2nd thoughts about K1 AOS

[adam2016 4]

Hi. I was googling how I can seek immigration advice without referring to a lawyer and I came across this website. I am in a bit of a complicated situation that I hope I can get assisted with.

 

My K1 recently got approved 2 months ago. The reason we chose to go the K1 route is when we get married we wanted to be among our friends and family in the US, since most, if not probably none of them, would be able to travel for 12 hours for our wedding.

 

I did not do much research on what to expect for the AOS process after I get married (which is my fault). One thing that stood out to me was how I won't be able to work for 5-6 months. 

 

I recently got promoted to project manager at an engineering company. Me going 6 months without employment would be career suicide. For the engineering field, if anyone here is aware, the longer you are out of work, the longer  it will take to get back in the field. And due to the time off, I might not even be able to work as a project manager which I've worked really hard to get. 

 

I have been working since the age of 17. I am now 33. I am not sure how sitting on the sideline while not making any income for myself for half a year will affect my mental health. I know I won't be happy. And it won't be fair for my fiance to take the financial burden and whatever stress I would have to cope with.

 

Can I go to the US, marry my fiance, and instead of adjusting status... come back to my home country and file CR-1?  

 

I'm aware that I would have to wait at least a year for the CR1. Had I done my research ahead of time we would have probably chose to go that route instead.

 

Please advise. Thank you. 

[Just Paul 4,595]

1 minute ago, adam2016 said:

Can I go to the US, marry my fiance, and instead of adjusting status... come back to my home country and file CR-1?

Yes you can do that but . . .

You can ask for an expedited EAD with a job offer.  Marry quickly, file the AOS package quickly, and you can probably cut that time down significantly.

 

[SalishSea 17,837]

What part of the US are you heading for?  Depending on the region (West Coast/East Coast) and your skill set, you may be able to receive a job offer in writing and expedite the EAD.  My husband's was approved at this time last year after 4.5 months, without an expedite.  

 

YMMV

[Boiler 45,532]

I certainly would not assume an Expedite would be granted.

[African Zealot 1,455]

25 minutes ago, adam2016 said:

I recently got promoted to project manager at an engineering company. Me going 6 months without employment would be career suicide. For the engineering field, if anyone here is aware, the longer you are out of work, the longer  it will take to get back in the field. And due to the time off, I might not even be able to work as a project manager which I've worked really hard to get. .

 

I happen to be a structural engineer myself. Which country are you coming from? I am asking because unless you’re coming from an affluent western country, your previous experience will be largely discounted so sitting home six months will have little to no negative impact on your career prospects in the USA anyway.

 

30 minutes ago, adam2016 said:

Can I go to the US, marry my fiance, and instead of adjusting status... come back to my home country and file CR-1?  

If you have a visa or qualify for visa waiver, yes you can. If you’re planning to use your K visa essentially as a visitor visa, I don’t know if that can be considered misrepresentation/fraudulent because the intent is different. I will defer that opinion to an experienced immigration attorney.

[adam2016 4]

2 hours ago, Paul & Mary said:

Yes you can do that but . . .

You can ask for an expedited EAD with a job offer.  Marry quickly, file the AOS package quickly, and you can probably cut that time down significantly.

 

I checked the EAD expedite requirements on the USCIS website and it says that it may be considered due to "severe financial loss to a company or a person". Neither my fiance nor I fall under that category. Can I still request an expedite with only an offer letter?

 

2 hours ago, Jorgedig said:

What part of the US are you heading for?  Depending on the region (West Coast/East Coast) and your skill set, you may be able to receive a job offer in writing and expedite the EAD.  My husband's was approved at this time last year after 4.5 months, without an expedite.  

 

YMMV

New Jersey

 

1 hour ago, Ray.Bonaquist said:

I happen to be a structural engineer myself. Which country are you coming from? I am asking because unless you’re coming from an affluent western country, your previous experience will be largely discounted so sitting home six months will have little to no negative impact on your career prospects in the USA anyway.

I am coming from Dubai. I work for ABB which is a multinational German engineering company. You might have heard of it. 

 

1 hour ago, Ray.Bonaquist said:

If you have a visa or qualify for visa waiver, yes you can. If you’re planning to use your K visa essentially as a visitor visa, I don’t know if that can be considered misrepresentation/fraudulent because the intent is different. I will defer that opinion to an experienced immigration attorney.

Well my intention would be to marry my fiance which is what I'll be doing. Isn't that the point of the K1? I wouldn't be going for tourism purposes or going to not get married. 

[African Zealot 1,455]

1 hour ago, adam2016 said:

I am coming from Dubai. I work for ABB which is a multinational German engineering company. You might have heard of it. 

 

 

You’re in good shape. Doesn’t get much better than ABB.

 

Quote

Well my intention would be to marry my fiance which is what I'll be doing. Isn't that the point of the K1? I wouldn't be going for tourism purposes or going to not get married. 

In this day and age of anti-immigrant sentiment and government policy in the USA, I would say tread cautiously although I agree your purpose matches the K1. Some overzealous CBP officer at your POE might claim otherwise.

[adam2016 4]

20 minutes ago, Ray.Bonaquist said:

 

You’re in good shape. Doesn’t get much better than ABB.

So now you can see the kind of dilemma that I'm in 

 

20 minutes ago, Ray.Bonaquist said:

In this day and age of anti-immigrant sentiment and government policy in the USA, I would say tread cautiously although I agree your purpose matches the K1. Some overzealous CBP officer at your POE might claim otherwise.

Ugh... I really don't know what to do now.  

This is so aggravating. They say they want hard working self sufficient immigrants who won't be a burden to the tax payer. Yet they make people shoot themselves in the foot and wait 6 months to be able to work? How does that make any sense?

[Unlockable 7,314]

2 hours ago, adam2016 said:

This is so aggravating. They say they want hard working self sufficient immigrants who won't be a burden to the tax payer. Yet they make people shoot themselves in the foot and wait 6 months to be able to work? How does that make any sense?

Only the K1ers and Adjusters from other non-immigrant visas have to go through that. You had the option of going the spousal visa route which would have allowed you to work the same day you step foot in the US. You admitted that this was a key point you overlooked.

 

Quote

How does that make any sense?

Because you have to understand how the process works. The K1 visa is a NON-immigrant visa which means when you arrive, you have absolutely no residency status. So you don't qualify for benefits like authorization to work. Also, because the K1 is a non-immigrant visa it is heavily contingent on things like you marrying a US citizen within a certain amount of time (90 days). If you do no fulfill those obligations, you become ineligible to adjust status based on it. That means you can come to the US and never marry your fiance (and trust me, we have seen many cases of this happening here on VJ). If immigration were to immediately give K1 visa holders the work authorization without proof that they fulfilled their obligations of the visa, it would lead to a high amount of fraud where people would find a "fiance" to petition for them, come to the US to work, but never marry their fiance.

When you are already married to a US citizen, you are processed for eligibility to be a permanent resident while you are waiting, so that is why the spousal visa is much more superior than the fiance visa.

 

You still have options. And it is good that you are doing your research. So many times we have seen people get blinded by the "K1 is faster" point that they overlook the huge shortcomings of that visa. Because of your profession, I would say either the spousal visa or attempting to expedite your work authorization would be the way to go.

[DaveAndAnastasia 2,092]

4 hours ago, Unlockable said:

If immigration were to immediately give K1 visa holders the work authorization without proof that they fulfilled their obligations of the visa, it would lead to a high amount of fraud where people would find a "fiance" to petition for them, come to the US to work, but never marry their fiance.

The only reason K-1 visa holders can't get an EAD on the K-1 (rather than from AOS) is because processing takes too long (it's completely legal to file for it), so I think you're incorrect about this. Also, I'm not aware of a significantly higher amount of fraud happening with fiance(e)s in the past when it was possible to get an EAD stamp at POE.

[SalishSea 17,837]

9 hours ago, adam2016 said:

This is so aggravating. They say they want hard working self sufficient immigrants who won't be a burden to the tax payer. Yet they make people shoot themselves in the foot and wait 6 months to be able to work? How does that make any sense?

Excellent point.  Totally agree.

 

I don't know anything about your field, but with your current employment at that German firm, would you be able to get a job offer from overseas?  The fact that an American company would not have to petition you for a work visa could be in your favor.

 

There is no guarantee of getting an expedited EAD without the "severe financial loss" component, but as @Boiler often says, it is free to apply, so why not?

Edited February 5, 2020 by Jorgedig

[Rayson 42]

18 hours ago, adam2016 said:

Hi. I was googling how I can seek immigration advice without referring to a lawyer and I came across this website. I am in a bit of a complicated situation that I hope I can get assisted with.

 

My K1 recently got approved 2 months ago. The reason we chose to go the K1 route is when we get married we wanted to be among our friends and family in the US, since most, if not probably none of them, would be able to travel for 12 hours for our wedding.

 

I did not do much research on what to expect for the AOS process after I get married (which is my fault). One thing that stood out to me was how I won't be able to work for 5-6 months. 

 

I recently got promoted to project manager at an engineering company. Me going 6 months without employment would be career suicide. For the engineering field, if anyone here is aware, the longer you are out of work, the longer  it will take to get back in the field. And due to the time off, I might not even be able to work as a project manager which I've worked really hard to get. 

 

I have been working since the age of 17. I am now 33. I am not sure how sitting on the sideline while not making any income for myself for half a year will affect my mental health. I know I won't be happy. And it won't be fair for my fiance to take the financial burden and whatever stress I would have to cope with.

 

Can I go to the US, marry my fiance, and instead of adjusting status... come back to my home country and file CR-1?  

 

I'm aware that I would have to wait at least a year for the CR1. Had I done my research ahead of time we would have probably chose to go that route instead.

 

Please advise. Thank you. 

 

You can get your EAD in less than 4 months.

 

I got mine in exactly 3 months and 10 days........and i got a job same month i got my EAD in the mail.

 

I don't believe not working for 4 months is a career suicide.

 

 

[Suze1 366]

From Dubai, global engineering senior project manager, also.

I feel your pain. Had the same set of issues as you do now.

Decided to do the CR-1 for exactly the reasons you noted. (My spouse did a TON of research for years.)

 

Luckily, my firm had 100 offices in the US, and they let me choose to transfer to any US office of our choice. (Picked Tampa.)

 

If you cannot relocate your existing job, then you are going to have to give up your current job at some point no matter what.

If you need the money, get married in the US, go back home, keep making the money, and file CR-1 when you get back.

Certainly given the fact you might have to totally give up the job anyway, and it could take time to get authorized in a new job in the US anyway, if you do need the money.

If you don't need the momey, then don't worry about the money. Just do the K1 and stay in America.

You will find plenty of things to keep you busy, mentally, and otherwise. AND you will be with your honey, so WIN WIN.

A few months of unemployment, if it came to that, would not derail your career.

You can explain to any immigration officer what and why you did what you did, and to any future employer too. It is not hard to understand.

 

(What IS harder to understand is, if you are a project manager, how did you NOT see THIS coming (K1 vs CR-1). smile  But that is another issue...smile.)

 

You are where you are. You are going to make some sacrifices to make the move. Choose the least painful path and move forward boldly.

Cheers!

Edited February 6, 2020 by Suze1

[TBoneTX 45,312]

Thread is moved from the K-1 Process forum to the "AOS from K Visas" Case Progress subforum -- OP already has K-1 approval and is inquiring chiefly about EAD-related matters.

[Suze1 366]

"Just do the K1 and stay in America." 

By that I meant, just use the K1 you already have....obviously.