Question re: obtaining an offer letter to expedite EAD

[NYC-AB 56]

My wife and I will be filing an AOS soon based on her status as an F1 student visa holder. She is currently on OPT, which will expire in the summer. She is a teacher, so the OPT will expire prior to the start of the new school year. Given that receiving an EAD can take 4-6 months, we would like to expedite the EAD since there's a chance a non-expedited EAD would not come in time. Her employer (a school) has never (as far as we know) dealt with immigration issues before, so they are being extremely cautious.

 

We would like to receive an offer letter from the school stating that they intend to keep her on for the following year. We just wanted to confirm, however, that it is legal for an employer to give out an offer letter to someone for a period of time where that individual will not yet have work authorization. (It makes intuitive sense, since I imagine companies hire foreigners all the time, and then go through the visa process for them once the offer letter has been sent out). I did some googling, but have had some trouble finding literature that indicates that directly.

[USS_Voyager 1,971]

31 minutes ago, NYC-AB said:

My wife and I will be filing an AOS soon based on her status as an F1 student visa holder. She is currently on OPT, which will expire in the summer. She is a teacher, so the OPT will expire prior to the start of the new school year. Given that receiving an EAD can take 4-6 months, we would like to expedite the EAD since there's a chance a non-expedited EAD would not come in time. Her employer (a school) has never (as far as we know) dealt with immigration issues before, so they are being extremely cautious.

 

We would like to receive an offer letter from the school stating that they intend to keep her on for the following year. We just wanted to confirm, however, that it is legal for an employer to give out an offer letter to someone for a period of time where that individual will not yet have work authorization. (It makes intuitive sense, since I imagine companies hire foreigners all the time, and then go through the visa process for them once the offer letter has been sent out). I did some googling, but have had some trouble finding literature that indicates that directly.

Yes, employers are allowed to give offers. Your wife is allowed to go to interviews and apply for jobs. She is just not allowed to work, when there is no work authorization. 

 

Expedited processing requires more than just a job offer. Lots of people have job offers and have to wait for EAD, or they had a job and their EAD expired and they have to stop working to wait for the new EAD. 

Expedited processing requires an emergency or severe financial losses, documented financial losses, not just because "I need to work".

 

USCIS reviews all expedite requests on a case-by-case basis and requests are granted at the discretion of the office leadership. The burden is on the applicant or petitioner to demonstrate that one or more of the expedite criteria have been met.

USCIS may expedite a petition or application if it meets one or more of the following criteria:

 

Severe financial loss to company or person;
Emergency situation;
Humanitarian reasons;
Nonprofit organization whose request is in furtherance of the cultural and social interests of the United States;
Department of Defense or national interest situation (These particular expedite requests must come from an official U.S. government entity and state that delay will be detrimental to the government.);
USCIS error; or
Compelling interest of USCIS

 

https://www.uscis.gov/forms/expedite-criteria

Edited March 6, 2019 by USS_Voyager

[NYC-AB 56]

3 minutes ago, USS_Voyager said:

Yes, employers are allowed to give offers. Your wife is allowed to go to interviews and apply for jobs. She is just not allowed to work, there is no work authorization. 

 

Expedited processing requires more than just a job offer. Lots of people have job offers and have to wait for EAD, or they had a job and their EAD expired and they have to stop working to wait for the new EAD. 

Expedited processing requires an emergency or severe financial losses, documented financial losses, not just because "I need to work".

 

USCIS reviews all expedite requests on a case-by-case basis and requests are granted at the discretion of the office leadership. The burden is on the applicant or petitioner to demonstrate that one or more of the expedite criteria have been met.

USCIS may expedite a petition or application if it meets one or more of the following criteria:

 

Severe financial loss to company or person;
Emergency situation;
Humanitarian reasons;
Nonprofit organization whose request is in furtherance of the cultural and social interests of the United States;
Department of Defense or national interest situation (These particular expedite requests must come from an official U.S. government entity and state that delay will be detrimental to the government.);
USCIS error; or
Compelling interest of USCIS

 

https://www.uscis.gov/forms/expedite-criteria

Thanks for confirming!

Understood that a job offer may very well be insufficient to expedite the EAD. I've searched the site and have seen some others have success, however, and we are of course going to try to submit additional documentation as evidence to support our request.

[geowrian 22,335]

Yup, no issue applying for work. Just don't actually work without authorization.

Good luck.

[NYC-AB 56]

21 hours ago, geowrian said:

Yup, no issue applying for work. Just don't actually work without authorization.

Good luck.

Thank you! A follow-up question:

 

One of the USCIS criteria is: "Nonprofit organization whose request is in furtherance of the cultural and social interests of the United States." Given that she works for a public school (and thus a non-profit organization), can we rely on this basis? Or is this criterion one that only applies when an employer is sponsoring an individual for work authorization (rather than AOS based on marriage)?

[geowrian 22,335]

15 minutes ago, NYC-AB said:

One of the USCIS criteria is: "Nonprofit organization whose request is in furtherance of the cultural and social interests of the United States." Given that she works for a public school (and thus a non-profit organization), can we rely on this basis? Or is this criterion one that only applies when an employer is sponsoring an individual for work authorization (rather than AOS based on marriage)? 

Every expedite request is discretionary and based upon the specific circumstances involved.

Personally, I would stick with the financial financial loss as this is a well-traveled path. No guarantees, but there are a lot of people who have done this with a job offer and been successful.

 

The "furtherance of the cultural and social interests" would be a tougher sell IMHO. I would chalk that one up to being more successful for things like charity work. I could be wrong, but it just seems like a tougher argument.

[NYC-AB 56]

3 minutes ago, geowrian said:

Every expedite request is discretionary and based upon the specific circumstances involved.

Personally, I would stick with the financial financial loss as this is a well-traveled path. No guarantees, but there are a lot of people who have done this with a job offer and been successful.

 

The "furtherance of the cultural and social interests" would be a tougher sell IMHO. I would chalk that one up to being more successful for things like charity work. I could be wrong, but it just seems like a tougher argument.

That makes sense. Her school has expressed a willingness to submit a letter on our behalf as well, so our hope is that, in theory, they could push the "cultural and social interests" angle (to the extent they are comfortable doing so) while we also pursue the financial loss angle as the primary means for expedition.

[Ronnie12345 4]

On 3/7/2019 at 2:29 PM, NYC-AB said:

That makes sense. Her school has expressed a willingness to submit a letter on our behalf as well, so our hope is that, in theory, they could push the "cultural and social interests" angle (to the extent they are comfortable doing so) while we also pursue the financial loss angle as the primary means for expedition.

How did it go? I’m also a teacher and thinking about expediting EAD and all I have is an offer to start (in August) but they need to hear back from

me by end of April because if I can’t work, they will recruit somebody else before the summer holidays. 
 

I’m not sure what kind of evidence they need other than a letter of a job offer. 

[my&aaron 54]

19 hours ago, Ronnie12345 said:

How did it go? I’m also a teacher and thinking about expediting EAD and all I have is an offer to start (in August) but they need to hear back from

me by end of April because if I can’t work, they will recruit somebody else before the summer holidays. 
 

I’m not sure what kind of evidence they need other than a letter of a job offer. 

Here's what I did in terms of supporting documents for my expedite request. Basically after you file the request through an USCIS officer on the basis of financial loss, your request will be reviewed. They can straight up deny you or they will ask for supporting documents from you. They requested supporting docs from me so see below. My timeline can be found on my signature so you can see how long it took me. 

 

Some of the documents are very specific to my situation, so I would list out everything that would be considered a financial constraint to you, had you have to pass on this offer. 

 

A paragraph talking about the losses I would face:

 

"The loss of this job offer will not only result in a severe financial loss to us but also will consequently impact my career as I stand to suffer a major professional setback, given the unique nature of this opportunity. Lastly, I would lose the opportunity to have health insurance coverage through this employer as I am not currently insured since my husband and I cannot afford to pay the spouse premium.

 

Please find the following documents to support my claims, presented in the following order:

1. USCIS email notice requesting additional information
2. Job offer letter highlighting the expiration date of abc. 
3. Proof of the employment gap: previous EAD card, Employment verification letter from my previous employer
4. Proof of current health situation: not insured, needing emergency wisdom teeth extractions, Proof of my husband’s current health insurance plan stating a $x increase in premium per month for spouse, Dentist’s emergency treatment plan for three wisdom teeth extractions estimating over $x
5. Outstanding monthly expenses that are currently being paid solely by my husband: Residential rental contract showing our monthly rent of $x
6. Outstanding loans that are currently being paid solely by my husband: A student loan statement with a remaining balance of $x, Auto loan statements with a total remaining balance of $x, A wedding expenses loan statement with a total remaining balance of $x
7. A certified copy of marriage certificate