Overstaying issue

[rcruise 0]

I will get married in US to a US Citizen on 29th July and my current I-94 (allowed to enter as a tourist) expires on 4th Aug. As advised,the copy of the marriage certificate can only be obtained 2 wks after the date of marriage and therefore only then can my husband apply for 1-130 and I can apply for AOS. Is it still legal for me to stay in US after 4th Aug seeing that we can only submit the 1-130 and AOS after 14th Aug ? Any advice is much appreciated.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

It is not legal to stay after your I-94 expires; however, the overstay will be forgiven if your GC application is approved.

[Casprd 167]

As the previous poster said, you will be out of status, but this will be forgiven if the green card is approved. The biggest roadblock to that will be if immigrations determines there was "an intent to immigrate" by coming on a tourist visa and then getting married and staying in the US. There could be a number of factors they consider for this. I don't know how long your I-94 was good for but if for instance it was 90 days and you are having a big elaborate wedding ceremony then they could say this is evidence of intent to immigrate since it would be a little difficult to arrive here decide to get married and put all the arrangements together in a short time. I am just using that as one example and it is something to consider. In any event, my understanding is as your overstay begins to accrue at 180 days. i.e. if you leave at 179 days it isn't a problem but if you stay 181 days then you have a 181 day overstay. So as long as the case is being decided before 180 days, if in worst case scenario you don't get a green card there shouldn't be any overstay issues (assuming you left before the 180 days).

So bottom line, as long as there are no red flags that could get the AOS denied then the few days of overstay won't be a problem. Just be sure to get the AOS process started asap.