Fiancee's ability to work in US.

[MikeA 0]

My fiancee holds a degree in Education and was a scholar. I am trying to get her certified in Florida so she can teach here upon arrival. Will the Embassy view her degree and the fact she is a Certified Licensed Teacher as a plus in evaluating her as less likely to becoming a public charge. My I-134 should hopefully be adequate as well, but you never know. Any opinions?

[Bobby+Umit 161]

They look at the sponsors income - not the benicificarys. (with the I-134)

So - it won't help in that regard.

But - they would see that as a good thing though.

Edited June 2, 2009 by Bobby_Umit

[Otto 83]

Will the Embassy view her degree and the fact she is a Certified Licensed Teacher as a plus in evaluating her as less likely to becoming a public charge.

No - the burden of the I-134 is solely the Sponsor's.

[YuAndDan 153]

My fiancee holds a degree in Education and was a scholar. I am trying to get her certified in Florida so she can teach here upon arrival. Will the Embassy view her degree and the fact she is a Certified Licensed Teacher as a plus in evaluating her as less likely to becoming a public charge. My I-134 should hopefully be adequate as well, but you never know. Any opinions?

Note a K-1 is NOT a work visa it is a FIANCEE visa, as such will not be able to hit the ground running and take a job.

The K-1 first needs to marry, and the file to adjust status, and apply for an EAD and have the EAD card or Green-card in hand to take a job.

I-9 required to be filled out by an employer requires EAD (CARD), Green-card, or I-551 stamp to satisfy employment authorization requirements. The socalled EAD stamp issued at JFK no longer satisfies the I-9 requirements.

If work shortly after entry is a priority then marry first and file for a CR-1 IMMIGRANT visa. The CR-1 gets an I-551 stamp on entry.

[Ed+Cindy 1]

My fiancee holds a degree in Education and was a scholar. I am trying to get her certified in Florida so she can teach here upon arrival. Will the Embassy view her degree and the fact she is a Certified Licensed Teacher as a plus in evaluating her as less likely to becoming a public charge. My I-134 should hopefully be adequate as well, but you never know. Any opinions?

Nope, it doesn't matter.

[Marina-Del 10]

It doesn't matter exactly...but that doesn't mean they wont still like it! They will look at it and like it, but if you -as the petitioner- don't meet the requirements then she still wont get the visa.

[Chica Yeyé 41]

plus.... she would have to be certified to teach in your state -- which cannot happen until she is here. So no, it does not matter.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

My fiancee holds a degree in Education and was a scholar. I am trying to get her certified in Florida so she can teach here upon arrival. Will the Embassy view her degree and the fact she is a Certified Licensed Teacher as a plus in evaluating her as less likely to becoming a public charge. My I-134 should hopefully be adequate as well, but you never know. Any opinions?

In general NO. The consulate CAN consider anything they like in making this determination, but the income of the sponsor is primary. If your I-134 is adequate, it is not an issue.

The organization ECE can evaluate her education and give a certified "US Equivilency" of her credentials. We did this for Alla. Alla's masters degree was given full faith and credit and she is now working on certification here as an English teacher. Certifications vary by state. Alla needs to take more English, US history and special ed instruction classes but that is state specific. Otherwise her teaching certification from Ukraine was accepted. Google ECE. She will need to complete AOS or get an EAD before working but should be able to begin her certification immediately.

[pushbrk 12,234]

It doesn't matter exactly...but that doesn't mean they wont still like it! They will look at it and like it, but if you -as the petitioner- don't meet the requirements then she still wont get the visa.

Right, it can be a positive thing, so yes it "matters" but it will not overcome an income shortfall.

[DEDixon 39]

My fiancee holds a degree in Education and was a scholar. I am trying to get her certified in Florida so she can teach here upon arrival. Will the Embassy view her degree and the fact she is a Certified Licensed Teacher as a plus in evaluating her as less likely to becoming a public charge. My I-134 should hopefully be adequate as well, but you never know. Any opinions?

In general NO. The consulate CAN consider anything they like in making this determination, but the income of the sponsor is primary. If your I-134 is adequate, it is not an issue.

The organization ECE can evaluate her education and give a certified "US Equivilency" of her credentials. We did this for Alla. Alla's masters degree was given full faith and credit and she is now working on certification here as an English teacher. Certifications vary by state. Alla needs to take more English, US history and special ed instruction classes but that is state specific. Otherwise her teaching certification from Ukraine was accepted. Google ECE. She will need to complete AOS or get an EAD before working but should be able to begin her certification immediately.

Just like Alla, you (the OP) should plan on your fiancee/wife to needing to complete some classes to get certified. College starts after 10th grade in the RP so their BA/BS degrees are more like our Associate degrees. Unless she went to one of the exceptionally few great schools in the RP, she might need as much as 2 years of additional college in Florida.

[DaleandPat 0]

My fiancee holds a degree in Education and was a scholar. I am trying to get her certified in Florida so she can teach here upon arrival. Will the Embassy view her degree and the fact she is a Certified Licensed Teacher as a plus in evaluating her as less likely to becoming a public charge. My I-134 should hopefully be adequate as well, but you never know. Any opinions?

I think others have answered the I134 question, but it will not hurt to get the teaching certificate in Florida. From what I have heard the degrees in the Philippines do not always have the same weight as here in the USA. I do not know about a teaching degree, but I have heard of this will Filipino doctors not being able to be doctors i nthe US Navy, but they are medical assitants and need a few classes to become doctors in the USA. It may be the same for teachers. My fiancee may be able to answer the question better than I can.

[Marina-Del 10]

To add:

When she is getting her teachers cert for Florida most likely she will also be able to use some of her previous teaching experience as "classroom time". Most states require that you have a certain amount of hours in the classroom. For example, I am an ESL teacher here in Brazil and I plan on using the hours that I teach in the schools (children 5-15) as some of my "time in the classroom" when I apply for my teachers cert in GA. I've looked online at the requirements for GA and they said that I could do this for *some* of my hours, but not all.

Check it out online.

[AngelSaint 0]

Most states require each applicant for teaching license as a permanent resident (EAD is not acceptable in this case). I am on this kind of process right now. As long as she graduated from a US accredited school in RP and have met the required US curriculum, then, she will be qualified for State Teaching License and will receive provisions that she has to complete in 3 yrs (PRAXIS exam,US contitutions, etc.)

[Arabella 4]

Not to be a downer, but here in Florida they are laying off teachers, not hiring them. In my county our salaries have been frozen and anyone who is not tenured is in danger of being laid off.

For accurate information about applying for a certification, check out the Florida Department of Education website.

http://www.fldoe.org/

Good luck.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

My fiancee holds a degree in Education and was a scholar. I am trying to get her certified in Florida so she can teach here upon arrival. Will the Embassy view her degree and the fact she is a Certified Licensed Teacher as a plus in evaluating her as less likely to becoming a public charge. My I-134 should hopefully be adequate as well, but you never know. Any opinions?

In general NO. The consulate CAN consider anything they like in making this determination, but the income of the sponsor is primary. If your I-134 is adequate, it is not an issue.

The organization ECE can evaluate her education and give a certified "US Equivilency" of her credentials. We did this for Alla. Alla's masters degree was given full faith and credit and she is now working on certification here as an English teacher. Certifications vary by state. Alla needs to take more English, US history and special ed instruction classes but that is state specific. Otherwise her teaching certification from Ukraine was accepted. Google ECE. She will need to complete AOS or get an EAD before working but should be able to begin her certification immediately.

Just like Alla, you (the OP) should plan on your fiancee/wife to needing to complete some classes to get certified. College starts after 10th grade in the RP so their BA/BS degrees are more like our Associate degrees. Unless she went to one of the exceptionally few great schools in the RP, she might need as much as 2 years of additional college in Florida.

I do not know the equivilency of PI educations. It is highly doubtful her education would be all that is required for a teaching certificate, even if it is accepted at face value as foreign educations rarely have all the pre-requisites required in the US.

You can grease the skids now. Get her educational transcripts and get them translated. Send them off to ECE or a similar organization and request a course-by-course evaluation of her secondary and college education. This takes maybe 4-5 weeks. When you receive this, send it to the state board of education or whoever issues teaching certificates. They will evaluate if she needs further education to qualify. Alla needs to take some US history and addtional English classes to meet the credit requirements and some classes in Special Education instruction. Then check with local universities about these classes. She may also require the TOEFL exam, if her foreign education was not in English. Many universities require this exam, think of it as an "SAT for foreign students". Given the realities of life, it will probably be another year before Alla will qualify for a teaching certificate here. Private schools and universities are not bound by these rules and can basically hire who they want to teach, but many use the state requirements as guidelines. Basically, without a state certificate it would be very hard to find a teaching job. When she adjusts status and becomes a US permanent resident she is eligible for federal grants and there are good ones for people wanting to teach. Yes, teaching experience can be substituted for some educational requirements, but not all.

By doing all this ahead of time, Alla was able to start in her classes 5 days after arriving. Check residency requirements also. The university here only required proof of legal presence in the US but did not grant in-state tuition until a 1 year residency requirement is met. This varies by each university. It meant we either pay higher out of state tuition or delay her education a year. We paid.

She can even take the TOEFL overseas, it is given all over the world. Google "TOEFL" to find test locations and dates. Our son has taken the TOEFL in Russia already.