Getting married immediately for AOS

[Drew and Tik 0]

We were planning on having our American wedding ceremony on August 17th if everything goes according to plan. We wanted to be together before this though, so if the K-1 visa approval permits, which it should since we've allowed some extra time, we wanted Tik to move in with me in late May or early June. Since she has 90 days to marry me, this wouldn't be a problem for the August 17th wedding date...

However, I noticed that the EAD she will (hopefully) receive at JFK expires 90 days after she enters the country. The AOS seems to take some time for approval, looks like an average of about 80 days or so. So my question is, should we have a civil ceremony immediately after she gets here so there won't be a large gap in her EAD expiring and her green card being approved? Otherwise if she comes in June and doesn't file for AOS until August her EAD will expire before her green card comes, which could be a problem if she is employed at that point (which is something we're sort of hoping for).

I don't see any real problem with having a civil ceremony for the legal aspects and then the ceremony with my family and our friends for the personal aspects, other than our technical marriage anniversary won't be the same day as our wedding day.

What do you guys suggest? Just open to input at this juncture.

[ladywhite 0]

I don't see any real problem with having a civil ceremony for the legal aspects and then the ceremony with my family and our friends for the personal aspects, other than our technical marriage anniversary won't be the same day as our wedding day.

What do you guys suggest? Just open to input at this juncture.

Hi Drew:

I don't see any problem, either. I in fact did the same thing you plan on doing. We had a civil ceremony as soon as we could, which was a week after my arrival. My husband wanted me to be on his company's health plan as soon as possible and I wanted to get our marriage certificate as soon as I could to file AOS. Our family wedding will be in Spring.

We take our wedding ceremony day as our wedding anniversary because there are several special occasions to cerebrate already during the last 3 months of the year (e.g., his BD, his son's BD, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and christmas).

The plan worked for us and I think it should work for you, too. As far as AOS and EAD are concerned, the sooner you file, the better.

Good luck.

[HannahP 119]

Hahaha. AOS only taking eighty days? Hahahaha!

/not bitter

[Muuuuah 0]

Some people have waited for AOS for much longer than 80 days, even having to wait for for FBI namechecks which can take from months to years, bearing that in mind you may want to have the civil ceremony first

[rebeccajo 14]

Since when is even 80 days for AOS approval 'some time'?

You know what I REALLY don't understand? How can anybody be a member of this community and assume they will get a greencard in under 90 days? I mean - you wait MONTHS for the visa, right? Then, you read about people who file for AOS and get caught in namecheck..........

I'm not picking on you Drew. Actually, since you seem like a nice guy (and reasonable too), I'm purposely raising this discussion in your thread because I'm hoping for a nice and reasonable chat about it.

How can VJ members just blindly assume they will get a rapid greencard?

[~*Maria*~ 1]

Since when is even 80 days for AOS approval 'some time'?

You know what I REALLY don't understand? How can anybody be a member of this community and assume they will get a greencard in under 90 days? I mean - you wait MONTHS for the visa, right? Then, you read about people who file for AOS and get caught in namecheck..........

I'm not picking on you Drew. Actually, since you seem like a nice guy (and reasonable too), I'm purposely raising this discussion in your thread because I'm hoping for a nice and reasonable chat about it.

How can VJ members just blindly assume they will get a rapid greencard?

I've been waiting almost 5 months now for my AOS. Getting a Greencard in under 90 days is new to me, there are alot of members stuck in namecheck who have been waiting years for approval.....

I'm not expecting my Greencard anytime soon, i know it will get approved eventually, whenever my local office sends out an interview date, that could be next month, 6 months from now or next year.

Edited October 31, 2007 by Maria~n~Dane

[Cassie 8]

Since when is even 80 days for AOS approval 'some time'?

You know what I REALLY don't understand? How can anybody be a member of this community and assume they will get a greencard in under 90 days? I mean - you wait MONTHS for the visa, right? Then, you read about people who file for AOS and get caught in namecheck..........

I'm not picking on you Drew. Actually, since you seem like a nice guy (and reasonable too), I'm purposely raising this discussion in your thread because I'm hoping for a nice and reasonable chat about it.

How can VJ members just blindly assume they will get a rapid greencard?

I was thinking the same thing! I got my GC in 5 months or so and thought that was quick!

To the OP -- what you are going to have to worry about is the time gap between the temp EAD and the regular EAD, getting the SSN, and whether or not employers will accept the temp EAD.

[featherB 1]

We were planning on having our American wedding ceremony on August 17th if everything goes according to plan. We wanted to be together before this though, so if the K-1 visa approval permits, which it should since we've allowed some extra time, we wanted Tik to move in with me in late May or early June. Since she has 90 days to marry me, this wouldn't be a problem for the August 17th wedding date...

However, I noticed that the EAD she will (hopefully) receive at JFK expires 90 days after she enters the country. The AOS seems to take some time for approval, looks like an average of about 80 days or so. So my question is, should we have a civil ceremony immediately after she gets here so there won't be a large gap in her EAD expiring and her green card being approved? Otherwise if she comes in June and doesn't file for AOS until August her EAD will expire before her green card comes, which could be a problem if she is employed at that point (which is something we're sort of hoping for).

I don't see any real problem with having a civil ceremony for the legal aspects and then the ceremony with my family and our friends for the personal aspects, other than our technical marriage anniversary won't be the same day as our wedding day.

What do you guys suggest? Just open to input at this juncture.

'80 days or so' is not an average, not at all... it's more of an absolute bare minimum, as experienced by a handful of very lucky people (I was one of those lucky ones) - a (much) longer wait is more common by far, and it would be a very bad idea indeed to assume/hope that you will be one of the super-lucky ones whose AOS is approved astonishingly fast, because there is absolutely NO WAY of predicting what will happen. There really is no 'average' processing time that you can bet on like there is with the other stages in the immigration process you're going through right now - at least when waiting for NOA2s, Packet 3/4, etc etc, you can look at timelines and get a hazard a guess at what kind of wait you're in for. With AOS, you really can't do that.

If it's important for your fiancee to be working ASAP after she gets here, and to continue to be able to work after her I-94 expires (assuming that she enters via JFK and gets the temp EA stamp) then yep, your best bet is to get married sooner rather than later, and get the AOS/EAD/AP stuff in the mail as soon after that as possible. That way, with any luck, there will only be a very small gap (or if you're INCREDIBLY lucky, none at all) between the expiry of the temp EA stamp and the approval of her EAD), and working won't be a problem.

But definitely don't be thinking along the lines of 'around 80 days' (or anything like that, at all) for AOS... the only thing you can really do is check how backed up your local office is and how long the average wait for an AOS interview is there... but that still doesn't help when it comes to how long she might be in FBI namechecks etc.

Good luck!

[Fandango 1,439]

Maybe he confused 'EAD' with 'AOS'

Barring some sort of problems, those are issued relatively quickly, no?

By 'relatively quickly' I mean < 120 days, heh.

[rebeccajo 14]

Maybe he confused 'EAD' with 'AOS'

Barring some sort of problems, those are issued relatively quickly, no?

By 'relatively quickly' I mean < 120 days, heh.

I don't believe Drew confused EAD and AOS, since he used the phrase 'before her greencard comes'.

EAD is supposed to be to you in 90 days. Infopass is permitted after that point.

Edited October 31, 2007 by rebeccajo

[Fandango 1,439]

EAD is supposed to be to you in 90 days. Infopass is permitted after that point.

ty...was just wondering if things changed now with the new filing fees and whatnot.

[Drew and Tik 0]

Maybe he confused 'EAD' with 'AOS'

Barring some sort of problems, those are issued relatively quickly, no?

By 'relatively quickly' I mean < 120 days, heh.

I don't believe Drew confused EAD and AOS, since he used the phrase 'before her greencard comes'.

EAD is supposed to be to you in 90 days. Infopass is permitted after that point.

No, I did actually, sorry. Now I see that the 88 days was the average wait for the EAD, while AOS the average wait time is more like 5 - 6 months. Sorry for the confusion.

So what I meant to say was, if we get married almost immediately after she gets here, there should be very little gap between her getting her temporary EAD at JFK and her EAD that lasts longer (not sure how long, if anyone knows it would be helpful). Do you think this is true?

[featherB 1]

Maybe he confused 'EAD' with 'AOS'

Barring some sort of problems, those are issued relatively quickly, no?

By 'relatively quickly' I mean < 120 days, heh.

I don't believe Drew confused EAD and AOS, since he used the phrase 'before her greencard comes'.

EAD is supposed to be to you in 90 days. Infopass is permitted after that point.

No, I did actually, sorry. Now I see that the 88 days was the average wait for the EAD, while AOS the average wait time is more like 5 - 6 months. Sorry for the confusion.

So what I meant to say was, if we get married almost immediately after she gets here, there should be very little gap between her getting her temporary EAD at JFK and her EAD that lasts longer (not sure how long, if anyone knows it would be helpful). Do you think this is true?

There won't be very little gap between her getting them, but if you get married soon after she gets here, and file for AOS/EAD/AP as soon as possible after that, that will minimise the gap between one expiring and the other being approved. When you apply for an EAD at the same time as (or after) applying for AOS, it takes around 90 days from receipt to approval - sometimes a bit less, sometimes a bit more. So yes, you would be able to count on your wife (to-be) having work authorisation around in about 90 days or so from filing - so the sooner after her arrival in the US that that happens, the less of a gap she'll have between the expiry of the temp EA stamp from JFK and the arrival of her one-year EAD card.

[Drew and Tik 0]

Maybe he confused 'EAD' with 'AOS'

Barring some sort of problems, those are issued relatively quickly, no?

By 'relatively quickly' I mean < 120 days, heh.

I don't believe Drew confused EAD and AOS, since he used the phrase 'before her greencard comes'.

EAD is supposed to be to you in 90 days. Infopass is permitted after that point.

No, I did actually, sorry. Now I see that the 88 days was the average wait for the EAD, while AOS the average wait time is more like 5 - 6 months. Sorry for the confusion.

So what I meant to say was, if we get married almost immediately after she gets here, there should be very little gap between her getting her temporary EAD at JFK and her EAD that lasts longer (not sure how long, if anyone knows it would be helpful). Do you think this is true?

There won't be very little gap between her getting them, but if you get married soon after she gets here, and file for AOS/EAD/AP as soon as possible after that, that will minimise the gap between one expiring and the other being approved. When you apply for an EAD at the same time as (or after) applying for AOS, it takes around 90 days from receipt to approval - sometimes a bit less, sometimes a bit more. So yes, you would be able to count on your wife (to-be) having work authorisation around in about 90 days or so from filing - so the sooner after her arrival in the US that that happens, the less of a gap she'll have between the expiry of the temp EA stamp from JFK and the arrival of her one-year EAD card.

Thanks a lot, is the EAD application include in the AOS package or is that an additional charge? Also what's an infopass?

[rebeccajo 14]

EAD and AP is now included in the cost of filing the I485.

Infopass is the customer electronic appointment scheduling system of USCIS. You can make Infopass appointments to learn information about your case.