Marrying a foreign student before optional practicum

[greencardorbust 0]

So a friend of mine is a US Citizen (came under refugee status as a child, that was 10-20 years ago, so I'm hoping that part of his story doesn't matter), and wants to marry a resident alien here on a F-1 student visa. She's been in the US for like 14 years (I assume she has gone home occasionally, tho). Also, she's from Austria, which means in general she can come to the US without a visa--just fills out those forms as she lands and hands them to dept of homeland security.

SO....she's on her optional post-college 1-yr practicum, which will end in July. Now the two have been dating and living together for like 3 years. He asked my advice about marrying/adjusting status BEFORE she has to leave.

I personally have concerns.

1) If they go out and marry tomorrow, and file for adjustment...might this be seen as fishy to USCIS, since she's been here for many years and only now, 2 months b4 she has to leave, is marrying.

2) If she left the country recently and came back, I've been told they should be cautious about marrying soon thereafter, as that could appear as if her most recent return was on fraudulent grounds (i.e., she came back to states on F-1, but was really planning on marrying, USCIS might argue).

Any thoughts? I'm basically asking if there's any risk in their getting married by a justice of the peace like tomorrow, then filing for adjustment. if she HASN'T re-entered recently...ya, just not sure.

Thanks ya'll!

[SweetApple08 2]

So a friend of mine is a US Citizen (came under refugee status as a child, that was 10-20 years ago, so I'm hoping that part of his story doesn't matter), and wants to marry a resident alien here on a F-1 student visa. She's been in the US for like 14 years (I assume she has gone home occasionally, tho). Also, she's from Austria, which means in general she can come to the US without a visa--just fills out those forms as she lands and hands them to dept of homeland security.

SO....she's on her optional post-college 1-yr practicum, which will end in July. Now the two have been dating and living together for like 3 years. He asked my advice about marrying/adjusting status BEFORE she has to leave.

I personally have concerns.

1) If they go out and marry tomorrow, and file for adjustment...might this be seen as fishy to USCIS, since she's been here for many years and only now, 2 months b4 she has to leave, is marrying.

2) If she left the country recently and came back, I've been told they should be cautious about marrying soon thereafter, as that could appear as if her most recent return was on fraudulent grounds (i.e., she came back to states on F-1, but was really planning on marrying, USCIS might argue).

Any thoughts? I'm basically asking if there's any risk in their getting married by a justice of the peace like tomorrow, then filing for adjustment. if she HASN'T re-entered recently...ya, just not sure.

Thanks ya'll!

In my opinion, They should get married asap and file for AOS here in USA.

She has the option of starting another degree after she is done with 1 year OPT (in JULY), change her status to a work visa or she can leave. Because she is marrying now would not be considered fraud.

She left, came back and married; that would be considered fraud if she tried to do AOS.

[EmVee 4]

I agree, it would be problematic if she left and came back. But she met someone while she was here studying and now they want to get married, that's different. They can get married as soon as possible (preferably before her current visa expires) and file for AOS.

[greencardorbust 0]

Guys, THANK YOU for the thoughts. Got some more details from them:

The last time she entered the country was last August, right at the beginning of her 1-yr OPT. So this doesn't seem to bad as far my concern #2 is concerned....UNLESS it's a problem that they've been living together for years (so is it possible that while she clearly came back in August for the practicum she's doing, USCIS would not like that she came back to a guy's house that she lived in..? or is this the kind of thing they woulnd't know/not care about?)

Other BIG worry: basically, her OPT $ that she's made since she started last August BARELY qualifies for the 125% of poverty line guidelines. Any experience with using applicant's income (he has none, student)? I know she has to show it will continue from the same source...and she'll also have to argue that this year will actually meet the 125% threshold (since she started in Aug last year, she wasn't even close to meeting the 125%) Think the argument will work? (as a side note, that's the argument I made for MY income when I sponsored my fiance and then wife: that my last year's income would translate into enough the next year, since I'd only worked 5 months the previous year. I even did the math for them.....)

Any thoughts?

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

I have a question for you: my wife tells me that black pants and brown shoes won't work, so I'm really, really concerned about this. I mean . . . do you think I get in trouble if I wear brown shoes and black pants when going out to dinner to a nice restaurant? I mean . . . it's dark then anyway, so do you think it will matter?

Do you understand what I'm trying to convey to you?

If not, here's the dry version: a US citizen and a student who is in the US legally can marry when they want, where they want, how they want, and nobody gives a rodent's behind about this, and none of this even touches the realm of being fishy, as you put it so eloquently.

Even if she had no J1, or her J1 was expired for 87 years and 2 months, it wouldn't matter.

Now back to my problem. What do you think about mixing black and brown?

[greencardorbust 0]

Sure they can marry. But she can't legally remain in the US if she doens't file an AOS. And an AOS requires an Affidavit of Support. And that requires money.

If her J1 (which she doesn't have, she's an an F-1) is expired and there are proceedings against her, again, of course they can get married, but she would probably not be able to stay.

Is "platinum member" given to anyone who posts a lot, or does it require positive ratings? I ask because I think you've completely missed the point of this thread. I'm not sure you really understood the context of my use of "fishy": of course USCIS doesn't care about marraiges--it's the AOS application, a day after marriage and 2 months before a long-time student-visa holder finally has to go home --> that's the part I'm wondering if they'll consider when reviewing the AOS application.

By way of analogy (I can tell you like those), people that come on 3-month visitor visas are free to marry; but filing an AOS afterward is often flagged for fraud (or at least in my experience here this is the 100% consistant, ubiquitous answer that people receive from members of this site.)

Your response to my post is akin to my answering your black/brown question with a response like "Pickles newspaper roadrunner necktie."

UNLESSSSS what you're saying is that (as it appears you did, sort of) you actually ARE talking about USCIS not caring about AOS (a term you didn't mention) as long as...what? as long as you weren't here on a tourist visa? It looks like out of status-->marriage-->AOS was your route. You believe that's typically acceptable?

ANYwho, cheers again to anyone with helpful advice. Thanks!