South African

Scandi. . So if I file the I-765 with the I-485 the i-765 is free?

I believe it is, even though I am already here in the US.

Thank you for the info tho

Hey guys

Thanks in advance for your help.

I'm about to file my I-485 form, I'm married to a USC and we have been living together for about 8months. I came over as an aupair about two and a half years ago on a J1 Visa,212e does not apply to me. We are now planning to file our paperwork, my Visa has been expired for about 3 months, I need to know what forms I HAVE to file along with I-485, only those that are absolutely necessary as we don't have enough money to file them all at once. 

Any help will be greatly appreciated thank you.

Is it possible to have a co-sponsor that is in a different country?

Im engaged to a USC, we were on our way to get our marriage license together but my purse was stolen along with my South African passport in it. My current visa expires in about 6 months, the process to get a replacement takes about 6ish months and thats just being hopeful. My question is whether we need my passport to get the license or not, i do have my South African ID, unabridged birth certificate as well as my DS-2019 form that states i am here legally with the date of expiration, and US homeland stamps etc. We wanted to get the legal part of the marriage over sooner so that we can open our joint bank accounts and get and apartment etc to add  to our paperwork of AOS. Please can someone help me out as ive tried calling the court houses and city clerks only to end up in voicemail,  let me give you guys thanks ahead of time for any help you can offer ,it is much appriciated

2 hours ago, Californiansunset said:

Just something I want you to consider is before you join that lawsuit, just because I fully understand where you are coming from as I was an Au Pair before as well:

First of all, you agreed to this pay BEFORE you joined this family. You didn't have to, it was your choice. If you are not happy with your current pay because it's a lot more work than what you anticipated (and your family mightve said) then ask for a raise. If you lay out the problems and additional work you have with one of the children and ask for a reasonable pay increase, I'm sure the family will be open to some sort of negotiation. If they don't want to pay more, then they might just offer to get another Au Pair who would love to get the chance to come to the US and work for this family in order to improve her English etc. Because in the end. let's be honest, there are way more girls who want to be an Au Pair in the US than there is demand. 

 

By increasing the pay for Au Pairs, all that's mainly going to happen is that people will stop getting J1 Au Pairs from abroad because they will be too expensive and will instead rather look for someone on Au Pair 'black market' pages or even for people within the U.S. The latter will rob people of the chance to live and experience the American culture. Also I know a lot of people who didn't go through an Au Pair agency (especially after the financial crisis in 2009 when I was looking for an Au Pair family in the U.S.) but found their families through other homepages because the agencies are too expensive. These people technically come to the US illegal with a B1/B2 visa and work as an Au Pair.

 

By making the legal way even more expensive than it already is for a family, the demand for foreign Au Pairs will drop significantly. Just something to think of... I also didn't like how little I got paid (not that it matters but I was getting paid less than you are and was working around 50 hours) but I was still considering the rent I was saving as well as the food my salary as well. And if you take as an argument that you offered them to live somewhere else then you are taking away the main part of the Au Pair experience... to live with that American family. This family would be better off getting a 'real' Au Pair then.  

I completely understand that which was why I came here to ask advice on it, by the way I pay for my own food so that can be taken out if it. I get what you're saying but I also paid a lot if money to the agency just like the family did and I have held up my end of contract so I would expect them to do the same, I have explained and asked them for a raise on multiple occasions and the outcome remains the same, now let's say I do to them what they are doing to me and decide to do whatever I wanted to do and refused to work more than the original amount of hours or the work that I originally came over here to do, then I would be in the wrong right??? So its okay for them to take advantage of the fact that I am here in their home but not for me to try to put a stop to it? The whole point of this program is to learn their culture and explore with them, something you cannot do if you're working 6 days a week for almost 10 hours a day so again I'll say i Dont blame the family I blame my agency for selling 1 thing to me and another to the family i am with

14 minutes ago, Umka36 said:

I'm not sure anyone would use an au pair if you cannot deduct the cost of room and board (isn't it also a requirement that the au pair lives with the host family?). I have a friend who has an au pair and they also had to provide a vehicle usage (including covering the insurance). When I get the chance, I'm going to ask them about their compensation obligation.

Host families are required to:

• Pay up to $500 toward the cost of the au pair’s required academic course work;
• Provide an appropriate suitable private room and three meals a day for the au pair;
• Be U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents fluent in spoken English;
• Pay a weekly minimum stipend based on the program option selected;
• Give the au pair one complete weekend off each month (Friday evening to Monday morning);
• Facilitate the care provider’s requirement to enroll in and attend an accredited post-secondary institution to fulfill her Educational Component requirement;
• Provide a minimum of two weeks paid vacation for each 12 month exchange term (prorated for extension periods of six or nine months), in addition to regular weekly/monthly time off;
• Include the au pair whenever possible in family meals, outings, holidays and other events; and
• Host families and Au Pairs must sign an Agreement detailing the au pair’s obligation to provide child care prior to the Au Pair’s placement in the host family’s home. In the event of questions regarding refunds or other adjustments, host families and au pairs should refer to their agreements. The Department of State does not have jurisdiction over contractual obligations.

 

https://j1visa.state.gov/programs/au-pair#hostsemployers

 

It all depends in the agency, as I said the host families and aupairs are not the issue, agencies tell host families one thing then and tell aupairs another, I was one of the unfortunate ones that ended up with a agency that cares more about their bottom line than they do their aupairs, the several complaints I've made I've been told to just smile and work overtime to keep the family happy which is not how it is suppose to be, the promises that were made by both my agency and host family is entirely different once I arrived, I was supposed to have access to a car but that has since changed, I was not supposed to be changing adult diapers or bathing a teenager but once I arrived i was told I would get used to it and to do as I was told, the hours agreed upon were 30hrs a week but once I arrived I work over 45, I'm suppose to have 1.5 days off a week and 1 full weekend off a month but that's isn't always the case I'm forced to drive long distances when they Dont want to and have no say in when I want to take my 2 weeks vacation time, what is promised and what is actually given are two completely different things... And before anyone says that I should just leave it is not that simple and extremely expensive to do just that and i will be given the bad rep regardless of the outcome, its much more difficult than resigning, once I start that process I still have to live with them for 2 weeks which would be uncomfortable and full if tension 

1 hour ago, Californiansunset said:

1 hour ago, Californiansunset said:

What you need to consider as an au pair is that you are being provided and paid for with housing and food. So the $4.25 is only your extra pay but add to that the cost of you having to pay for your own room in your area plus food and you have your actual pay. 

This would be true however, the families require us to live with them therefore they are not allowed to deduct 40% of the pay for "board and food" this was what was brought up by the agency but was thrown out because we are not given the choice or option in where we live, even if it were apart of the reason then we should still get paid by labor law a minimum of $7.25/$7.50, I brought up the option that I would live with my fiancé and was told they could not allow that as they need me early mornings and till bed time and it would inconvenience them which is why they cannot say that its for my benefit, they are they only ones who benefit from it

Thanks cyberfx1024 and everyone else, it is much appreciated.

2 hours ago, cyberfx1024 said:

You are getting married right, is your future spouse a USC and that's why you wondering about AOS?

Yes in 2 weeks time, I was told that my agency could ruin my plans by canceling my visa before then and reporting me to immigration but I assume that is just a scare tactic

At the moment I'm getting 4.25 an hour for 45 hours a week and the family has said that they are not required to give me a raise as the agency has told them they do not need to

5 hours ago, cyberfx1024 said:

It sounds like they are trying to get you to join a class action lawsuit. Which even if you win you will literally get pennies on the dollar what you think your owed.

 

Have you talked to the family that employs you and ask for a raise?

2 hours ago, Coco8 said:

It sounds like too much work and you will not get anything. Also, you could have left the job at any time so that is going nowhere. You cannot do a lawsuit because they were not paying you enough. For that you ask for a raise or you quit.

If I just quit I may be denied any type of visa in the future due to the way the department of state has set up the process, the lawsuit is already on going and was started by other aupairs as a set of aupair companies have not followed the state laws when considering our weekly pay, so the lawsuit doesn't actually affect my host family. The agencies have fixed lower pay rates in order to compete and make it more appealing to american families who need cheap child care, the suit is for underpaid and overworked aupairs that agencies don't actually protect and enforce the rules as they have stated that they did not need to notify the families of the state laws considering our pays, they intentionally tell families and au pairs that the weekly pay is set by the state department however the state denied these claims and the lawsuit won against the agencies trying to have it dismissed in July and is now moving forward

I was emailed by a law firm that is suing for back pay concerning the low rates I'm being played as an aupair, they asked me to join their lawsuit. My question is I get married in the next two weeks and I want to know if there can be any backlash with my visa/ AOS because of this lawsuit and if I should join it? I've been here for over a year and look after and look after 14 year old twins, one has cerebral palsy and is in a wheelchair so its a lot of work and according to the states laws I'm supposed to be paid way more than what I'm getting as they are both on medication and I deal with a lot of physical abuse from the wheelchair bound child, eg, he bites my face and arms, hits, pinches, scratches, grabs my breast etc. Im not sure what to do because my agency doesn't care nor do my host parents , if I join can I be sent home???

On 7/17/2016 at 2:55 PM, omarr123 said:

Thanks for the reply. I already got the waiver. But regarding the extension, my Phd program (a J1) is not finished. If I apply for AOS, will it be okay if I continue in the program without extending the J1 . I am very confused about this point

From what I understand once you apply for AOS your J1 Visa becomes null and void as you will then go into the pending phase. I'm not a lawyer so I'm unsure if this is 100% correct but once you file that paperwork you will be unable to participate in the program, I'm currently on a J1 Visa as an aupair and I am also married to a US citizen but I am waiting to file my paperwork during my 'grace period' I'm doing it this way because once you file the AOS paperwork you are allowed to stay in the USA legally until your process is over with this will allow me to complete my program and build my case. I hope that helps you. wishing you all the best

I'm in Illinois and so is he, I do not have the 2 year stay requirement. 

Thank you

I am South African and have been in the USA for over a year now, my boyfriend and I decided we wanted to get married, I'm currently here on a J1 Visa as an aupair and have extended so this is my second year here, my question for you guys is what paperwork will we need before we can actually get married and how long will it take for us to get it together before we do the deed??? 

Thank you guys in advance