Quickest way to travel

[jman11 0]

So, me and the recently added Mrs seem to have gotten ourselves in a bit of a bind. I've looked around and most of the information seems to revolve around bringing someone into the US, rather than someone who is already here.

I'm a student who is in the US on an F-1 visa from Australia. This is my 5th year here, I met my wife a couple of years ago and we recently (September) got married. I had originally been planning on graduating in August and leaving the US for an academic job in Europe. Well things changed, I didn't finish in time and the job ended up not being available yet any way. My visa expired in May, but this is not a problem as I am allowed to stay for as long as I am studying. I could not get it renewed, because we were planning a wedding and you only use a student visa if your only intent is to study. By marrying I was displaying intent to immigrate and that was no good. Our advice at the time was to just get married and not worry about anything, because we were all legal and planning on leaving.

Well, we are now staying for at least 10 months. But I really should go overseas for conferences and such. So I would like to be able to travel as soon as possible, hopefully by January,

My understanding is that we would have to file an I-130 with a bunch of other forms and wait. We would also have to file for a work authorization (or is there a special study authorization?) which is some other bunch of forms. Then apply for advanced parole to be able to travel.

I am starting to get the feeling that it is just not going to happen, and it will take a long while. It also looks like being very expensive, we don't have much money (I'm a graduate student and she doesn't earn much). We also don't know if it is worth starting this process -- I might end up in a foreign country soon -- if we aren't going to finish it.

I guess I should stop rambling and ask some questions.

How long are we looking at before I can travel, weeks, months, years?

Is there any other way I can return, apart from immigrating?

[YuAndDan 153]

Oh BOY! Out of status! As soon as you leave the country you wont be able to return depending on how long you have been out of status can be 5 to 10 years.

Consult an immigration attorney and a good one at that, doing AOS and wait in the country is the only option.

[jman11 0]

I'm not actually out of status, thankfully. It's just that my status only lasts as long as I am in the country.