Previous visa abandoned?

[NLP 0]

My wife last entered the US on her F1 visa back in Feb. 06. We got married in August and filed for 130/485/131/765 in late October. I have been reading in some places that upon filing that AOS packet, she has essentially abandoned her F1 visa.

Is this the case and if so, what is the rationale behind it?

Would have been nice, since she's still a full-time Ph.D. student, for her to be able to exit and re-enter the country legally had the AP not been approved in time (which with my luck, it absolutely won't get approved in time... ).

Edited November 30, 2006 by NLP

[jso 0]

My advice would be for her to stay put till something comes through. You do NOT want to take that risk.

[Dr_LHA 3]

My wife last entered the US on her F1 visa back in Feb. 06. We got married in August and filed for 130/485/131/765 in late October. I have been reading in some places that upon filing that AOS packet, she has essentially abandoned her F1 visa.

Is this the case and if so, what is the rationale behind it?

Would have been nice, since she's still a full-time Ph.D. student, for her to be able to exit and re-enter the country legally had the AP not been approved in time (which with my luck, it absolutely won't get approved in time... ).

Yes, by filing AOS she has abandoned her F-1. She should not attempt to travel with it, as leaving the country now will be considered abandoning her AOS application. Only certain visas allow for "dual intent" that is, you can have a valid visa and apply for AOS at the same time, F-1 is not one of them (they are H-1B, L-1 and some others I'm forgetting).

As for the rationale, F-1 is a non-immigrant visa. You're not allowed to travel on it if you have immigration intent. By filing AOS it shows immigration intent, so the F-1 is not longer valid. That's the best explanation I can come up with!