Legality of Employment after Marriage but prior to EAD approval

[EDDIE2OOO 0]

I am a US citizen and my wife is a K-1 visa holder which is expiring June 11. We have just sent out our documents for AOS along with application for EAD on June 4th and according to USPS Tracking they have already received them. My question is, can my wife continue to work legally until she gets EAD, based on the fact that she is married to a US citizen? As i understand there is such a thing as Interim Rule for asylees under 8 CFR sec. 274a.12©, which was unclear to me. Her current employer is asking for reassurance of her legality to continue working between the time of the expiration of her K-1 visa and a receipt of EAD. Does anyone know what are the rules and regulations on this matter? I also wish to apologize if this issue has been addressed in any other posts not found by me.

Thanks,

Ed

[StormnRolly 0]

Your wife could work without work authorization.... but the employer is the one on the line and has to be able to prove that all their employees are work authorized. If the employer is one that follows the rules then your wife can not work until she has her Green Card or EAD once her current EAD expires.

Edited June 7, 2007 by StormnRolly

[Kez/JWolf 6]

Your wife's employment authorization ends 90 days after she entered the US..... she is not authorized again until she has been approved for the EAD that she filed for along with her AOS or has been approved for her greencard.... as said by previous poster unauthorized work is forgiven by USCIS if she is married to a USC.... but her employers are the ones who could get into big trouble....

Kez

[KarenCee 3]

I am a US citizen and my wife is a K-1 visa holder which is expiring June 11. We have just sent out our documents for AOS along with application for EAD on June 4th and according to USPS Tracking they have already received them. My question is, can my wife continue to work legally until she gets EAD, based on the fact that she is married to a US citizen? As i understand there is such a thing as Interim Rule for asylees under 8 CFR sec. 274a.12©, which was unclear to me. Her current employer is asking for reassurance of her legality to continue working between the time of the expiration of her K-1 visa and a receipt of EAD. Does anyone know what are the rules and regulations on this matter? I also wish to apologize if this issue has been addressed in any other posts not found by me.

Thanks,

Ed

Is she here as an asylee? I'm not familiar with the regulations surrounding those here in that category. Technically speaking just being married to you, the USC, does not automatically make her work authorised. Once the K1 is expired, so is work authorisation. The employer is the one that will be in trouble for hiring someone not legally able to work. EAD's are currently taking typically around 90 days to be approved. As for the employer wanting reassurance that she is legal to work, he or she is right in asking for this information. Typically K1's are work authorised...it's the proving it that is on the K1 recipient. Without the EAD, you can't prove you are work authorised. Hope that made some sense.

[EDDIE2OOO 0]

I appreciate everyone’s posts, I guess the only option for her left here is to quit her current position and wait for EAD to be received. If K-1 employment authorization is only given for 90 days, and it takes about 90 days to receive new EAD, this means that once an alien is off the plane, she ought to file for it right away, otherwise a window of illegality is created. Which pretty much defies the entire purpose of giving someone 90 days to decide whether this country is right for you or not.

Ed

[Cassie 8]

I appreciate everyone’s posts, I guess the only option for her left here is to quit her current position and wait for EAD to be received. If K-1 employment authorization is only given for 90 days, and it takes about 90 days to receive new EAD, this means that once an alien is off the plane, she ought to file for it right away, otherwise a window of illegality is created. Which pretty much defies the entire purpose of giving someone 90 days to decide whether this country is right for you or not.

Ed

Hopefully she already had that figured out before she even entered the country! The 90 days is to get married, not a trial run of life in the US.

[Dr_LHA 3]

I appreciate everyone's posts, I guess the only option for her left here is to quit her current position and wait for EAD to be received.

I personally wouldn't recommend doing this. Its the employer's job to sack you if your EAD runs out. If they don't notice that EAD has expired then it only hurts them in the extremely unlikely case that USCIS/ICE notices. I guess it depends on whether your wife's income is important to you.

If K-1 employment authorization is only given for 90 days, and it takes about 90 days to receive new EAD, this means that once an alien is off the plane, she ought to file for it right away, otherwise a window of illegality is created. Which pretty much defies the entire purpose of giving someone 90 days to decide whether this country is right for you or not.

Yes, the 90 day EAD is pretty pointless, in fact there was a plan to scrap it I believe.

[featherB 1]

I appreciate everyone's posts, I guess the only option for her left here is to quit her current position and wait for EAD to be received. If K-1 employment authorization is only given for 90 days, and it takes about 90 days to receive new EAD, this means that once an alien is off the plane, she ought to file for it right away, otherwise a window of illegality is created. Which pretty much defies the entire purpose of giving someone 90 days to decide whether this country is right for you or not.

Ed

That isn't the 'purpose'...

[EDDIE2OOO 0]

I appreciate everyone's posts, I guess the only option for her left here is to quit her current position and wait for EAD to be received.

I personally wouldn't recommend doing this. Its the employer's job to sack you if your EAD runs out. If they don't notice that EAD has expired then it only hurts them in the extremely unlikely case that USCIS/ICE notices. I guess it depends on whether your wife's income is important to you.

If K-1 employment authorization is only given for 90 days, and it takes about 90 days to receive new EAD, this means that once an alien is off the plane, she ought to file for it right away, otherwise a window of illegality is created. Which pretty much defies the entire purpose of giving someone 90 days to decide whether this country is right for you or not.

Yes, the 90 day EAD is pretty pointless, in fact there was a plan to scrap it I believe.

At the time of her initial interview, she was asked to provide EAD and she showed her I-94 card with a stamp authorizing her to work until June 10th. I suppose the employer made a note of that date and thus is now asking for renewed EAD. I suggested her (my wife) to tell him that it is perfectly legal for her to work after marriage to me, but before that I wanted to make certain that it is indeed perfectly legal. I guess I was wrong.

[Dr_LHA 3]

Its up to the employer to enforce the rules as regards to I-9 requirements. Note that those I-9 forms are not even submitted to the US government, they're just kept on file at the company in case they get audited by DHS.