When can my fiance work?

[Nibake 4]

1. Get married

2. Apply for the Social Security number ( we did our 2 weeks and 2 days after just to make sure husband was in the system)

3. Apply for AOS - (I-485 Green card, I-751 EAD, I-131 AP (advance parole in case of emergency travel) If you file all 3 together the fee is 1,010.00. Also if you want emails/text messages file the G-1145 document which allows them to do so.

4. They will give you a biometric appt once you they have received your documents. Some places allow walk-in bio's. You need to have the bio letter that uscis issues to you to take with you to the appt., along with passport/visa.

5. Sign up for case status on the uscis.gov website

6. Play the waiting game to be approved or have an interview, or just receive your stuff in the mail without notice.

Your case has a chance of being transferred to CSC (california service center) If this happens, usually no interview and you just continue to wait for your gc, ead, and ap.

Most importantly, read the guides above! They help tremendously!!!!

Good luck, hope this helps things.

My county court website says that an SS card is needed to get married. How then can one get married and then apply for his SSN?

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

My county court website says that an SS card is needed to get married. How then can one get married and then apply for his SSN?

Call your county court. They will almost certainly accept a passport as identification for a foreigner.

FWIW, Title 42 of the US code, passed in 1996, set up a catch 22 for K1 visa holders. It required states to collect the SSN in order to get a professional license, drivers license, marriage license, etc. This left the Social Security Administration scrambling to accommodate K1's who needed a Social Security number in order to get married. This is the ONLY reason that the Social Security Administration will issue an SSN to a K1 visa holder. The US Supreme Court shot down much of the requirements in that section of Title 42 in 1997, saying that the federal government cannot force states to use a federally issued number for identification. As far as I know, every state will allow a foreigner to get married by providing their passport for identification.

As a K1 visa holder, you MAY get a Social Security number before you get married. People here recommend getting the SSN after marriage (presuming you marry soon after arriving in the US) so that you won't have to bother changing the name on the SSN after you marry. However, if your county absolutely requires an SSN (i.e., they don't allow non-immigrants to marry) then either get the SSN first, or get married in a neighboring county that doesn't have obsolete laws. You could certainly get the requirement overturned by taking the county to court, but you couldn't get that done within 90 days.

[Darnell 8,478]

Don't forget to review the I-9 form at http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=31b3ab0a43b5d010VgnVCM10000048f3d6a1RCRD&vgnextchannel=db029c7755cb9010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1RCRD

Should clear away any confusion on 'when you can work'.

To be clear - must have SSN and either EAD or GC, when coming in as K-1 visa holder.

Which also implies must file for AOS first, to get any EAD or GC.

[zenaxe 22]

Hi there,

I don't think that's the case. Perhaps the person you were speaking to is ill informed. When your fiance receives the social security number, the card should say 'valid for work only with DHS authorization' which is your EAD. Your original understanding is more accurate.

This is accurate. You do require an SSN in order to work but you must first be given official clearance to work and that's done with the approval and granting of the EAD - the same holds true if you want to travel out of the USA and return, you need to apply for Advance Parole. The K1 visa is a single entry visa for one purpose: to marry the person who petitioned you within 90 days of crossing into the USA. You can't leave and return to the US without the Adv Parole, and you can't work without the EAD. This holds true also for K3 visa holders - they only difference there is that they are married and not engaged to be married; but the K3 is essentially obsolete. The CR1 and IR 1 visa's grant you residency, travel and work authorization as soon as you get the CR 1 visa. I ramble.

[MRStee 19]

1. Apply for the Social Security number ( we did our 2 weeks and 2 days after just to make sure husband was in the system)

2. Get married

3. Apply for AOS - (I-485 Green card, I-751 EAD, I-131 AP (advance parole in case of emergency travel) If you file all 3 together the fee is 1,010.00. Also if you want emails/text messages file the G-1145 document which allows them to do so.

4. They will give you a biometric appt once you they have received your documents. Some places allow walk-in bio's. You need to have the bio letter that uscis issues to you to take with you to the appt., along with passport/visa.

5. Sign up for case status on the uscis.gov website

6. Play the waiting game to be approved or have an interview, or just receive your stuff in the mail without notice.

Your case has a chance of being transferred to CSC (california service center) If this happens, usually no interview and you just continue to wait for your gc, ead, and ap.

Most importantly, read the guides above! They help tremendously!!!!

Good luck, hope this helps things.

My apologies we got the SS card first and then got married.

[slangofoil 50]

Don't forget to review the I-9 form at http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=31b3ab0a43b5d010VgnVCM10000048f3d6a1RCRD&vgnextchannel=db029c7755cb9010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1RCRD

Should clear away any confusion on 'when you can work'.

To be clear - must have SSN and either EAD or GC, when coming in as K-1 visa holder.

Which also implies must file for AOS first, to get any EAD or GC.

On the I-9 List of Acceptable Documents, under "Documents that establish both identity and employment authorization" it has "3. Foreign passport that contains a temporary I-551 stamp or a temporary I-551 printed notation on a machine-readable immigrant visa."

Is it the "immigrant visa" bit that makes this insufficient for a K-1? Because it's technically a non-immigrant visa?

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

On the I-9 List of Acceptable Documents, under "Documents that establish both identity and employment authorization" it has "3. Foreign passport that contains a temporary I-551 stamp or a temporary I-551 printed notation on a machine-readable immigrant visa."

Is it the "immigrant visa" bit that makes this insufficient for a K-1? Because it's technically a non-immigrant visa?

It's not merely a technicality. The K1 IS a non-immigrant visa. If a K1 was an immigrant visa then they wouldn't need to adjust status after coming to the US. They would be permanent residents on arrival, like IR class visas.

[slangofoil 50]

It's not merely a technicality. The K1 IS a non-immigrant visa. If a K1 was an immigrant visa then they wouldn't need to adjust status after coming to the US. They would be permanent residents on arrival, like IR class visas.

What I wanted to know was whether the specific language "immigrant" was the key factor or if, perhaps additionally, the temporary stamp a K-1 might get is not actually an "I-551 stamp" but something different altogether. Don't K-1s who have an AOS interview get a stamp then that authorizes them to work while they wait for green card production (if they haven't already gotten an EAD)? Are these two stamps different things? Does a CR-1 or IR-1 get a different stamp to a K-1? Having never seen one, I'm curious.

I understand the difference between an immigrant and a non-immigrant visa. It's quite fair to use the word "technically" though, since no one comes on a K-1 WITHOUT the intent to immigrate. Anyone entering with one IS an intending immigrant, whether the visa classifies them as such or not.

Anyway I also wanted to know the actual regulations regarding K-1 work authorization, which I have since found: http://law.justia.com/us/cfr/title08/8-1.0.1.2.54.2.1.1.html.

So I take it the stamp sometimes given at JFK is not considered equivalent to "an employment authorization document issued by the Service".