J1 au pair - When should I tell the agency about my marriage

[YenV 0]

Hi,

I'm currently an au pair in the us, and I'm almost finish my first year, february 2018 to be exact. My boyfriend and I planned to marry 1 week before my visa ends. When should I inform the agency about that?

[Coco8 1,042]

Why wait so long to marry? You should file for AOS before your J1 ends and marrying one week before won't allow you to do that. 

I am recommending to file for AOS before your J1 ends so that you receive NOA 1 before the end of your 30-day grace period. You want to be 100% sure you are not accumulating overstay because, even though it is forgiven for spouses of US citizen, it is only forgiven if you get your green card. If you have an emergency and you have to leave before getting the GC, or if you get in a fight and decide to leave, then your overstay will hinder your possibility of getting visas or traveling to the US. 

 

What you are planning is risky. Also, take into consideration that your EAD card to work will take 4 to 5 months to arrive. So if you do everything at the last moment, you will be without work for 6 months. You might not be able to afford that. Particularly since applying for AOS is expensive.

 

Also, if you marry and file for AOS, get your NOA 1, you can tell your agency once you finish your duties and you are not going to use J1 anymore. I would not tell them before you finish your contract and you have secured your NOA1. Let's say you not get married, you might want to expend your J1 one year and you won't be able to do that if you tell them you are getting married (they might not like that). 

 

 

[YenV 0]

22 minutes ago, Coco8 said:

Why wait so long to marry? You should file for AOS before your J1 ends and marrying one week before won't allow you to do that. 

I am recommending to file for AOS before your J1 ends so that you receive NOA 1 before the end of your 30-day grace period. You want to be 100% sure you are not accumulating overstay because, even though it is forgiven for spouses of US citizen, it is only forgiven if you get your green card. If you have an emergency and you have to leave before getting the GC, or if you get in a fight and decide to leave, then your overstay will hinder your possibility of getting visas or traveling to the US. 

 

What you are planning is risky. Also, take into consideration that your EAD card to work will take 4 to 5 months to arrive. So if you do everything at the last moment, you will be without work for 6 months. You might not be able to afford that. Particularly since applying for AOS is expensive.

 

Also, if you marry and file for AOS, get your NOA 1, you can tell your agency once you finish your duties and you are not going to use J1 anymore. I would not tell them before you finish your contract and you have secured your NOA1. Let's say you not get married, you might want to expend your J1 one year and you won't be able to do that if you tell them you are getting married (they might not like that). 

 

 

Hi, thank you so much for your response. The reason I'm waiting so long to get married is because my host family and I really like each other, I want to stay and help them for as long as I can before getting married. Plus, my family will only be able to come here to visit us in february, so that's another reason why I'm holding on the wedding.

I'm starting to fill out the forms and completing the application now, and after the wedding I will send it in right away, that is my plan for now. I would love your suggestion on that.

I will not tell the agency about the wedding, and will tell them as I have sent in the applications, although they sent me some emails about extension, I don't know if ignoring them should be good or not.

[Coco8 1,042]

11 minutes ago, YenV said:

Hi, thank you so much for your response. The reason I'm waiting so long to get married is because my host family and I really like each other, I want to stay and help them for as long as I can before getting married. Plus, my family will only be able to come here to visit us in february, so that's another reason why I'm holding on the wedding.

I'm starting to fill out the forms and completing the application now, and after the wedding I will send it in right away, that is my plan for now. I would love your suggestion on that.

I will not tell the agency about the wedding, and will tell them as I have sent in the applications, although they sent me some emails about extension, I don't know if ignoring them should be good or not.

If you get married you can still continue working with the J1. But if you have everything ready to go, you should be able to send the AOS package as soon as you have your marriage license. You should send it with an express mail (like Fedex or UPS) and make sure you don't make any mistakes. A common mistake is filling in the cheque for payment wrong. If you do that, then you'll be OK. But take into account that you won't be able to work for almost half a year. Make sure you and your future husband are OK with that. That will be a lot of idle time and he needs to have enough money to support both of you (or you need to have savings). 

 

I would tell the agency you don't  plan to extend the J1. That is enough information. 

 

 

Edited December 4, 2017 by Coco8

[Unidentified 2,930]

On 12/4/2017 at 2:45 PM, Coco8 said:

If you get married you can still continue working with the J1. But if you have everything ready to go, you should be able to send the AOS package as soon as you have your marriage license. You should send it with an express mail (like Fedex or UPS) and make sure you don't make any mistakes. A common mistake is filling in the cheque for payment wrong. If you do that, then you'll be OK. But take into account that you won't be able to work for almost half a year. Make sure you and your future husband are OK with that. That will be a lot of idle time and he needs to have enough money to support both of you (or you need to have savings). 

 

I would tell the agency you don't  plan to extend the J1. That is enough information. 

 

 

No, Au Pairs are not allowed to get married. They specifically sign a contract saying they're not going to. And if they do, they are immediately out of the program. 

[Coco8 1,042]

1 minute ago, Unidentified said:

No, Au Pairs are not allowed to get married. They specifically sign a contract saying they're not going to. And if they do, they are immediately out of the program. 

 

That has nothing to do with the J1.

 

It is probably something internal with the agency. If it is a agreement, then OP should read the agreement and see if it has penalties. But those agreements have nothing to do with visas and that is what the forum is about.

 

 

 

[Unidentified 2,930]

On 12/4/2017 at 2:34 PM, YenV said:

Hi, thank you so much for your response. The reason I'm waiting so long to get married is because my host family and I really like each other, I want to stay and help them for as long as I can before getting married. Plus, my family will only be able to come here to visit us in february, so that's another reason why I'm holding on the wedding.

I'm starting to fill out the forms and completing the application now, and after the wedding I will send it in right away, that is my plan for now. I would love your suggestion on that.

I will not tell the agency about the wedding, and will tell them as I have sent in the applications, although they sent me some emails about extension, I don't know if ignoring them should be good or not.

Does your host family know you're getting married? You need to inform the agency as soon as you've gotten married. I am assuming you signed a contract saying you should not gett married during your program time? 

 

Just let the agency know you're not planning on extending. You'll be fine waiting even to the end of your program.  You get married and you'll send in the papers and any overstay you've gotten will be "forgiven" but only if you send in your AOS papers. 

 

You say you're getting married at the end of your visa but you also are saying you want to stay and help them for as long as you can? Do you mean you're getting married at the end of your time with your family, before your 90 day travel time in the US or do you really mean the end of your stay?

[Unidentified 2,930]

3 minutes ago, Coco8 said:

 

That has nothing to do with the J1.

 

It is probably something internal with the agency. If it is a agreement, then OP should read the agreement and see if it has penalties. But those agreements have nothing to do with visas and that is what the forum is about.

 

 

 

If an Au Pair is terminate from the program the agency reports it to SEVIS and the au pair is out of status. 

[YenV 0]

On 17/12/2017 at 4:40 PM, Unidentified said:

Does your host family know you're getting married? You need to inform the agency as soon as you've gotten married. I am assuming you signed a contract saying you should not gett married during your program time? 

 

Just let the agency know you're not planning on extending. You'll be fine waiting even to the end of your program.  You get married and you'll send in the papers and any overstay you've gotten will be "forgiven" but only if you send in your AOS papers. 

 

You say you're getting married at the end of your visa but you also are saying you want to stay and help them for as long as you can? Do you mean you're getting married at the end of your time with your family, before your 90 day travel time in the US or do you really mean the end of your stay?

Hi, my host family know about my marriage, and they said they felt glad for me and looked forward to it too.

Yes the contract I signed states that I'm not allowed to do any "civil activity", but I figured that doesn't affect my status if I behave and doesn't get kicked out.

Well I didn't clarify that in my post, sorry, I meant I will stay with the family and get married before my time with them ends, which is February, and that's before the grace period for travelling.

 

But now I have another question, my visa says it's for 1 year from feb 2017 to feb 2018, but what about the travelling time after that? Would I get a new visa from the consulate, or some papers to extent my stay?