Once entering USA, how long until she can legaly work?

[zethris 0]

My fiance might be coming as soon as July from Manila if all goes well with the visa process. Now, in order to conform to religious obligations, she will need to be working away from the house while I am at work so that she isn't ever alone with our roommate (of the opposit sex). Most likely we will work the same shift. But, how long will it take before she can legaly work? Is there a 90 day allowance while we wait for change of status? The sooner she can work, the sooner we can get place of our own too.

Edited April 13, 2006 by zethris

[kerewin21 2]

You'll find a lot more information in the guides, but basically:

Once your fiancee gets here, she can work for the 90 days of the K-1 visa. However, you will need to wait at least a few weeks before she'll be able to get her social security card, and trying to find a job without a social security number won't be very easy.

Once those 90 days are up, she is no longer able to work until her EAD is approved, which you will file along with your AOS application as soon as you can after you get married. If you're lucky, the EAD will be approved within 90 days of the NOA1 for the application. If you don't receive the card by that time, you can apply for a temporary EAD in person at your local office.

So basically if you get married immediately when your fiancee gets here, if you are very lucky she'll be able to start working about 3 weeks after she gets here (when you get her social security card). Then, assuming you file AOS immediately after getting married, if you're lucky you'll have the EAD in 3 months, which leaves a gap of at best 3-4 weeks between when her K-1 status expires and when she gets her EAD.

In other words, there will be significant amounts of time when she will not be able to work, even if all goes perfectly, so you might want to look into some other options for having her be away from the house while you're working.

[Babsi 0]

Mh...I wasnt able to work for 90 days once I got here...it depends on you POE, some POEs like JFK issue the EAD stamp, others dont...

[Rozytc 0]

Mh...I wasnt able to work for 90 days once I got here...it depends on you POE, some POEs like JFK issue the EAD stamp, others dont...

Hi all

Read this memo http://www.kamya.com/ssn/em00154.pdf that clearly states that K-1 is authorized to work based on the I-94.

Not too sure if it is still valid.

Maybe we can get some confirmation from those that had went through this !

cheers

[Anastasia 1]

You'll find a lot more information in the guides, but basically:

Once your fiancee gets here, she can work for the 90 days of the K-1 visa. However, you will need to wait at least a few weeks before she'll be able to get her social security card, and trying to find a job without a social security number won't be very easy.

You only can work for these 90 days if you get a work authorization stamp in the passport at the POE. The only POE that does that is JFK... so most likely your fiance won't be able to work for a few months after her arrival. After you get married you can apply for AOS (adjustment of status) and EAD (employment authorization), usually EAD gets approved in 60-90 days, but some people reported longer periods of time than that. After your wife will have her EAD card she can work legally. Good luck

[UmmSqueakster 54]

It took my husband nearly 6 months to get his EAD from the time he got here.

Since it's highly unlikely that your fiancee will be able to work for any significant period of time for a few months, you might want to look into volunteer positions. My husband volunteered for the county while waiting for his EAD to keep himself sane. He tried staying at home and studying but after a month of that, he was bouncing off the walls.

[Jasman0717 9]

Claudeth arrived from the Philippines last July. We were married in August, filed the AOS/EAD in late September and she received her EAD card December 4th

[Kajikit 65]

Apply for AOS as soon as you can after you get married, and hopefully your wife will get her EAD in 90-100 days after filing. Maybe find her a volunteer job to do to get her out of the house?