Working while AOS as F-1 OPT?

[mhswlee 0]

Hi, my fiancee and I will be getting married soon. I am a US citizen and she is currently working under her F-1 OPT EAD. We had some questions concerning employment during the AOS application process.

 

1) Does filing I-485 (with I-765) invalidate her current F-1 OPT authorization?

2) If her F-1 expires while we are waiting for the new EAD, can she continue working?
3) Can we file the I-485 (with I-765) during the grace period after her F-1 expires?

4) If her F-1 expires while we are waiting for the I-485, she can stay in country, right? Is there a limit on how long?

 

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

[Coco8 1,042]

2 minutes ago, mhswlee said:

1) Does filing I-485 (with I-765) invalidate her current F-1 OPT authorization?

 

No, it doesn't invalidate her OPT authorization

 

2 minutes ago, mhswlee said:

2) If her F-1 expires while we are waiting for the new EAD, can she continue working?

Yes, she can continue working.

 

2 minutes ago, mhswlee said:

3) Can we file the I-485 (with I-765) during the grace period after her F-1 expires?

You should file that as soon as possible. Do not wait that long because grace period is only 60 days and the new EAD will take 3-4 months! She won't be able to work after her current EAD (through OPT) expires.

 

4 minutes ago, mhswlee said:

4) If her F-1 expires while we are waiting for the I-485, she can stay in country, right? Is there a limit on how long?

She cannot leave the country while AOS. You should look into this more (there is something called "advanced parole").

F-1 expiration is not important. In general, when you are a student what matters is the expiration on the i-20. As long as you are full-time student and I-20 is not expired, you can stay in the US and if you leave you can renew your F-1.

She is not a student anymore but on OPT which is an extension of F-1, so now what matters now is the expiration of the OPT + grace period (but you only have grace period if you have not been unemployed more that 90 days of all your available OPT time). F-1 expiration is irrelevant for her.

 

I seriously recommend she calls the international office of her university to talk everything over with then. They might not know about AOS, but they will be able to answer most of this questions. She doesn't want to get into any type of trouble. You should start putting together your AOS package now because there is a ton of paper work involve. 

 

 

 

[Coco8 1,042]

I think you should try to submit everything before the grace period, so before the expiration of her OPT/EAD card. It will take a while to receive the receipt that they got everything. You don't want to submit everything and maybe it gets lost in the mail or something and her grace period ends. 

 

Edited June 14, 2017 by Coco8

[Coco8 1,042]

14 minutes ago, Coco8 said:

2) If her F-1 expires while we are waiting for the new EAD, can she continue working?

 

Yes, she can continue working.

 

 

Sorry, I want to address this again. I answered this thinking you meant F-1 visa expired, which has nothing to do eith EAD so I said yes. But I think you meant something else. If her EAD/OPT expires, she has to stop working! It does not matter if she is doing AOS or whatever.  She will be able to work once she gets the new EAD which, as I said, takes 3-4 months if you fill in all the paperwork correctly and aren't asked for more stuff. 

 

Maybe you got confused with H1-B visa. When an employer files an H1-B visa there is something called cap-gap which means that under some circumstances, the OPT gets automatically extended until you find out whether you got an H1-B or not (that is because there is a cap for H1-B and they are given twice a year). 

 

 

[mhswlee 0]

Is there any way to get a temporary extension so she can work until the new EAD arrives?

Edited June 15, 2017 by mhswlee

[Coco8 1,042]

1 hour ago, mhswlee said:

Is there any way to get a temporary extension so she can work until the new EAD arrives?

 

No, there is no extension. 

 

You should work on this fast to minimize the time in between. She can talk to her employer and they might wait for her.