F1/OPT MARRYING A US CTZN AND TRAVELLING 3 WEEKS LATER

[Nonetheless 0]

My fiance and I are getting married in November after two and a half years of being together. However, In December, I have to travel to Mexico (My home-country) to visit my old grandma. We are still unsure about doing my AOS even after coming back from Mexico because he has lived in Mexico and he is now applying for jobs down there. My question is, would I have problems when trying to enter the US again because I married a US citizen without adjusting my status? My OPT is still valid for 6 more months.

Another question that I have is, right now, I am the one who is working (he is finishing school) and in case that he gets accepted to the grad school of his dreams, we will stay here and I will keep working, therefore, I will need to do my AOS to stay legally and to be able to work. Will applying for the AOS void my OPT?

Thank you.

[embay16 12]

I don't know about the OPT and what conditions that has - solely for the F1 visa and being a non-immigrant status. To my knowledge, it would cause problems.

We dealt with the same thing with my husband. He is here on a F1 visa and needs to travel in a few weeks for a conference. Our attorney told us that he could not travel (mainly return) after marriage to a US citizen, as he is on a non-immigrant visa and would be denied re-entry, even though his visa is valid for another year, with an extension until 2020 possible (for PhD program). Even if you are not denied re-entry it could cause problems for when you do apply for your AOS, as you would have entered on a non-immigrant temporary visa, but with intentions to immigrate which is strictly prohibited. The only way this would not be an issue is if you do not end up applying for AOS, but some issues may still occur in re-entering.

We thought about waiting to apply for AOS but the attorney said it wouldn't matter (since we were planning to file at some point and would cause issues with his application), so we applied immediately after getting married, and waited to get the travel document (typically 3-4 months, although we were able to get it expedited due to severe financial loss).

Since you are not sure about your plans, I would not risk it and would go through the proper channels, and see if there is any way to move around your travel plans. We are a rare case on the expedition process, but you might be able to get it in a month and half like we did, depending on your circumstances and the officer who decides the case.