K1 Approved. What does my fiancé need to do to be able to study?

[K&D 0]

My fiance would like to study once we are married. We called the school and they say he needs a student visa to study there. I'm not sure they are understanding our situation. I told them he is coming on a K1 Fiance Visa. They told us he would have to change his status to a student visa. Our K1 visa has already been approved...we are not going to apply for a student visa now. Then we asked if they accepted an EAD (employment authorization document). They said no to that as well. Does anyone know what we need to do in order for him to study?

[Casprd 167]

My guess would be either a student visa or a green card. Not entirely sure but we had planned for my wife to go for a masters when she gets here so I'm curious to know as well

[SophWeb 25]

My fiance would like to study once we are married. We called the school and they say he needs a student visa to study there. I'm not sure they are understanding our situation. I told them he is coming on a K1 Fiance Visa. They told us he would have to change his status to a student visa. Our K1 visa has already been approved...we are not going to apply for a student visa now. Then we asked if they accepted an EAD (employment authorization document). They said no to that as well. Does anyone know what we need to do in order for him to study?

It really depends on the schools as to their admission requirements, but every school should take a greencard as proof of residency and therefore allow you to enroll in college.

Wait until you get your greencard, and then you should be able to study.

[Anh map 2,098]

The K1 does not allow someone to work or (often) enroll in a university. As stated above he will likely have to wait until the green card is obtained.

[VanessaTony 3,567]

The K1 does not allow someone to work or (often) enroll in a university. As stated above he will likely have to wait until the green card is obtained.

It REALLY depends on the school/university/college. There are multiple schools and universities that recognise a K1 and several in California in particular where proof of status is not required, only proof of where you live to find out if you need to pay in-state or out-of-state tuition.

[JoannaV 173]

Once he has his green card he can most certainly study. I guess it is up to the individual school as to when they allow someone to enrol. If this is the particular school he wants to study at, and they do not allow him to even enrol-for-the-future until he actually has the green card in hand, then unfortunately he will just have to wait till then to enrol. But if they had any sense they would let him enrol for the semester he expects to be here, even if they make having the green card a condition for him actually studying. Maybe once he gets here it would be worth trying to talk to someone in person, just in case they understand the situation better then.

[menina 50]

Once he has his green card he can most certainly study. I guess it is up to the individual school as to when they allow someone to enrol. If this is the particular school he wants to study at, and they do not allow him to even enrol-for-the-future until he actually has the green card in hand, then unfortunately he will just have to wait till then to enrol. But if they had any sense they would let him enrol for the semester he expects to be here, even if they make having the green card a condition for him actually studying. Maybe once he gets here it would be worth trying to talk to someone in person, just in case they understand the situation better then.

Here in CA, I just signed my husband up for school using his green card. We have a residency requirement, and tuition is much more for people who have not lived her for a year, so we waited to meet that requirement. You should check on those kind of rules too so that you don't end up paying extra.

[SophWeb 25]

Here in CA, I just signed my husband up for school using his green card. We have a residency requirement, and tuition is much more for people who have not lived her for a year, so we waited to meet that requirement. You should check on those kind of rules too so that you don't end up paying extra.

Agreed, often it's well worth the wait for the money saved.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

My fiance would like to study once we are married. We called the school and they say he needs a student visa to study there. I'm not sure they are understanding our situation. I told them he is coming on a K1 Fiance Visa. They told us he would have to change his status to a student visa. Our K1 visa has already been approved...we are not going to apply for a student visa now. Then we asked if they accepted an EAD (employment authorization document). They said no to that as well. Does anyone know what we need to do in order for him to study?

Nothing. He can study. Alla started her Masters program 5 days after arriving. The restrictions you are seeing are either someone who doesn't know what they are talking about OR it is a requirement of that school. Visas are not required by law to attend school, visas allow entry into the country. Schools can give instruction to anyone legally present in the country. SOME visas may NOT allow you to attend school (such as a tourist visa) but unless it says so, there is no restriction on attending school. K-1s are not restricted from attending school by any federal law.

Alla applied to several universities and this was never even an issue. She even had a 50% private grant IN PLACE before she arrived, The only thing she needed (for the grant) was an SSN which she got 16 hours after she arrived. K-1s are eligible for an SSN immediately on arrival.

[Seven 24]

What has been said so far is very true. It's very up to the college/university.

However, isn't an obligation by law to have a greencard in order to study.

I remember when I first contacted the college I applied for...They told me too that I probably would like to change my visa for an students visa but then the director of admissions did her job and researched about K1 and the whole AOS process.

Then they allowed me to go ahead and send my application with the condition of update them with the AOS immigration process. That's what I've been doing and right now I'm waiting for the Greencard approval (hopefully in some weeks) and the decision of admissions. (the semester starts on August. Oh, this college required me to take the TOEFL test too.

As well, I can tell you about a community college that all what they needed was my marriage certificate.

Others told me they needed at least a tax return with me appearing as my husband's wife and others asked for at least an EAD and others didn't need nothing but probably you would end up paying the international student fee.

My advice is the following: research a good program that fits you and you really like, get the information, research about high school or college transcripts sending to the future college you want to apply for. On the other hand, AOS processes have gone pretty fast compared with past years. (Many of the January filers have got their greencards in 2 months, 2 months and a half or 3).

Wish you all the best!

Edited April 4, 2011 by Seven