Post K1 Confusion...

[Beth and John 7]

is she legally allowed to stay in the States until she is approved or denied for her AOS?

If she comes into the US on a K-1 visa and marries you within the United States within 90 days of activiating her K-1, she HAS to stay in the States while she is Adjusting her Status, or she receives Advanced Parole to travel, otherwise her application to adjust is considered abandoned and then you would have to start over with a CR-1/IR-1 visa application and she cannot be in the US while doing that.

Edited July 8, 2010 by Beth and John

[JacksonRy 0]

If she comes into the US on a K-1 visa and marries you within the United States within 90 days of activiating her K-1, she HAS to stay in the States while she is Adjusting her Status, or she receives Advanced Parole to travel, otherwise her application to adjust is considered abandoned and then you would have to start over with a CR-1/IR-1 visa application and she cannot be in the US while doing that.

Thank you very much. That is exactly what I was confused about.

[Beth and John 7]

Thank you very much. That is exactly what I was confused about.

My pleasure! It does get confusing after reading everything and hearing different things from different people. The guides here on VJ are exceptional as well as the wiki if you are confused about something in particular. Good luck on the rest of your journey!

[Vivi6 12]

People here are trying to help. seriously, if you read the guides (or the comments above) all your questions will be amswered.

Even though you say in your county/city they give you a marriage certificate the same day, it might not be so for the marriage license, which is the piece of paper you need (in EVERY STATE) in order to get married. San Diego county only provides marriage licenses by appointment, again I don't know how it works where you live and I am just trying to help with those things that might require TIME.

I don't know what the rush is to get married and file for AOS since, as other people have explained, as long as she gets married within 90 days from POE she is FINE. I wouldn't wait too long like Darnell said to file for AOS, and IMO you should protect your status and file before the i-94 expires but lots of people take it easy, plan the wedding within 90 days and wait another 3-4 months before filing.

It also depends on the financial situation. My husband has a pretty good job but I could not have resisted being home for too long so I decided to file early and had employment authorization within 70 days from filing. Again, that's ME.

I got married 3 days after POE, small beach wedding with 12 people, got my certificate 1 week later and still I filed AOS 20 days total after POE. There is a TON of paperwork, copies, forms to fill out. You may want to take SOME time to review it all. I think it will be hardly possible for you to do it correctly on your first "full" day on the US. You want to try to avoid RFE (Request for Evidence) which will slow down the process (see the guides) so it will be better to review the whole package SEVERAL times. People get their package returned because they forgot to sign a form or they write the check wrong-- therefore proofread it! Speaking of the check, AOS is $1010 so make sure you have some savings. If all goes well, she will have employment authorization withing 2 months or so from filing.

The medical is a controversial point as you can see from the guide. If her vaccination are complete, she should be fine without seeing a Civil Surgeon, I was. But sometimes USCIS loses/misplaces the medical records so you might want to find a CS to file form i-693 to send together with your AOS package.

Good luck!