally have any romantic intentions. However, after I helped her move to Logan, we immediately started a romantic relationship. I spent my weekends driving back and forth to see her. Over her winter vacation, we eloped on Jan 7th 2010. She transferred schools (since I worked for the University of Utah, this just involved calling in a few favors in International Admissions). We kept her I-20 current by transferring it to the University of Utah.

After her I-20 transfer was complete (we felt it was important to maintain status), we filed our I-130 and I-485 in May 2010. She's still a student and anticipates getting her M.S. in Electrical Engineering in May 2011.

My only concern is that during our AOS interview, they will ask how and where we met. I plan on being completely honest (of course), but I'm concerned that knowing each other prior to her applying for an F-1 Visa may set off red flags.

Does anyone have any input on our situation? The University's immigration adviser tells us it's not an issue that we knew each other before she came to the U.S., and she helped us understand the immigration process. But I'm still anxious about the interview (not yet scheduled).

Thanks for any related experiences or advice that will either help put my mind at ease or scare me into preparing for a harder interview than we're anticipating.

[samurai18 0]

As far as i know, she should be fine, because she came and attended school, even though you two met before she applied for her student visa. I don't think it makes a big difference, she's. Im pretty much in the same situation (F-1 and for 3 years and now AOS), but i met my girlfriend, here, she's now my wife. It's nice to see some people from Salt Lake on this forum, i live here too, Go Utes !! Good luck on your journey...