F1 student on OPT needs help with AOS

[linguyen 0]

Hi everyone!

I am a US citizen trying to sponsor my husband who is currently a F1-student on OPT and without any job offers/SSN/A number yet. We are filing I-485, I-765, I-130 and I-864 concurrently and by ourselves.

There are a couple of questions I would like to ask for your help in order to complete these forms.

Since my husband has applied for an OPT card before, do we use the same A# assigned to him on his OPT card for all the forms?

On form I-485:

Part 1.

Current USCIS status: should we put F1 student on OPT?

Status Expires on: do we put the expiry date on his OPT card or on student visa in his passport (which has expired in September 2012)?

On form I-765

My husband applied for OPT under C 3 B before, what should we choose in the "I am applying for" this time, is it "renewal of my permission to accept employment"?

Question 16: Is C 9 the correct category for him?

Should we attach the original OPT card with the application or should we just attach a copy of it?

On form I-130

Question 14: Date authorized stay expired, as shown on I-94, but on his I-94, we only see D/S. Can anyone tell me what this means? and should we put the expiry date on his OPT card instead?

Form I-864: we find this form the most confusing. We can't be so sure who should fill out what form (I-864 or I-864a)? Here is our situation:

I only made 12k last year which is not enough to sponsor my husband. I also have another dependent that I claimed on my tax return 2011. My sister in law (his sister) is also a US citizen whose 2011 income is 20k as shown on her W-2 form. Should we both file I-864 for my husband? or should we combine income to sponsor him?

Thank you all for taking your time to read this and help me out!

[kwakun 23]

Hello and welcome to VJ! I am posting my response based off of personal experience.

I put N/A for alien registration number and was assigned a different one when my AOS package was received by USCIS. I read here on VJ that even if you write in the alien # on the OPT card, you get assigned a new #.

On form I-485 part 1 you should write "F1-OPT".

Status should expire the day the OPT card expires.

On form I-765, I did not choose the renewal option because you are not exactly renewing the OPT EAD. The EAD you are applying for now does not come with most of the restrictions that an OPT comes with (such as working a job only within one's field of study). So answer that question like you are applying for the first time.

Question 16: C 9 is the correct category for him.

Make it a point to NOT send any originals with your AOS application. Just copy the front and back of the OPT card and attach it to the application.

On form I-130, write D/S as the date his authorized stay expired. D/S means Duration of Status. This means that your husband would have been in legal status for as long as it took for him to complete his degree regardless of the expiration date on his visa. This is because the US embassy in many countries gives student visas valid for only 2 years at a time even though a typical Bachelors degree takes up to 4 years to complete. If a student doesn't have the need to travel after his/her visa expires, they will remain in legal status till the degree completion date on their most current I-20.

I do not know much about the 1-864 affidavit of support. Mine was very straightforward because my husband is my only sponsor and we are a family of 2 with no dependents. I'm sure someone else will chime in on that bit soon enough.

Edited December 22, 2012 by kwakun

[Darnell 8,479]

can change your profile area, to Adjustment of Status, please? That F-1 label is misleading.

[linguyen 0]

Thank for helping me out, Kwakun and QingChangBingBang! We can't wait to get this done and submitted so we can move to the next step (waiting, waiting and waiting) :-)

Darnell: thanks for reminding me, I've adjusted it.

Could anyone please let us know if we (my sis in law and I) should both file form I-864?

[Darnell 8,479]

primary sponser = you - you fill out an I-864

co sponser = sister - she fills out an I-864 also