Marriage 42 days after F1 entry

[Jdealla 0]

Hello all, 

I have been reading these forums avidly since I got married. I've tried to find a sample case to go by, but I couldn't. I'm convinced that every case is unique. 

Here's our story. I'm open to feedback. 

 My now wife and I met in June 2010 in Bogota and started dating after. I lived in Bogota until March 2011. I was coming back to the US for a visit and ended up getting a good job. 

As she had just finished school, she didn't know what to do, and our relationship started to become strained because I told her I would be moving back to Colombia. We almost ended up breaking up. But we knew we wanted to see if we really wanted to be together and she wanted to learn English, so she applied to study  in the town I work in. 

She got here on May 28 on her F1 visa and a month later we decided that there was no way we wanted to be apart from each other again. I had already asked for some time off in July for my family's yearly beach trip, but we ended up getting married down there since everyone was already there, including my brother and my nephews who I see once a year. That was July 9th. 

I understand the 30-60-90 rule. Ours is 42 days. I was connected by a family friend to a lawyer and her final thought was that we shouldn't have problems but we should use a lawyer. However, living in DC is expensive enough and her visa is D/S, so whenever her mom stops generously paying her course we will have to pay 700 per month for her to stay. Also, as you all know, she can't work on her visa to help pay. 

Neither of us have been married before, we both have clean records, we have tons of proof of a bona fide marriage. I'm just worried about being falsely accused of immigration fraud with the only rebuttal coming from  our MSN and Skype conversations during our rough time apart, letters from family, and the fact that she had a return ticket to Colombia for August and an English course paid for down there so she could continue English when she got back. 

Do we need a lawyer? Thoughts on how to go about this without one? Too risky?

Thanks for the help in advance. 

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

The 30/60/90 day rule no longer exists. I wouldn't accept advice from a lawyer that thinks it does. Regarding intent, it is not enough reason by itself to deny AOS, and furthermore, you will get a chance to tell your story and explain what happened at your interview. They might not even care depending on other factors in your case. Good luck.

Edited July 27, 2011 by Harpa Timsah

[rahulv 4]

what is/was 30/60/90 thing that you are talking about?

Anyways on an F-1 visa your wife can work 20 hours a week (half of what normally people work). Just in case you didn't know about this. Ask her to go to her International Student Center in the university and get a work authorization approval and she can even get her SSN on F-1.

Also go ahead and file for I-130 and AOS combined with all the bona-fide marriage evidence that you have. Within 90 days at least your wife will have an EAD to work as many hours as she wants.

Attorney is only going to help you file the papers which VJ can help you equally (if not better) good for FREE. In case of complications you can always go ahead and hire one at that moment if it comes to that.

Good luck to you.

[Jdealla 0]

Thanks for the responses so far.

Harpa Timsah- I'm really surprised to hear that, and that makes me question why the lawyer even mentioned it. Did they replace that guideline with a more case-by-case approach? I'm not sure now that I understand why they would deny an AOS. Is there somewhere I can read about that? I think in all other factors we'll be a normal case (a lot of bona fide marriage evidence).

rahulv- Thank you for your comments. I am aware that the lawyer mostly prepares the paperwork for you but they can also go in the interview with you and provide counsel throughout the process. I'm just concerned that with such a tight time-line we have to send in the exact right amount of evidence and present it in the exactly right way. The lawyer's thoughts and mine were that having someone make sure that we were doing everything the exact right way would mitigate risk of having this delayed or having us end up in a long rebuttal process.

[Jdealla 0]

Quick question to all- should I include a letter of evolution with out AOS packet including proof of no intent to get married or should I wait until the interview for this? Thank you

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

I personally don't think an evolution letter is necessary, but I don't know your case. To answer your other question, here is a detailed post on the subject http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/287217-possible-aos-from-b2/page__view__findpost__p__4373262

[Germanimmigrant 12]

Anyways on an F-1 visa your wife can work 20 hours a week (half of what normally people work). Just in case you didn't know about this. Ask her to go to her International Student Center in the university and get a work authorization approval and she can even get her SSN on F-1.

F1 employment is 20 hours max. per week, but that only refers to on-campus employment. She could try to get a job at, say, the library. However, she is not entitled to just go to international services and request employment for just about any job. As far as I know, she cannot work outside of campus (except for OPT or CPT but those are studies-specific and closely regulated). That's not permissible as the F1 is a non-immigrant visa.

When I was a F1 doctoral student I taught at two other universities as an adjunct for a semester. I got two CPT permissions from my alma mater's international services office. Boy, did they make me jump through hoops....