MakPolny

You definitely gave me something to think about, thank you! I'm not eligible for any deduction with my current status (apart from 2k from the treaty), so that would be indeed quite a change for us

Thank you for a quick answer! We chose January because of my travel to Europe in October (I constantly find conflicting information online about the 90-day rule), and because it has a sentimental meaning for me, but I could obviously get over that. I have a tuition waiver, so I don't consider education costs (although my PI would be happy if I were on the in-state tuition), and two weeks in what seems to be a 12+ month wait to get GC don't seem like too much. From a quick Google search, I don't think we'd get too many tax benefits, too (but I must admit, neither of us is too good with taxes).

Hello, and I apologize in advance that my post might be a little bit chaotic, but I'm just at the beginning of my journey. I came to the US for graduate school, as the research group I was working with already during my Bachelor's is US-based. Two years in, I met my future husband. We plan to get married in January '24. I have around 1 - 1.5 years left to finish my degree, and then I can apply for up to 3 years of OPT as I'm doing PhD in a STEM field. However, although I wouldn't be too worried about finding a job anywhere in the US after I get my degree, finding it around the city we currently live in might be more challenging - and we are bound here for the next couple of years because of my partner's child. Therefore I feel it would be beneficial to apply for AOS as soon as we're married (also, to the best of my understanding, traveling with F1 status while I'm married to a US citizen might be tricky). We plan to fill out and send the forms (I-130, I-864, and I-485) ourselves, as the money is rather tight. So far, I have a few questions: First, about the sponsorship. My partner himself makes only slightly above the guidance for the 3 people's household, but I do have my own income as I work at the university. Can I add myself as a co-sponsor (or should we somehow file the sponsorship jointly)? The other question is about taxes. I understand, that later on for the removing condition filling out taxes jointly seems like the best bet... But as I will still be a non-resident alien next spring, and my country has a tax treaty signed with the US that I'm still using (which in my case just means that $2k of my yearly income is not taxable at all), I wonder if we shouldn't wait with filing jointly a year longer. I have no idea what financial benefits might come from filling jointly, and I'm pretty sure I would have to do some back pay on the treaty, which I'd prefer to avoid. Last but not least - how do I find a doctor's office that would do the medical exam required for AOS? I assume the office must be somehow approved by immigration, and I'm completely lost on this step. Can I do the medical before getting married to save time, or is it frowned upon? Thank you for all your replies!