student visa to IR-1?

[jaasb 0]

Hi everyone,

I'm just getting started in this process and it's all pretty confusing - hoping you guys can clarify some things for me. I am an American citizen living in California, and I married my wife this year - she is a Chinese national currently in the country on a student visa. She graduates this month, and from what I have gathered, she has 2 months from her graduation date to leave the country.

We are currently not sure if we will be moving to China or staying in the US for the foreseeable future - we will know better at the end of this summer. To further complicate things, we will be traveling to China this summer (July) with a planned return of late August - early September.

What are our options at this point? Do we move ahead with the IR-1 application immediately? Will she be able to come back into the US at the end of summer? If necessary, is there any sort of temporary visa option to allow her back into the US, if the IR-1 is not complete?

I am thinking about finding an immigration lawyer to help us through this process.

Any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks everyone.

[canadian_wife 1,829]

How does she plan on returning to the US in August? If she graduates this month (May) she'll have until the end of July to leave.

How will she return to the US?

You need to file her adjustment of status now, plus her documents that will permit her to travel.

Good luck

[PMartin37 161]

I'm relatively new here but I will offer some advice IF you are planning to go to China this summer. I'm not sure where in China your wife is from but if you qualify for direct consular filing in her country this would be the FASTEST route for her to gain legal permanent residency for the U.S. I'll offer this link for you to review

http://www.visajourney.com/content/dcf You can go to the link for U.S. dept of state and click on her city to see if a consulate/embassy is located there that offers it. I only suggest this because if both of you are there, you can file all the paperwork together and get er done overseas and come back together.

I imagine some of the members with spouse's from China could offer more comprehensive advice.

I'm not familiar with adjusting status from a student visa.. Unless she plans to continue her studies- with another student visa.

[PMartin37 161]

Hi everyone,

I'm just getting started in this process and it's all pretty confusing - hoping you guys can clarify some things for me. I am an American citizen living in California, and I married my wife this year - she is a Chinese national currently in the country on a student visa. She graduates this month, and from what I have gathered, she has 2 months from her graduation date to leave the country.

We are currently not sure if we will be moving to China or staying in the US for the foreseeable future - we will know better at the end of this summer. To further complicate things, we will be traveling to China this summer (July) with a planned return of late August - early September.

What are our options at this point? Do we move ahead with the IR-1 application immediately? Will she be able to come back into the US at the end of summer? If necessary, is there any sort of temporary visa option to allow her back into the US, if the IR-1 is not complete?

I am thinking about finding an immigration lawyer to help us through this process.

Any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks everyone.

Just to clarify.. Have you already applied for the I-130 petition? Have you been approved?

[Ryan H 3,834]

We are currently not sure if we will be moving to China or staying in the US for the foreseeable future - we will know better at the end of this summer. To further complicate things, we will be traveling to China this summer (July) with a planned return of late August - early September.

As Canadian wife has stated, if she graduates this month, she will have to leave in July and will not be able to return in late August or early September.

If necessary, is there any sort of temporary visa option to allow her back into the US, if the IR-1 is not complete?

No. Furthermore, IR-1 is a visa that is granted to a foreign spouse living overseas when they have been married to their US Citizen spouse for two or more years.

While you can immediately start the Adjustment of Status Process, it may not be worth your while to do so if you end up moving to China at the end of the summer unless you don't mind loosing the money you would pay in filing fees for AOS only to abandon that process.

IF you are planning to go to China this summer. I'm not sure where in China your wife is from but if you qualify for direct consular filing in her country this would be the FASTEST route for her to gain legal permanent residency for the U.S. I'll offer this link for you to review

http://www.visajourney.com/content/dcf You can go to the link for U.S. dept of state and click on her city to see if a consulate/embassy is located there that offers it. I only suggest this because if both of you are there, you can file all the paperwork together and get er done overseas and come back together.

I imagine some of the members with spouse's from China could offer more comprehensive advice.

This is a non-starter for the OP in his current situation. In order to qualify for DCF, the OP must reside in China for 6 months or more before filing the petition at one of the two USCIS field offices in China AND the OP must have a valid Chinese residence permit; tourist visa extensions will not count.

Moving from IR-1/CR-1 Process & Procedures to Adjustment of Status from Student, Work, and Tourist visas forum as this topic is more closely related to that process.

Edited May 22, 2012 by Ryan H

[grrrrreat 109]

I'm relatively new here but I will offer some advice IF you are planning to go to China this summer. I'm not sure where in China your wife is from but if you qualify for direct consular filing in her country this would be the FASTEST route for her to gain legal permanent residency for the U.S. I'll offer this link for you to review

http://www.visajourney.com/content/dcf You can go to the link for U.S. dept of state and click on her city to see if a consulate/embassy is located there that offers it. I only suggest this because if both of you are there, you can file all the paperwork together and get er done overseas and come back together.

I imagine some of the members with spouse's from China could offer more comprehensive advice.

I'm not familiar with adjusting status from a student visa.. Unless she plans to continue her studies- with another student visa.

No, no, no. Direct consular filing is no longer offered anywhere in the world. You are months if not years behind the time.

USCIS will permit you to file directly at an international "field office" if there is a field office in your country of residence AND you are resident there. Since they are not resident in China, this route will not work.

Since the alien is in the U.S., you should consider adjusting status now and hoping that you are able to obtain advance parole before you need to leave. Don't leave without AP. This also assumes that there was never an overstay. If there was ever an overstay, you can't leave at all until the LPR card is issued or you will not be allowed back in the U.S.

[jaasb 0]

thank you everyone. i will file for the adjustment of status immediately and hope for results.

assuming we don't get it in time (and that she left before the 2-month deadline), will she be able to reenter the US with me on any other visa (so we can move, etc)? or will we have to stay overseas until we get all of that sorted?

[grrrrreat 109]

thank you everyone. i will file for the adjustment of status immediately and hope for results.

assuming we don't get it in time (and that she left before the 2-month deadline), will she be able to reenter the US with me on any other visa (so we can move, etc)? or will we have to stay overseas until we get all of that sorted?

If she leaves during adjustment of status and before advance parole is approved, her application for adjustment will be abandoned. In addition, any non-immigrant visa she has will be cancelled. Theoretically she could obtain a visitor visa for the purpose of entering the U.S. to help you move (not to stay permanently), but I think that it is highly unlikely that they would grant that visa to someone who had already applied for adjustment.

If she can wait till advance parole is approved, she can leave and enter the U.S. without affecting the adjustment application, although if you decide not to move to the U.S. she will have to probably have to abandon the application.

One more thought: what exactly is going to making you move out of the U.S.? In certain cases a U.S. citizen can retain LPR status for their spouse and possibly even apply for expedited naturalization even if they leave the U.S. This is only the case for military service, U.S. government employment or working at certain non-governmental organizations, though.

Edited May 22, 2012 by grrrrreat