F1 visa and overstays?

[Lemonadepie345 2]

My parents came to the US in 2001 and my dad was on a F1 visa. He is still on a F1 visa And I am on my F1 and my other family members (My sister and my mom.) are F2.

 

He failed to finish his bachelor and every time he would fail, he would transfer to a different community college. To my understanding when you transfer schools you get a new I-94? And an I-20? Nowadays, he doesn’t even go to community college but a “ESL prep” college where you only show up once a week. Now, the part that I am confused about is, my applied for a change of status to F1 last year and my grandparents financially supports me. I got my change of status approved. If my change of status got approved that meant that we are still here legally correct?  Anyways, my parents have since applied for a change of status to an E2 visa (I believe it’s some sort of business visa) and they got denied. I should also note that they have a business and file all the taxes using their social security. However, they are still on the F1 visa.

 

From, what I heard from my parents they insisted that we are legal because when we entered my dad got a D/S on his visa which to my understanding allows him to stay here as long as he is in school. Do student visas really have no expiration date? Are my parents telling the truth? I am just really worried about my future because I want to know what might happen when I try to apply for an OPT or even a H1B visa.

[Roel 7,191]

..I highly doubt you can be on one student visa for 17 years. Not to mention your parents had their change of status denied.. 

 

I'm no expert but I don't think your family is in the U.S. legally at this point. 

[Lemonadepie345 2]

2 minutes ago, Roel said:

..I highly doubt you can be on one student visa for 17 years. Not to mention your parents had their change of status denied.. 

 

I'm no expert but I don't think your family is in the U.S. legally at this point. 

:(. Anyways, 2 questions. 

1. How was my change of status granted? 

2. Is this going to have a huge negative effect on me?

[Roel 7,191]

I'm sorry but to me it looks like your family is heavily abusing student visa status. I mean, how are you guys even supporting yourself when f1 and f2 visa holders aren't allowed to work? Just curious. O.o

[Russ&Caro 1,548]

32 minutes ago, Lemonadepie345 said:

:(. Anyways, 2 questions. 

1. How was my change of status granted? 

2. Is this going to have a huge negative effect on me?

Good question. What visa did you transfer to? How was the update on status communicated to you?

[Lemonadepie345 2]

9 minutes ago, Russ&Caro said:

Good question. What visa did you transfer to? How was the update on status communicated to you?

I did an change of status to F1 I just got an acceptance letter with an I-94 attached to it

[canadian_wife 1,791]

16 minutes ago, Roel said:

I'm sorry but to me it looks like your family is heavily abusing student visa status. I mean, how are you guys even supporting yourself when f1 and f2 visa holders aren't allowed to work? Just curious. O.o

 

What about this question? 

 

How old are you by the way?  How long have you been on an F-1 status?

[Lemonadepie345 2]

4 minutes ago, canadian_wife said:

 

What about this question? 

 

How old are you by the way?  How long have you been on an F-1 status?

Sorry, I didn’t see that. Anyways, my grandparents have been bankrolling my parents lives until recently.  My parents took out of bunch of loans and opened a store a while ago (hence the E2 visa change that got denied) and are  working on the store. 

 

I have been F1 for a year. I am currently 19 and my grandparents are paying for my tuition. They are pretty well off in our home country. 

Edited June 21, 2018 by Lemonadepie345

[Roel 7,191]

8 minutes ago, Lemonadepie345 said:

Sorry, I didn’t see that. Anyways, my grandparents have been bankrolling my parents lives until recently.  My parents took out of bunch of loans and opened a store a while ago (hence the E2 visa change that got denied) and are  working on the store. 

Defiantly not allowed on f1 status. I also believe on f1 status you have to be actual student not just go once a week.. 

 

I think this alone would void your parents visas long time ago. And you just somehow got lucky with your status. 

[SusieQQQ 11,584]

1 hour ago, Lemonadepie345 said:

Sorry, I didn’t see that. Anyways, my grandparents have been bankrolling my parents lives until recently.  My parents took out of bunch of loans and opened a store a while ago (hence the E2 visa change that got denied) and are  working on the store. 

 

I have been F1 for a year. I am currently 19 and my grandparents are paying for my tuition. They are pretty well off in our home country. 

So they’re still working the store? Total violation of status.

as above you’re lucky you got approved.

what happened after your parents’ denial of CoS? Did they get a notice that they need to leave the country? ( I’m also totally curious as to who granted them a bunch of loans with that financial history, and of course if they are paying taxes.)

 

bear in mind that if you ever want to naturalize by AOS  you’ll need to show you were never out of status after age 18 (...I think, someone correct me if I’m wrong on the age) so you are doing the right thing trying to ensure your own status is legal.

Edited June 21, 2018 by SusieQQQ

[Boiler 43,430]

Student isa has very little work opportunities and certainly not what they are doing.

[Coco8 1,039]

3 hours ago, Lemonadepie345 said:

From, what I heard from my parents they insisted that we are legal because when we entered my dad got a D/S on his visa which to my understanding allows him to stay here as long as he is in school. Do student visas really have no expiration date? Are my parents telling the truth? I am just really worried about my future because I want to know what might happen when I try to apply for an OPT or even a H1B visa.

To have valid status their i-20 has to be valid. The visa stamp and the i-94 don't matter. For the i-20 to be valid, they need to be FULL TIME students and taking an ESL class is not enough for that. Also, working is not allowed unless it is within the university campus and part-time (less than 20 hours a week because you are supposed to be a full-time student so you cannot work full-time). 

 

So yes, either they are not telling the truth or the have a complete misunderstanding of what they are doing (given that your dad failed college, well, I don't want to be mean but I'd go with the latter reason). 

 

I recommend that you inform yourself on the F1 status and you, by no means, violate that. You cannot work unless it is on campus and it is approved. You cannot even help at your parent's store, be at the register for 10 minutes, put things in shelves, babysit for anyone, etc. You have to be as far as possible from your parent's visa status fiasco. I think the reason why you might have been lucky is that for those under 18 or 21 (cannot remember) they have exceptions which is why you were able to change your status to F1 (I think, not 100% sure). 

 

Also, make sure your grandparents are going to be able to pay college until you finish. If they are paying stuff for your parents and for you... 

 

Your parents need to grow up! You are much more mature than them.

 

 

 

Edited June 22, 2018 by Coco8

[Boiler 43,430]

After 17 years of studying doing an ESL class was vaguely amusing.

[Lemonadepie345 2]

45 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

So they’re still working the store? Total violation of status.

as above you’re lucky you got approved.

what happened after your parents’ denial of CoS? Did they get a notice that they need to leave the country? ( I’m also totally curious as to who granted them a bunch of loans with that financial history, and of course if they are paying taxes.)

 

bear in mind that if you ever want to naturalize by AOS  you’ll need to show you were never out of status after age 18 (...I think, someone correct me if I’m wrong on the age) so you are doing the right thing trying to ensure your own status is legal.

They were private loans as far as I know. I am still trying to navigate this. No, to my understanding they just went back to their old status?

 

I’ll definitely keep that in mind! I do want to stay here but I do want to do it the right way.

17 minutes ago, Boiler said:

After 17 years of studying doing an ESL class was vaguely amusing.

Ya, but personally it was much needed as my dad still does not really speak English. He simply refuses to assimilate.

[Lemonadepie345 2]

21 minutes ago, Coco8 said:

To have valid status their i-20 has to be valid. The visa stamp and the i-94 don't matter. For the i-20 to be valid, they need to be FULL TIME students and taking an ESL class is not enough for that. Also, working is not allowed unless it is within the university campus and part-time (less than 20 hours a week because you are supposed to be a full-time student so you cannot work full-time). 

 

So yes, either they are not telling the truth or the have a complete misunderstanding of what they are doing (given that your dad failed college, well, I don't want to be mean but I'd go with the latter reason). 

 

I recommend that you inform yourself on the F1 status and you, by no means, violate that. You cannot work unless it is on campus and it is approved. You cannot even help at your parent's store, be at the register for 10 minutes, put things in shelves, babysit for anyone, etc. You have to be as far as possible from your parent's visa status fiasco. I think the reason why you might have been lucky is that for those under 18 or 21 (cannot remember) they have exceptions which is why you were able to change your status to F1 (I think, not 100% sure). 

 

Also, make sure your grandparents are going to be able to pay college until you finish. If they are paying stuff for your parents and for you... 

 

Your parents need to grow up! You are much more mature than them.

 

 

 

No offense taken! At this point I just simply cannot understand their logic as well. So, as for my change of status I did start the process at 17 and started school at 18.

 

i have been distancing myself from them and their work ever since I did some research because I do not want problems. And my grandparents have promised me my tuition as long as I keep up in my schoolwork.