change of status from Q1

[zatarra 1]

I'm going to make this as brief as possible. My Japanese wife and I got married in the US in January while she was working for Disney on a Q1 visa. She is still working for Disney on a Q1 visa. She was offered to continue employment at Disney since she is married to an American and it wouldn't be to difficult for her to do that. She finishes her job with Disney around mid-October and her Q1 visa expires the beginning of November We had made plans to both move back to Japan together and live there. I took a teaching job in Japan in late August and have been working in Japan since. However, with the recent news about Fukushima neither of us want to be in Japan anymore. If I return to the US soon enough (before her visa expires), would it be possible to have my wife get a change of status on her Q1 visa and stay in the US without having to return to Japan? I'm not sure if it matters, but she already has an employment offer from the current company she works for at Disney.

Please, I don't want any discussion about Fukushima. I know it is a highly controversial topic and anytime people start talking about it, it just get's out of control. This post is about my wife getting a change of status, that's all.

[kmiami15 8]

file for Adjustment of Status.... she entered the country legally under the cultural representative program and got married here... she does not need to leave the country, but I would do it before her Q1 expires ... she would get a work permit and Advance Parole if you file the forms I765 and I131 concurrently with I485 (adjustment of status) and can continue to work at Disney while she obtains her Green Card... good luck...

[zatarra 1]

Ahhh, thank you for the quick reply. Let me clarify a bit. She is not lined up to continue working for her current company. She would have to inform them now and then within a reasonable amount of time they could give here a position. My wife and I just decided today that we don't want to stay in Japan.

What I need to know is if the time frame is possible. We've got a little over a month to work this out. I'm assuming I have to be with her to make this work. That means I have to break my employment contract with my company in Japan and buy a one-way ticket back home. Obviously I don't want to do that unless I know for sure that we can do this. If it doesn't work out and she has to return to Japan we would be really upset and I would have already given up my career in Japan.

[kmiami15 8]

As I stated above, if you got married here in the US and she entered legally and had no intentions of getting married when she entered (which is what you stated) she will have no issues with AOS .... gather all the documentation as soon as possible and file it... she will not have to leave the country and she should be obtaining her work permit within 60-90 days from date of file while the application for adjustment of status is in progress..... having worked for guest relations under Q1 is a pretty good position within Disney... I am sure she will be able to get another position within Disney even if she has a gap of employment between now and when her visa expires and when she receives her work permit.... let me know if you have any questions... I know this as my fiance worked for Disney under the Q1 but our process is a bit different than yours.... I wish he would have been still working at Disney just like in your case, it would have been a lot easier...

[kmiami15 8]

and of course, I forgot to mention that all of the forms that I mentioned above must be filed with the form I130-petition for alien relative.... see these links...

http://www.uscis.gov/USCIS/Resources/A1en.pdf

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=1d383e4d77d73210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=1d383e4d77d73210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=c67c7f9ded54d010VgnVCM10000048f3d6a1RCRD&vgnextchannel=db029c7755cb9010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1RCRD

[zatarra 1]

Ok. Thank you. I'm going to call the Japanese consulate tomorrow just to confirm this.