green card with a k1. Lawer or no lawer.

[kyle100 0]

Hello, We are going to get married on 8-9-07. her visa expires on 8-13-07. How soon do we have to file the paper work and still be ok? Trying to come up with the extra money the gov wants and its hard. if we sent in the paper work next month would that work as lone as we were married before her visa expires. Also i am woundering if i should try it myself or have a lawer do it. What do most people do. Any help in this matter would be great.

Kyle

[Kez/JWolf 6]

As long as you got married before the 90 days expire you can file for AOS after the 90 days... unless you have some unusual reasons for needing a lawyer then you should be able to complete the AOS paperwork yourself... have a read of the guides (at the top of the page) and if you need help just ask... most people do it themselves...

Kez

[chuckandkim 0]

Only you can answer that question. But I guess you already did since you stated you can't file right away because of financial problem? Hiring a lawyer would def. dent your wallet, if not more. We filed our AOS on our own, not a problem!

BTW, just to be sure get that marriage done before 90 days window. You can file late but not too too late (6 months after I recall) Just think of it this way, anyway after her 90 expired, her status is in limbo.

So, get that marriage license certificate today/tomorrow then file for an AOS.

Read the Guides above.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

The important part is that you need to marry within the 90 days from entry; you don't necessarily have to file for AOS within those same 90 days, although if you are able to do so, it is in your best interests to do so. That being said, you can still apply after those 90 days - there is no specified requirement for when you HAVE to apply.

The consideration to keep in mind is that once the 90 days passes her I-94 expires and she is without status. Once she applies for the AOS, her status becomes "AOS applicant" and she is again legally present in the US. If it is a matter of a few weeks or even a few months while you are waiting to get the fee together you shouldn't have a problem. The difficulty occurs if she acquires 180 days out of status or more. Two potential problems arise then - the first is that if she wishes to visit outside of the US even for an emergency trip home while her AOS is being adjudicated (using an AP) she would not be allowed back into the country even with the AP and would have at least a 3 year ban; the 2nd is if for any reason the AOS isn't approved, or if you wait quite some time before applying for the AOS she could be deported and incur a significant ban. So, while it isn't a requirement, sooner is better.

If your case is fairly straight forward and you don't have too much of a problem understanding and filling out forms, there is no reason you can't do it for yourself. There are many here who have done so successfully, including me. Read over the application form carefully, read the guides at the top here, make a list of all of the attachments that you will need for each of the forms and then decide if you are comfortable doing it for yourself or not. Even if you hire a lawyer you are going to need to gather all of the information and forms yourself anyway which is really half or more of the work involved.

Edited August 8, 2007 by Kathryn41

[jenny and manny 0]

Hello, We are going to get married on 8-9-07. her visa expires on 8-13-07. How soon do we have to file the paper work and still be ok? Trying to come up with the extra money the gov wants and its hard. if we sent in the paper work next month would that work as lone as we were married before her visa expires. Also i am woundering if i should try it myself or have a lawer do it. What do most people do. Any help in this matter would be great.

Kyle

hello kyle100! As long as you get married before the K-1 expires, it's ok. There is no expiry date when you file for AOS. If your case is not complicated (e.g. you're both single with no previous marriage like us) no need to hire a lawyer (quite expensive!). We didn't hire a lawyer on our case....just follow the instructions and complete the documents needed...they have wonderful AOS guidelines here....Save the money for the AOS fee...

[payxibka 10,047]

hello kyle100! As long as you get married before the K-1 expires, it's ok. There is no expiry date when you file for AOS. If your case is not complicated (e.g. you're both single with no previous marriage like us) no need to hire a lawyer (quite expensive!). We didn't hire a lawyer on our case....just follow the instructions and complete the documents needed...they have wonderful AOS guidelines here....Save the money for the AOS fee...

You are correct to say that if either party was not single before they got married it would be a complication...

[YuAndDan 153]

Note: the VISA expired the moment you used it to enter the country, the K-1 is a single use visa. The I-94 is expiring soon.

As long as you get married before the I-94 expires you are fine, many have to wait some time after the I-94 expired to file AOS, for many reasons like short on cash to pay the fee, needing to get the vaccination supplement done, waiting for their marriage cert, etc.

AOS is not a complex filing so in most cases a lawyer is not needed, just follow the guides.

EAD, and AP are included in the AOS FEE, so you may want to file for the EAD along with AOS.

[kyle100 0]

Thank you for all your help. I was going to file within one month after we got married. I was not sure if you needed the paper work in the mail when her visa expires. I have all the paper work but have not had time to sit down to see how hard it is to fill it out myself. Been working alot and have not had much time to look into it. Like i said her visa expires on the 13th of this month and we are going to the court house on the 9th to get married. Thanks again for all you help, The lawer wants $1000 to do it. Kyle

[payxibka 10,047]

Thank you for all your help. I was going to file within one month after we got married. I was not sure if you needed the paper work in the mail when her visa I-94 expires.

It would be a bit more accurate if you said this....

[chuckandkim 0]

I'll fill out the applicaton for half price, $500. Deal?