Living away from spouse....?

[adamandeva123 5]

Hi all,

I'm in the midst of preparing for my AOS application (from F1) and came across several confusions that I would like to clear out of my head before going deeper into the process. If any of you have experience in these situations before or have some advice for me please feel free to. My questions are:

1. Me and my wife we got married last April and currently live away from each other due to my internship (I'm doing Grad school). I go to school in CA and she is living in TX but we do see each other on a monthly basis. As I have another 1 year of school to go, I am wondering if that "living away from each other" would be an issue when I file for my AOS?

2. Should we send out the application from CA or TX? I will still be in CA for my internship and last year of grad school so I thought it maybe helpful (saving money on flight ticket) to send out application from CA so that I can take biometrics here.

3. My understanding is that as soon as my AOS is filed, my F1 status will be revoked so what would happen if my AOS got rejected? is it going to affect my international student status at all?

4. Has anyone used rapidvisa.com's service before? I'm curious if they are a legitimate business.

Any comments/advices is much appreciated.

[GurkenSalat 48]

I have a similar situation. Filed for AOS in May, already married for 7 months, but live in different cities. Same state, about 1.5 hours away. We submitted evidence of employment/grad student status, a letter explaining the situation, and also documents stating that my lease is expiring and I am not renewing (plan to move in with him into a bigger place once both our leases are up, at the same time). I read many conflicting views on this, but then decided to go with being honest and upfront about it. It is up to the IOs now. I go see him every weekend and I have tons of Amtrak tickets to prove it.

2. It doesn't matter where you send it from. If you put both your addresses on the application, they will schedule your biometrics appointment at your (the beneficiary's) local Application Support Center. I am not sure where they would schedule the interview, we're not at that stage yet either.

3. Well, as soon as you file, you are in a weird interim period. Or at least that's how I see it. "Kinda F-1, but not really". Anyway, I can still work on grad school stuff and my university is still paying me and I asked the international office and they said "no problem".

4. No. No idea. I just put everything together and sent it in myself (via courier).

[AnotherLostSoul 167]

Hi Adam,

So, here is what I know/experienced when we did our AOS through F1:

1. Albeit lot of cases that can be a red flag, but in cases like these, it should not be a problem. We did not live together either at the time (indeed, still not due to school issue) and were approved in 2 months just fine without any RFE, or hard time at the interview. They know, people who are at school cannot move that easily and sometimes the spouse who is working also just cannot quit work and leave.

2. They'll put your application to your address (if you're the beneficiary).

3. When you file AOS, you'll have to go into the international office and report them. They'll tell you that you either keep your F1 status, and that means until final approval of your AOS you are just like you were, an F1 international student, with having to be full time student, cannot work off campus, and pays internat. tuition fees. Or, you can abandon your F1 status (you will still not be able to pay resident status as in CA you need a year to be a resident (in your case, permanent resident) before being able to apply for resident tuition. Obviously, if you get your EAD then you can start working off campus, and you don't have to be a full time student if you abandoned your F1 status. The only drawback is that if you maintain F1 status while AOS, then in case your AOS gets denied, you can still stay in the US to finish your status, regardless of if it takes a year, or two years still. However, if you abandon your F1 status as you submit AOS, then if AOS fails, you cannot stay to finish your school but gotta pack up and go home before they issue deportation proceedings against you. So, when you tell in your internat. office that you are applying for AOS, make sure to tell them that you would like to maintain your F1 status until AOS results are not back. That way they won't terminate your SEVIS record and your safer in the long run.

4. absolutely have no idea what you are talking about

Good luck!

Hi all,

I'm in the midst of preparing for my AOS application (from F1) and came across several confusions that I would like to clear out of my head before going deeper into the process. If any of you have experience in these situations before or have some advice for me please feel free to. My questions are:

1. Me and my wife we got married last April and currently live away from each other due to my internship (I'm doing Grad school). I go to school in CA and she is living in TX but we do see each other on a monthly basis. As I have another 1 year of school to go, I am wondering if that "living away from each other" would be an issue when I file for my AOS?

2. Should we send out the application from CA or TX? I will still be in CA for my internship and last year of grad school so I thought it maybe helpful (saving money on flight ticket) to send out application from CA so that I can take biometrics here.

3. My understanding is that as soon as my AOS is filed, my F1 status will be revoked so what would happen if my AOS got rejected? is it going to affect my international student status at all?

4. Has anyone used rapidvisa.com's service before? I'm curious if they are a legitimate business.

Any comments/advices is much appreciated.

[adamandeva123 5]

Thanks alot guys/gals