gakuenso

Oh, I have another question. There is the I130 processing time and the F2A bulletin. What is the exact relationship between these two?

The current F2A is May 2010, where as the processing time is only 5 months. Does this mean the following:

1. File for I130 -> wait 5 months -> I130 approved -> wait 2 years -> get I485 -> wife can quit student/leave F1 status?

If you want her to be with you while waiting for her green card, she has to maintain a legal status for the whole time.

You have less rights as LPR as you would have as USC. And she has less rights as LPR's wife (not girlfriend or a fiance).

That's the difference.

And as LPR, you can't apply for her, unless she becomes your wife, but I guess you know that already.

Yes - for the sake of argument we're already legally married. So marriage is not an issue. But its a matter of what other forms of legal statuses can she have aside from an F1 (since waiting 2 years for an I130 is somewhat absurd)

I'm not on H1B - I'm on green card - just wanted to know if there was a safe way to keep my fiance with me without going through the F1

Boggles my mind.

Hm thanks for the response - how is it that H1B visa holders are able to so quickly have their spouses arrive and live with them? I don't necessarily need my fiance to work. It seems that having a green card is almost one step below H1B in terms being able to have spouse stay with me.

Hi everyone, I'm not quite sure where this belongs, so here's our situation:

Me:

US Permanent Resident (roughly 3.5 years to go until I can get citizenship)

My Fiance:

F1 Visa 1st year PhD student, wants to quit.

We will get married very soon.

Our dilemma:

1. My fiance wants to stay in the US and live with me - without having to goto school.

2. She can't file I-485 until I-130 is approved AFAIK.

3. Currently wait time for I-130 approval is about 2 years. She doesn't have a valid status otherwise.

Thus, if she: drops out of school and files I-130, she will lose her status, and no longer be allowed to stay in the US?

ie. There's no other way for her to stay with me unless she finishes school so as to maintain a valid F1 status?

What are our options?