F-1 Visa Questions

[Little_My 464]

Well.. and someone else with more experience on this type of a situation, please jump in at any time, but..

I would say that your non-immigrant intent is pretty much out the window, as are all non-immigrant visas. From what I know, you have two options - either do the K1-route, i.e. apply for a fiance visa, which will allow her to come here as your fiance and for you two to get married within 90 days from when she enters the US. Once you are married, you would file for the AOS. I'm not that familiar with K1, but have understood that it is a pretty lengthy process. Start by reading the guides here.

Another option (if it would be possible for you two) would be for you to go there, get married there, then you return to the US and file for the CR1. This probably won't be much faster than the K1 though.

Both will require you two to be away from each other for several months. You can of course visit her, and she could potentially visit you here.

[canadian_wife 1,802]

http://www.visajourney.com/content/i130guide1

Kudos to Mrs. Finland

Read the link above. It outlines the different visas (fiance and spousal) that are open to you. Disregard the K-3. It is no longer available

If you want to minimize the separation you should file the I129F for the K-1 NOW, otherwise you'll have to wait to be married to file.

The k-1 is almost $1000 more expensive than the spousal visa but it is WAY cheaper than the $30,000 for out of state tutition.

Good luck

[YozhikandBulochka 3]

So I guess I should start the process right away if She wants to be here by december? Anybody know the avg time it takes?

[canadian_wife 1,802]

http://www.visajourney.com/timeline/stats.php?cfl=

Historical trends are saying 194 days...so a little over 6 months

However, USCIS alone is taking about 5 months as it is right now so I think you're actually looking at 6-10 months.

You also may want to look into deferring her enrollment, December is 9 months away, it may be enough time but if it is not, have a back up plan

Good luck

PS - also look into the school's requirement for K-1 visa holders.

[rika60607 215]

Tuition is usually waived for graduate school, including the foreign students.

It would be worth checking it with the department that accepted her.

The k-1 is almost $1000 more expensive than the spousal visa but it is WAY cheaper than the $30,000 for out of state tutition.

Good luck

[YozhikandBulochka 3]

Thanks Ill definitely look into this. I really appreciate all the information.

I was looking over the forms and I think I need to spend a day to just review all the information. But I think this plan is like you said, Our only shot. =)

[missaero 7]

rika60607, tuition is NOT usually waived for graduate school. Where on earth did you hear that?! If tuition got waived for graduate school, I would currently be at CalTech!

The only way tuition is taken care of is if you have a Graduate Teaching/Research Assistantship. Then your department "pays" the bursar for you.

To the OP, just to give another experience like MrsFinland. My husband and I did a quick courthouse wedding just to get the immigration process started. It took us only about 10 minutes with an officiant! Yes, we are now legally married but to us, that part is just a piece of paper. Our "wedding" will be in July this year where we will have our families and friends there to celebrate with us. I'm really looking forward to it and I know my other half is too.

[Harsh_77 716]

Tuition is usually waived for graduate school, including the foreign students.

It would be worth checking it with the department that accepted her.

Would love to know how can I get my tuition waived off?

Tutition does not get waived off, you can get an assistant ship or some kinda financial grant academic or non academic, the only advatange you will have is that you will not have to pay out country (international tuition) as she would be a perm residence.

For initial year, she might even not qualify for in-state tuition as she has not lived long enough in-state, but I have heard cases where if the husband has lived long enough in the state, they might give her in-state.

[rika60607 215]

Ah yes, you must be correct. It is just that my department guaranteed Assistanship to every graduate student, so that seemed a norm to me (and any other grad student from other departments I've met had the same, although the stipend (assistantship) they were getting was different of course).

I guess it depends on university. But if OP is getting married, then another possible way for his wife to get a tuition waiver is to get a job at the university.

rika60607, tuition is NOT usually waived for graduate school. Where on earth did you hear that?! If tuition got waived for graduate school, I would currently be at CalTech!

The only way tuition is taken care of is if you have a Graduate Teaching/Research Assistantship. Then your department "pays" the bursar for you.

To the OP, just to give another experience like MrsFinland. My husband and I did a quick courthouse wedding just to get the immigration process started. It took us only about 10 minutes with an officiant! Yes, we are now legally married but to us, that part is just a piece of paper. Our "wedding" will be in July this year where we will have our families and friends there to celebrate with us. I'm really looking forward to it and I know my other half is too.

[Harsh_77 716]

Ah yes, you must be correct. It is just that my department guaranteed Assistanship to every graduate student, so that seemed a norm to me (and any other grad student from other departments I've met had the same, although the stipend (assistantship) they were getting was different of course).

I guess it depends on university. But if OP is getting married, then another possible way for his wife to get a tuition waiver is to get a job at the university.

There is no such thing as blanket tuition waiver.... and not all grad student get it.

Even if you work on campus you cannot get a waiver, yes you can get various perk and one of it can be where your assistant ship is paying for your tuition.

There are various jobs on campus, some are where you are working for external company like MacDonalds or Pizza Hut, somce could be working for the Univ in various dept.

So if you get a job with some dept on Univ, you might get some relief in tuition as you are staff now.

[Little_My 464]

Working for MacDonalds or Pizza Hut with an F1 visa would be visa violation.. unless the person was attending MacDonalds university. The only way to get permission to do that type of work as an F1 would be due to extreme financial hardship, which is very hard to prove since F1 petitioners need to show proof of adequate finances to fund not only their studies but their living expenses in the US before getting the visa. It is possible to do, if for example something unexpected happens in the students home country that affects his/her parents income, but it is always hard.

Other than that, F1 students can work ON campus - which basically means that your pay check needs to be coming from the university, and, under certain circumstances, for an international organization such as UN. There is also curricular practical training option, which is basically like an internship related to the person's field of studies, but for which the student can be paid for.

In all situations, F1 students always need to have employment authorization before accepting a paid job, and of course need to get an SSN.

I am a grad student in the US, and have never heard of tuition being waived for grad schools.. most offer scholarships (which is what made it possible for me to study here), and some offer lowered tuition rates for students who are employed at the university. It is very very rare that a grad student wouldn't have to pay any tuition at all - that usually only happens with very qualified, exceptionally talented students coming from low income countries.

[Harsh_77 716]

Working for MacDonalds or Pizza Hut with an F1 visa would be visa violation.. unless the person was attending MacDonalds university. The only way to get permission to do that type of work as an F1 would be due to extreme financial hardship, which is very hard to prove since F1 petitioners need to show proof of adequate finances to fund not only their studies but their living expenses in the US before getting the visa. It is possible to do, if for example something unexpected happens in the students home country that affects his/her parents income, but it is always hard.

Other than that, F1 students can work ON campus - which basically means that your pay check needs to be coming from the university, and, under certain circumstances, for an international organization such as UN. There is also curricular practical training option, which is basically like an internship related to the person's field of studies, but for which the student can be paid for.

In all situations, F1 students always need to have employment authorization before accepting a paid job, and of course need to get an SSN.

I am a grad student in the US, and have never heard of tuition being waived for grad schools.. most offer scholarships (which is what made it possible for me to study here), and some offer lowered tuition rates for students who are employed at the university. It is very very rare that a grad student wouldn't have to pay any tuition at all - that usually only happens with very qualified, exceptionally talented students coming from low income countries.

If they are on campus then you can work for Mac Donalds or Pizza Hut - but they got to be on campus.

Our campus had pizza hut and int. students were allowed to work with them, most campus has book stores which are owned and operated by company called follet and they are able to hire the int. students in fact they love to hire int. students as they can exploit them and pay bare min.

If they hire someone from off-campus then they have to pay competitive salary, but when they can find int students who have limited choice they get away with paying min wage.

[rika60607 215]

Well, now you heard it

I did not have to pay a dime in tuition fees throughout my grad school experience while being on F-1. I am not special. None of grad students in my department did. The US citizens sometimes chose to work off campus for the summer, because they would make more money that way. Of course, it took away from their research plans and was not encouraged by the faculty. Nobody paid tuition fees. Everyone registered for classes was either teaching or received research assistanship (research was part of the thesis, anyway).

However, we had to get approval for taking any classes outside our department (and it was tough) and international students were not allowed to take on or off campus jobs at all (teaching and research were considered duties, not jobs).

It must really depend on the specialty and on the university.

I am a grad student in the US, and have never heard of tuition being waived for grad schools.. most offer scholarships (which is what made it possible for me to study here), and some offer lowered tuition rates for students who are employed at the university. It is very very rare that a grad student wouldn't have to pay any tuition at all - that usually only happens with very qualified, exceptionally talented students coming from low income countries.

[missaero 7]

I never paid a dime of my own money for school either. It came as part of the assistantship package. Most schools offer these assistantships which require either research work or teaching or both and the tuition is paid directly by the department to your University Bursar. In fact, most are not aware this even happens.

The "duties" that you describe for international students were most likely linked to a GTA or GRA and you would be paid a stipend. Legally, this contract can only allow a F-1 student to be contracted for 20 hours of work a week. This is all that is allowed during school term by immigration. During school breaks, you can work freely on campus for 40 hours a week.

This kind of setup is pretty standard but it sounds like it was not transparent at your school.

[YozhikandBulochka 3]

Interesting....ill look into that for her. If she can get something like that...it would be very helpful financially for us.