Job application during pending K1

[kanderson101 131]

Hi all,

Looking for some advice here. My fiance and I are currently waiting on our NOA2 for K1. He has really good connections with some American companies through his current position in Belgium, and one of them has a job opening that would be perfect for him, here in the US. Is it okay for him to formally apply for a job here while we have a pending K1? I know that he will definitely have to be clear that he won't be able to work until he has the employment authorization. Could this create potential issues for our visa?

 

My second, related question is this: the job is CA, I currently live in WA. If, by some chance, he accepted a position in CA, is it acceptable for him to temporarily live in CA until I can find a new job and move there from WA? 

 

Thanks in advance!

Kailyn

[Roel 7,193]

Living separately won't look good when you prepare for AOS.

He can look for jobs, sure. But yeah can't start working until he has his SSN and EAD.

[kanderson101 131]

6 minutes ago, Roel said:

Living separately won't look good when you prepare for AOS.

He can look for jobs, sure. But yeah can't start working until he has his SSN and EAD.

Good point about AOS. That's tricky. I can't really quit my job (would screw up the affidavit of support, that's for sure), but he could live with my parents in CA. I wonder if that might make it a bit more legitimate to USCIS. 

[databit 328]

"I know that he will definitely have to be clear that he won't be able to work until he has the employment authorization."

 

Does the job realize this could take more than 6 months or more, depending on when you marry? So you will have lots of time for you to get a job in California and move there with him.

 

If you married now, he could work right away after entering the US. 

 

[kanderson101 131]

1 minute ago, databit said:

"I know that he will definitely have to be clear that he won't be able to work until he has the employment authorization."

 

Does the job realize this could take more than 6 months or more, depending on when you marry? So you will have lots of time for you to get a job in California and move there with him.

 

If you married now, he could work right away after entering the US. 

 

Also true! No, he hasn't reached out to them yet because I wanted to be cautious about anything that might screw up the K1. It's most likely a long shot, but I wanted to have all of the information before jumping into anything. 

 

As for marrying now.... I think that would take longer in the end since we'd have to file for a new visa, correct? CR-1? I mean at this point I wish we would have done that to begin with, but when we started this process it looked like K1 would be "faster".....hahahaha.........

[JFH 12,191]

It's a common problem. People file the K-1 because it's "faster" without realizing that the only part that is faster is getting your feet on US soil. When he comes here with his K-1 his status will be the sane as a visitor - no work. He could achieve the same with a VWP visit (except on the VWP he'd have to leave after a maximum of 90 days). That's why I'm always surprised by the number of people from VWP countries who still follow the K-1 path. I am aware that years ago the difference in processing time between K-1 and CR-1 was huge but now we are talking a few months at the most. And for that he loses the ability to work fir at least 3 months (assuming you marry the day he arrives and file AOS/EAD immediately after the wedding. It's slower to a green card and slower to citizenship and costs more. 

 

He can certainly apply for jobs before he has his EAD. But the company may think they are wasting their time on a candidate who cannot realistically start work there for another year or so. If he's very good at what he does, maybe they are prepared to wait. But that would be the exception, not the norm. 

[TNJ17 1,329]

I don’t know of any jobs that would hold a position for a new person for 6+ months. They might not be aware that it would take that long to get EAD. Just wait until you are a couple of months into AOS to start applying and interviewing. 

[Boiler 46,232]

16 minutes ago, TNJ17 said:

I don’t know of any jobs that would hold a position for a new person for 6+ months. They might not be aware that it would take that long to get EAD. Just wait until you are a couple of months into AOS to start applying and interviewing. 

Well he could be super specialist but certainly not normal.

[Sunnyland 639]

1 hour ago, databit said:

"I know that he will definitely have to be clear that he won't be able to work until he has the employment authorization."

 

Does the job realize this could take more than 6 months or more, depending on when you marry? So you will have lots of time for you to get a job in California and move there with him.

 

If you married now, he could work right away after entering the US. 

 

 

They are in the middle of their K1 visa process right now so they can not marry now, not until he travels to the US with his K1 in passport. OP, If I could do this again, I would go with CR1. It takes longer but you can work after entering the US.

Edited April 28, 2018 by Sunnyland

[geowrian 22,338]

Yes he can apply (just as anybody can even w/o a K-1 pending). He just can't work for a while. If they're willing to wait, then good for him....go for it. That said, many companies may not be willing to wait as long as it's going to take to be in the US and able to work.

[kanderson101 131]

Thanks everyone!! I agree that looking back, CR-1 was probably the way to go...hindsight is 20/20

Most companies will likely not wait, but I like that he can still network without messing up the visa process. It gives him something to do as well, while he's waiting for EAD. 

[implife 318]

14 hours ago, kanderson101 said:

Thanks everyone!! I agree that looking back, CR-1 was probably the way to go...hindsight is 20/20

Most companies will likely not wait, but I like that he can still network without messing up the visa process. It gives him something to do as well, while he's waiting for EAD. 

It's important to have your priorities right.If he's moving to US because you want to live together, that's what you work on. He'll get his visa, you get married and you LIVE TOGETHER. If he's moving to US to work, that's a different kind of visa. Don't make it more complicated than it needs to be.

[Irisandjoel 52]

21 hours ago, databit said:

"I know that he will definitely have to be clear that he won't be able to work until he has the employment authorization."

 

Does the job realize this could take more than 6 months or more, depending on when you marry? So you will have lots of time for you to get a job in California and move there with him.

 

If you married now, he could work right away after entering the US. 

 

Yeah the EAD process is messed up. I applied beginning of November and am on my 178th day of waiting. Others who filed at the same time as me started to get approved in beginning of January.. and some still are waiting like me for no good reason. So there's no way to tell when the EAD might be approved and he can start to work, if he's gonna work for a big corporation, I don't know how that is gonna go for him and they might move on someone else.

The processing times for the EAD are getting longer right now, just like the K1 visa approval. My whole visa process was 155 days and I am waiting way longer than that for my expedite. Now people are waiting for 200-250 days for the K1 approval NOA2, so when they get here to the US, chances are the EAD process may take them longer than that... but those are just my speculations. 

[kanderson101 131]

7 hours ago, Irisandjoel said:

Yeah the EAD process is messed up. I applied beginning of November and am on my 178th day of waiting. Others who filed at the same time as me started to get approved in beginning of January.. and some still are waiting like me for no good reason. So there's no way to tell when the EAD might be approved and he can start to work, if he's gonna work for a big corporation, I don't know how that is gonna go for him and they might move on someone else.

The processing times for the EAD are getting longer right now, just like the K1 visa approval. My whole visa process was 155 days and I am waiting way longer than that for my expedite. Now people are waiting for 200-250 days for the K1 approval NOA2, so when they get here to the US, chances are the EAD process may take them longer than that... but those are just my speculations. 

Wow that's terrible...I'm sorry you've been waiting so long. I hope things start to pick up because that's just crazy.