Ozzidoc

No worries. Stick around - there's lots of useful advice on these boards

Congrats on the marriage - very brave!

Poppy girl

To summerise.

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...77#post6541477

Should know this but been so long.

So if you marry on the VWP within 90days you can still come and go as you please right!! Before AOS.

But if you marry on the VWP and are over the 90days time frame and adjusting status you have to wait until you have been approved your AOS before you can leave.

Reedy189

hi poppy girl. well im under the 90 days, im married and just sending the AOS form off now and i dont want to leave lol. just making sure that while the AOS form is being processed i dont have to leave? im not going to get thrown out for being over the 90days? as apparentlly it takes a long time to process the AOS form and during that time i dont want to leave my wife.

ian-mstm

If you are currently in the US and you did *not* intend to stay when you entered the US, you should be okay. You and your wife will need to file form I-130, I-485, G-325, I-864, I-131, and I-765. Once you have filed all these forms *and* they are accepted (proof of which is a receipt from USICS), then you can stay in the US while your adjustment is processing. In 2 or 3 months, you'll receive permission to travel (Advance Parole) outside the US (I-131); and permission to work in the US (I-765). Once you have AP, you can travel. If you don't want to travel outside the US, you don't have to... just make sure that all those forms are filed!

Ian

Reedy189

I dont want to/ need to travel outside the US until all this AOS stuff is finished so i wont need the advanced parole form right? how long until i get the reciept? if my VWP goes over 90days while im waiting for the reciept, that cant be my fault?
apparentlly i can stay here until all the AOS is done? i just cant leave before its done or i wont be allowed back in right?

ian-mstm

Right... but it's included in the cost! Just so you understand, it might be a year or more until you get a green card.


Usually 6 or 8 weeks.


Of course it's your fault. That's one of the reasons it's a bad idea to marry on the VWP and attempt to stay in the US.


Once you have the USCIS receipt for filing, yes.


Right.

Now, all that said, you need to fully understand that of all the family-based immigration paths that could have been chosen, you've chosen the most difficult one.

Ian

californian

How does one substantiate a claim that they actually did intend to go home when they entered on VWP, and then, as if almost magically, things changed within 90 days and they could not, in fact, leave the country?

meauxna

Think creatively.. what are some of the things you would leave 'open' at home?
Evidence of those items can support the change of mind.

californian

All easily staged . . . our maybe I am just jealous that this works for people!

meauxna

Exactly.

But you wouldn't want to be the one caught out in a fabrication, would you?
If you're really thinking about the long-term, the choice is pretty simple in my mind.

californian

Oh, I agree. I don't have the gut for the risks involved!

Note: If there is anyone who has a legitimate VWP/AOS situation, I apologize for what may seem like a blanket statement (might include OP).

meauxna

If you re-read her first post in this thread, I would say that "might" does not apply.
There's a world of difference between planning this move ahead of US arrival, and things changing when someone is already in the US.

californian

Things changing is relative, I feel. A marriage definitely changes one's circumstances but plently of people get married in the US on VWP and the non-USC returns home for processing.

I don't know the OP's full details --- maybe there are extreme circumstance in there somewhere. In any case, I am not challenging our OP’s integrity but rather the system that allows people to use an impromptu marriage to substantiate AOS on VWP.

meauxna

Like the part where she met him after arriving.


Every decision has its consequences and different things work for different people. I don't see the benefit in removing the adjustment-from-nonimmigrant entry option.

Duncan Roberts

Actually, when your AOS is processing, regardless of how you got here in the first place, you are free to leave the country. However, your AOS and getting back in will be the problem. If you leave the country while your AOS is processing USCIS deems it an abandoned application and bins it. If you try and come back in you may have VWP overstay issues and/or a hard time because you are married to a USC and are obviously trying to live in the country as you previously had a pending AOS application. The advance parole means you will be able to re-enter the country with no ramifications to your application, nothing to do with leaving.