Work authorisation on K1 visa - advice needed!
 

I'm hopefully moving to the US on a K1 visa in August (subject to the whim of the US Embassy in London!). My point of entry will probably be San Francisco airport on a flight from Mexico where my fiance, his family and I will be attending my future brother-in-law's wedding. I will be applying for (conditional) permanent residency once there.

We plan on getting married ASAP following my arrival in the States and I would like to work as soon as I possibly can. Can I work before our marriage takes place? Is there some kind of authorisation I can apply for? How do I go about doing that?

If not, how do I apply for work authorisation after the wedding? How long does it usually take for this to be approved? Is the application for work authorisation just part of the application for (conditional) permanent residency?

I'm slightly confused so thanks in advance for all your help!!

Re: Work authorisation on K1 visa - advice needed!
 

A K-1 entrant is work authorized for the first 90 days after entry. However, the only POE which gives a stamp to provide evidence of such work authorization is JFK. So you will have work authorization, you just won't have the proof of such to show a potential employer (for the first 90 days after entry).

Once you marry and file AOS, the I-765 for the 1-year EAD (employment authorization document) is part of the AOS package you will file. It takes about 90 days to receive it from the time you file for AOS.

If you can manage to get an employer to hire you without firm proof of your eligibility to work, then yes, you can work right after you arrive. If not, you'll have to wait until you get your EAD in hand - maybe a few months after arrival.

You'll also need proof that you've applied for your SS card, to show a potential employer. You should apply for your SS card about 10 days after your arrival.

Be aware that there may be a gap in your work authorization between your first 90 days and the time you receive your 1-year EAD in hand. You will be unauthorized to work during this gap.

Best Wishes,
Rene

Re: Work authorisation on K1 visa - advice needed!
 

Sigh. An FAQ. I'll let others handle this one. If I answer I will get mightily sarcastic towards the law and the DHS and OP will be puzzled.

Bottom line -- put in the work authorization application [form I-765] with your adjustment application. [When they recently jacked up the filing fee of the I-485 adjustment application by 250%, they made the I-765 "free." But it pays to remember TANSTAFL.]

There is another string going on right now that suggest using JFK as the point of entry. There are many flights out of New York. [Last year, we flew from Tegel to Heathrow to JFK, laid over two nights and flew from EWR to LAX. The connections were quite easy].

Good luck.

Re: Work authorisation on K1 visa - advice needed!
 

Rene:

To counter the imposition of the confiscatory filing fees last July, not only were the fees on the I-765 removed if filed concurrently with the I-485, but the fee was no longer needed for renewed EAD's. I haven't seen an EAD yet on a post 7-30-2008 filing, so I don't know how this will work out in practice.

BTW, thanks for making me read the 2006 I-864 regs carefully -- a lot of people still don't know about it -- including not only many lawyers, but also CIS officers!

Re: Work authorisation on K1 visa - advice needed!
 

This assumes JFK will continue to be the odd one out and stamp.

Re: Work authorisation on K1 visa - advice needed!
 

I also believe the price increased removed the filing fee from the I-131 for advance parole if filed at the same time as the I-485.

Re: Work authorisation on K1 visa - advice needed!
 

Do you have a job lined up already? Do you realize that it might take time in order to find employment? Are you planning your wedding to occur during the first two weeks after your arrival? If so, you can file for your adjustment of status and the one year EAD almost immediately after the wedding as soon as you have the registered marriage license.

Unless you are coming on a wing and a prayer with no savings to your name and your future spouse has no way to support you for the few months it might take to clear up the employment issue, why are you so intent on having to work the minute you get off the plane. What about getting to know your new home and your wife's family? What about a honeymoon?

Just my thoughts.

Re: Work authorisation on K1 visa - advice needed!
 

Thanks for all the info everyone. It's really helpful to talk to people who have had first-hand experience of this process.

Rete, I appreciate your concern. For your information I WANT to start work straight away. I already know my fiance's family extremely well and we are (although it's somewhat unorthodox!) having our honeymoon before the wedding. This is due to circumstances and an opportunity that has arisen the timing of which couldn't be altered to after the wedding. I therefore don't see much point in just sitting around once I make my final relocation. In addition I am simply keen to start my new life. I also happen to have a job lined up already. However, if I didn't, I (and my fiance) would be perfectly able to support ourselves until I did. Thank you.

I must add that although I think this forum is extremely useful for people in my position I have noticed the prevalence of people like "Rete" who feel it is appropriate to pass judgments on other people's decisions and lives. In most cases people post questions to which they simply want factual answers from people with relevant experience. Surely that is the point of this forum. I resent feeling the need to justify a decision I have reached to people I don't know. My question was purely about the technicalities of obtaining work authorisation. At no point did I ask for advice on whether I should work immediately or for people's opinions on my decision to seek work straight away. Many thanks to the majority of posters who managed to simply answer the questions I posed.

Apologies for the rant! Once again thanks to everyone for their helpful answers.

Re: Work authorisation on K1 visa - advice needed!
 

<sigh>
See, the thing about homework is that if you do it, you can be like the Geico lizard.. 'that way, no one gets embarrassed'.

For your Post #3, you've decided to go on the attack and criticize instead of wondering.. hey, might there be more to this than I thought?

IF you'd done some more research, you could have found the EAD info quite easily and not had to ask the question, or could have clarified it better.

If you'd done some reading of the group, you might have found more about what the personality of the group is like and might've even been able to couch your question to suit the culture. This really should be required for any forum btw.
You might've noticed the member title by Rete's name, or noticed the length of time she's contributed here, as a founding member of this group about 10 years ago, btw. From that, you might have considered that she, and others here have read 'your' story many times over, and that we might actually know some stuff that you do not. You'd notice that Rete's questions are a way of leading you to other answers, not an indictment of your character.

Finally, this isn't a pay-to-answer-ask service. The internet doesn't actually work that way. there is information out there, There are people here who know how to get to it and help others find it. Instead of slamming people on your first day here, why not think about WHY those issues were brought up.
Maybe they were to help you, not judge you.

For what it's worth, I generally tell a K-1 that they should arrive in the US prepared financially and otherwise to NOT work for the first 6 months. That's based on historical reality. There are some ways around it, depending on an individual's circumstances, which are usually uncovered with questions and (non-defensive) answers.

Purely technical information is available at www.uscis.gov
Use at your own risk! :)

Re: Work authorisation on K1 visa - advice needed!
 

Sorry that you feel that way. I was in your same situation 10 years ago when my husband and I did the K-1. Yes, back in those days you got the authorization stamp in your passport wherever in the US you entered. Here was a man with trillion of years computer experience and he could not get a job for 7-1/2 months. Yes, I was more than able to support us financially and still save money.

I have also seen young people come on the forum with the same I have to work immediately after landing and it is because they are young and don't have savings and need that job to keep a roof over their heads.

How do we know what category you fall into financially. But you don't want to hear the realistic reasons for the questions I asked. You want only to rant about the intrusive manner of my post (which it was not) and my judgmental treatment of you (which I wasn't).

Sit back a minute and re-read my post and look inside yourself and figure out why you got so defensive when it was not necessary.

PS did you consider the fact that if you got a job with the 90 day EAD that you would have to give up that job if your one year EAD is not issued before the 90 day one expires?

Re: Work authorisation on K1 visa - advice needed!
 

I have seen previously on this forum that a married K-1 who has applied for AOS would be forgiven the *unauthorized* work between the expiration of the "temp EAD" (K-1 90 days) and the issuance of the actual EAD.

Thoughts?

Re: Work authorisation on K1 visa - advice needed!
 

Yes.
That none of us can really advise someone to take that course of action (but people can make their own decisions with information like the above).

And, that there is also the cooperation of the employer. Some are vigilant about reverifying, some are not.

Of course, someone would actually have to have their K-1 EAD to start with.

Re: Work authorisation on K1 visa - advice needed!
 

Usually, unauthorized work is forgiven for the spouse of a USC... whether on a K-1 or not. That said, I have no idea whether or not it's codified anywhere.

Ian

Re: Work authorisation on K1 visa - advice needed!
 

Thanks :)

Re: Work authorisation on K1 visa - advice needed!
 

Thing is, you'll struggle to find anyone that'll bother employ you tbh until you've got an EAD, and even then that'll be a struggle because employers tend not to understand it and just see an expiration date, all they understand is a greencard.

Don't plan on working, if something comes along, great. There's always the chance to do voluntary work.