Potential Fellowship/grad program and a proposal

[catknit 144]

I'm so excited to have found this forum!

I'm not 100% sure what to do and I'm hoping for some feedback.

Let me start out by saying I've contacted 3 immigration attorneys and only one office got back to me stating their only immigration attorney left. I can't begin to tell you how often I've been checking my messages and email to see if the other two have responded!

I tried a couple of searches and didn't see this addressed.

Where to begin - the good news - he proposed and I said yes and I so excited!

The part we are trying to figure out - my fiance's career [Hospital Admin] isn't exactly transferable from India to the US. But it's his calling. Even though he has two graduate degrees from good Indian schools, he knows that if he wants to continue his career here at the same level he needs a grad degree from a US university or a fellowship. He has applied to numerous programs [pre-prosal]. He should be getting word on interviews for fellowships [more of a long shot] and grad admits [definately a possibility] soon [next 1-2 months]. [Just to clarify - I am going to one of his sponsors for grad school here in the US - this was decided a while ago, pre-proposal.] At least with respect to the grad programs, we think we have all the funding, test score info, [fingers crossed] admit info needed to hopefully get an F1 visa. If a fellowship came thru, the school/teaching med center would help with a possible J1 [or so we've been told].

During my trip to see him in February it happened...the big question and the big answer. So now I guess we could go for a K1 instead?

Could we marry on an F1 or J1? Or, is that not even an option? Are there benefits to one over the other? Of course we'd love to be together as soon as possible, just like everyone here I'm sure - so we'd like to start which ever visa we can. But we'd also like to do what makes sense and we're totally confused.

Any advice would appreciated.

[SnowyTater 2]

Uh oh

Oh I think this might be a tricky one.

I'll try to put in my two cents but most people here know a lot more than me, and I know nothing about any of the visas except the K1.

First, for advice on what your fiance could do about applying for schools here, or getting up to the same level of employment when he's finally in the US, I'd head over to the regional subforums for India. They'll know a lot more of the specifics.

As far as I know (or think I know) you've got a couple problems:

You guys might not want to apply for the student visa now that he's proposed. Don't take my word for this, and I'm hoping others are gonna get in here and help, but I know that the US gov. has problems with people coming into the US for things like studying, temporary work, etc. and then getting engaged or married while they're here. It looks a bit fraudulent I think is their concern: they don't want people coming in intentionally trying to meet an American so they can stay forever.

Your fiance can apply for the student visa which as far as I know he should get easily enough so long as he's accepted at your school - I've never heard of big obstacles with those. But then when he's done with his program I think he'll have to go back to India and then apply for the K1, at which point you guys will have to wait a good long few months to be together again in the US (you can always go to India though). I think a lot of VJ'ers have met at school and this is the sort of thing they've had to do.

It seems a lot easier and more direct for you to apply for the K1 - hardly anyone gets turned down for these. The filing isn't that bad, the fees are strung out over a period of a few months and the running time abouts for getting the visa is maybe 6-8 months. Depending on what center you'd go through, Vermont is the fastest (so you could maybe get a visa in like four months) and California is the slowest (so a couple months longer for most people). But this timeline is completely case by case and unpredictable, so the problem here is you can't bank on him being in the country in time to go to your school.

I think if you did K1 and your programs are starting up in Fall around August, there's pretty much no way he'd be here in time. If you did k1 now, though, then you *might* be through in time for your fiance to enroll for spring of next year. Again that wouldn't be guaranteed.

I guess if you did want to opt for K1, you can settle your heads on taking things slow. Just decide that whenever he gets here, you'll have tons of stuff to work out and rearrange anyway, so he can apply for the next semester of his course. But then you wouldn't be in school together, I know.

The other option is to have him come in now on the student visa and you'll go ahead and be together - you guys can just relax for awhile and work on building your relationship, make sure you're sure, enjoy the now, etc. The good news is you're thinking plenty ahead of time, so whenever he graduates maybe you can have some sort of plan to go to India and stay while him while he's doing the K1 process? If not, you'll be in the same boat as all of us, separate and waiting.

This is all as far as I understand the rules for getting engaged/married while here in the US on another visa. I've just always heard 'don't', but I could be completely and utterly wrong, so yeh please read into all this yourself and I'm hoping someone comes and tells me I'm wrong and makes it much easier for you all.

In any case the guides here at VJ are great and accurate and very useful, because the US gov's instructions to lots of things are lacking in clarification. So do read up.

Also know that it probably wouldn't be a bad idea for your fiance to study/get his start here in the US, I think he's definately got the right idea with that one. When you come in on a K1, I read yesterday that most people are jobless for like 20 weeks or something - and that goes for people with really good qualifications, tons of experience, etc. It's really tough for people to break in here, so him getting some education or a residency or whatever else here would be great.

Good luck! I hope someone more helpful comes along

[rebeccajo 14]

Your future and your man's happiness depends on him working in a field he loves.

Have him come over on a student visa. He needs his education.

Be wary of any J visas. Some have a home residency requirement which would require him to return to his home country for two years before he could live permanently in the US.

Continue your search for an immigration attorney to advise you regarding your marriage and your fiance's plan to live permanently in the US.

[Jesse and Hema 2]

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...p;page=otheraos has some basic information about adjusting status from a student visa. It's surely possible to do.

My fiancee and I were weighing these same options at one point. After speaking with a lawyer (brief consultation), we decided K-1 is the better route.

If the intent is to come on a student visa, get married, and stay, that is indeed visa fraud. It mostly boils down to intent, which is a grey area (and hard to prove), but I didn't want to take the risk of being suspected of fraud. Given this post, I think your intent would be fraudulent.

The choice is yours (duh), but I suggest getting a K-1. He can always continue his education once he gets a green card.

I'm with rebeccajo in that this might be worth talking to a good attorney about, though.

[catknit 144]

Thanks so much for all the quick responses!

Obviously, we dont want to do anything that could be misconstrued down the road if possible - oh, for example, fraud. That's why we're trying to find out as much as possible as well as try to make the best decisions based on what we know.

The only thing that minutely concerns me at this point would be the last fellowship he applied to - strangely, here's hoping he doesn't get it. At least this year!

I'll still be anticipating what these attorneys say too.

Thanks!