Rocio0010

It’s ok to study without an EAD and while AOS. That’s not up to debate. What’s up to debate is whether you can engage in certain types of training while in school and the answer is no, unless you either have an EAD or you’re an F1 and approved for CPT. In my case I was an F1 student and I was getting my certification to teach Spanish in public schools. During the last year of my studies I had to do my student teaching. Therefore I think it was by the end of the first year my advisor, myself, and my ISO (international student officer) had different meetings to ensure that I wasn’t jeopardizing my status. Even though unauthorized work is forgiven for immediate relatives, it wasn’t a risk I was willing to take, especially because in my situation unauthorized work meant automatic termination of my F1 and I wanted to have that status to fall back on if my AOS got denied. All this to say, I know what I’m talking about and know for sure that you shouldn’t be engaging in any type of training that can be misconstrued as work.

And that’s why you can’t have CPT. Your visa immediately shuts down that possibility. With a K1 you need work authorization to engage even in an internship or whatever the name is. You haven’t given much details about what the “internship” is to see if it qualifies as work or not. If you shared I’d be able to tell you. Anyone here advising you that you can do it without the proper work authorization is going against the TOS. And certainly the fact that the university / college telling you that you don’t need an EAD for something that can be perceived as work/ training/ internship is concerning because they would be providing you with the wrong information.

I hope you’ve read that I had an F1 and a CPT.

I would say take what the college says with a big grain of salt. What college is this? Does it have an international student office? The text you extracted pertains to F-1 students. That should immediately stop you in your tracks. You’re not an F-1 student and if you have an international office in your college they should be the first ones telling you that. I was an F1 student with a CPT and even though it is unpaid and part of the training, me, my advisor and ISO had to have several meetings to go over the requirements and make sure I wasn’t violating my visa. I strongly suggest you to do the same.

Gotcha. I thought that only OP was the beneficiary, as in “my spouse and stepson are already USC”

Neither. 3 is the answer: his household size plus the intending immigrant. Your spouse doesn’t count for this one. Additionally, your spouse will still be your main sponsor, so he needs to fill out another I-864

OP, divorce and move on.

I truly hope they don’t deny my N400 due to my shopaholic habits🫣

Imho these two are contradictory

Correct

Yeah I wasn’t talking about the typo.

This needs to be straightened up before applying for MIL imho. If he misrepresented himself and got naturalized, he could be denaturalized and deported. Whether USCIS wants to pursue it that’s a whole other story. But suggesting MIL to omit information that’s relevant to her will hurt her in the short and long run. Looks like a conversation needs to be had with husband

Why is dad so secretive about it?

If there is not a divorce, then they’re still married and she should never lie about this. That’s a misrepresentation and it may have serious consequences

Deny you for what, exactly? I’m sure that’s not what the denial is for. Dont base your life decisions on his I-130. You can absolutely get a job while waiting on the process and he can switch jobs

No one said it’s a lost cause. I have no idea where you got that from, but I’m taking it’s from me since you extracted what I said out of context. It is in fact strange and a red flag that someone that went through the whole process of getting an F1 suddenly realizes they can’t afford school. The most logical, law- abiding thing to do in order to avoid scrutiny is to go back and apply for a spousal visa or even a K1 before they got married. Officer will probably question why that wasn’t the decision. That, added to the fact that spouse is from same background, will cause more scrutiny. You’re focusing on only the F1 student visa when in reality for each immigrant case it should be looked at as a whole with a lot of moving parts. My 0.02 cents

OP literally said on her first post “I never went to school” ……. We are not judging. We’re laying facts

Her reason for coming here was to study. She soon realized she couldn’t afford it, but she ended up overstaying instead of going back home, which is what someone that can’t afford to study here should do. Because USCIS might assume that they knew each other from before and that this was all planned out.

I know from first hand experience that one of the requirements for an F1 is evidence that you have the money to pay for your studies. I also know that any reputable school will tell you upfront about how and when to pay the tuition. I knew before coming to West Virginia University the dates I would have to make a deposit. I’m sorry, but this story doesn’t add up. You should have been honest the minute you realize you couldn’t afford it, talk to your ISO and see what the best course of action was. Unauthorized work is forgiven, misrepresentation is not. Expect higher scrutiny because you overstayed for 15 years and married someone from your same background. And no, this is not the time to be cheap. Get a loan but work with an attorney.

Is your husband a USC by birth? How long after you landed did you marry him? Why didn’t you go to school?

How did you get your citizenship?

Then why did you apply for an F1? Did you find out all of a sudden that you weren’t able to go to school? Why weren’t you able to go to school? No way around this one without a lawyer. Yes, you need one. No, you can’t do it yourselves. You told the US government that you should get an F1 visa (which is a non- immigrant visa) to come to school. But for whatever reason, you never went to school and instead married a USC. Guess what? USCIS is not going to like your case. They’re going to think that you just obtained an F1 to jump the line and stay here. Sorry if I sound too blunt, but I’ve seen this situation time and time again and that’s the outcome usually.

As a former F1 student myself, I can almost guarantee that the reason for the denial is that your sponsor is too close to the $30k listed in the I-20. And even worse, he’s 2k shy of it. I’d feel more confident with a sponsor that had around $45k in the bank.

I strongly suggest you to become acquainted with the immigration process. They don’t “lose” fingerprints; for some reason they require you to get fingerprinted again.

Congrats!!! Way too many things to celebrate this Valentines!!!