calworthington

If you get married in court you can get a certified copy of your marriage certificate immediately - you pay $5 or $10 per copy, can't remember how much exactly. Just make sure you do it before their closing time. That's what we did (not to get the copy faster but because we couldn't afford a wedding, neither I wanted one without my family here).

Thanks for all the answers everyone. I just got got the official copies of our marriage license and gonna mail off the i-485, i-130, and affidavit of support forms this week!

i'll repeat myself.

the 'out of status' time that she will incur, will be forgiven, USUALLY, with nothing more to fill out on her behalf.

But - she'll be out of status between:

student visa expiration date to NOA-1 date from the AOS package.

Once the NOA-1 is in hand, her status changes to 'AOS Pending'

If you go this route - DO NOT LEAVE THE USA until Green Card in hand.

Seriously - make a calendar. use paper and pencil.

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Ok its becoming a bit clearer...

My question is, should we take the risk that her out of status time will be forgiven, or should she go to Canada and return back here using her Canadian permanent resident card and be here as a tourist while the paperwork is pending? Its alot of traveling, but is that a viable option that way there is no trouble with being out of status?

from what I've read -

any 'out of status' time is forgiven , when transiting from a student visa into a spousal visa , if the alien remains in the usa all the time (ie - don't leave until green card in hand)

so she's PI citizen, with almost a Canadien PR status, today, in the USA , on a student visa, right?

If she stays in the usa after her student status expires, you two marry soonish, and file for AOS soonish, then I THINK she'll be ok (again, as long as she not leave USA). I could be dead wrong, of course.

Break out a calendar, mock up some timelines for her AOS case, ya?

Good Luck !

read this guide -> http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...page=i130guide2

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Hello and thanks for the response!

Yes shes a PI citizen, a Permanent Resident of Canada, here in the US on a student Visa, and will Marry me on feb 26... Alot to process!

Yeah we are worried that it will look bad if her student Visa ends in mid March and she stays here instead of going back to Canada...But by then we will be married and will be just waiting for the marriage certificate to send off the AOS forms. I think basically I'm wonder whether or not it is allowed for her to stay here since she will be married to me, but her student Visa is expired.

I will check out that link right now...

Hello all and thanks in advance for any help, advice or information you can provide....

Here is some background. My fiance tried out Art school and it wasn't anything like what she expected it to be so she plans to quit school at the end of Feb. The school told her that her student Visa will expire 15 days from the time she quits school so I'm guessing around March 15. We have plans to marry on Feb 26 and then send forms 485 and 130 once I receive the marriage license which with expedited shipping will be around 10 working days from what the county clerk told me. We contacted an immigration officer and she told us to make sure we are married before she is out of status, but make sure to leave for Canada before her student visa expires, then return to the united states and just tell the person at POE that she plans to stay with her husband while her paperwork is processing. The immigration officer told me that there shouldn't be a problem as long as there is no overstaying on an expired visa...

My questions are:

Is there any way that my wife can she stay while the 485 and 130 are pending?

If we get married feb 26, her student visa expires around march 15, but the marriage certificate doesn't come until after march 15 and we can't send the forms until after her student visa expires, can she still file her status as tourist or will she be classified as overstaying?

Should she return to Canada where she has a newly issued permanent resident card, then return here after a month or two on her tourist visa so that there is no danger of overstaying? Is there any danger of Canada not allowing her to enter the U.S?

Please advise...