Lonestar

Dear all,

I have posted this message some time ago, but I have received very little feedback. If
some of the gurus here -- Ingo, Sylvia, others -- have a little time to give me their
opinion, I would really appreciate. I hope I am not breaking any implicit rule here by
re-posting it (if so, please accept my apologies): I badly need some feedback as for what
options I may have.

Thanks! A worried guy

------

Ok,

this is about figuring out if there is any hope for me to get married and start a family.

Me: EU citizen, finishing up a Ph.d in management in the US, at a major university. Will
be done in Aug. 2002. Should be relatively easy to find a job at a good US university
and get H1 (now i am F1), given that the market is very good.

My girlfriend: from the Balkans, former Fullbright visiting scholar, with J1 and 2 year
residency rule applying to her. Went back to her country two years ago, and got back right
away for to get her Master as a J1 (this time, sponsored by the US university). On the
passport, though, it still says two-year rule applies, and was told that she will have to
face it once she is done with her education here.

Now, my question. Is there any way for me to get a job here and for us to get married and
carry on with our lives? From what I gather she _has_ to go back home, no matter what,
because she was Fullbright. The options for her (and hence for me) seem the following:

1. we stay in the US. Maybe my prospective employer can do something for her (to have
her stay here, getting a waiver)? Although I would be reluctant to ask her to stay
as dependent, i.e. without the ability to work, given that she is a professional
herself ...

2. we go to Canada. I have heard that it is relatively easy to get landed immigrant status
there for young professionals. Is this true? Will her two year condition impede he in
this pursuit?

3. she goes back home and I wait for her. If she has to go back home, can she apply
toward the two years condition the time she spent home during the last two years (that
would be almost a year, all included)? See, this is a period in which she was under a
J1 from the US University, and _after_ the original J1 which instituted the two-years
rule expired. Also -- and this is most puzzling -- I have heard of people that was
allowed to come back after 6 months, 9 months, 1 year ... i.e. they did not have to
spend all the two years period back home. Anybody knows how this works? Is there
‘method to the madness’?

Any other option I have not though of? Any, any advice would be most appreciated. This
thing is starting to consume me. Thanks form the bottom of my heart.

A worried guy

DUTCH in Atlanta, GA USA

>Dear all,
>
>I have posted this message some time ago, but I have received very little feedback. If
>some of the gurus here -- Ingo, Sylvia, others -- have a little time to give me their
>opinion, I would really appreciate. I hope I am not breaking any implicit rule here by
>re-posting it (if so, please accept my apologies): I badly need some feedback as for what
>options I may have.
>
>Thanks! A worried guy

Lonestar,

Probably the reason you didn't get an answer here is due to the complexity of your
situation, and nobody here is going to try to answer such a complex problem. It's
beyond "guru" help, and needs professional help.

The best advice would be to find a competent immigration attorney, preferably one
who is a member of AILA. They have a web site and a toll free phone number for
referrals.

Ed MacNeil

Hi,

THIS SHOULD NOT BE CONSTRUED TO BE LEGAL ADVICE. I AM NOT A LAWYER. I DON'T EVEN PLAY
ONE ON TV!

Amen!

Ed MacNeil Ancient Aviator North Hampton, NH, USA

"DUTCH in Atlanta, GA USA" wrote:

> On Tue, 20 Feb 2001 03:20:39 -0600, Lonestar <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >Dear all,
> >
> >I have posted this message some time ago, but I have received very little feedback. If
> >some of the gurus here -- Ingo, Sylvia, others -- have a little time to give me their
> >opinion, I would really appreciate. I hope I am not breaking any implicit rule here by
> >re-posting it (if so, please accept my apologies): I badly need some feedback as for
> >what options I may have.
> >
> >Thanks! A worried guy
>
> Lonestar,
>
> Probably the reason you didn't get an answer here is due to the complexity of
> your situation, and nobody here is going to try to answer such a complex
> problem. It's beyond "guru" help, and needs professional help.
>
> The best advice would be to find a competent immigration attorney, preferably
> one who is a member of AILA. They have a web site and a toll free phone number
> for referrals.

Sylvia Ottemoeller

Lonestar wrote:

> I have posted this message some time ago, but I have received very little feedback. If
> some of the gurus here -- Ingo, Sylvia, others -- have a little time to give me their
> opinion, I would really appreciate. I hope I am not breaking any implicit rule here by
> re-posting it (if so, please accept my apologies): I badly need some feedback as for
> what options I may have.
>
> Thanks! A worried guy
>
> ------
>
> Ok,
>
> this is about figuring out if there is any hope for me to get married and start
> a family.
>
> Me: EU citizen, finishing up a Ph.d in management in the US, at a major university. Will
> be done in Aug. 2002. Should be relatively easy to find a job at a good US
> university and get H1 (now i am F1), given that the market is very good.
>
> My girlfriend: from the Balkans, former Fullbright visiting scholar, with J1 and 2 year
> residency rule applying to her. Went back to her country two years ago, and got back
> right away for to get her Master as a J1 (this time, sponsored by the US university). On
> the passport, though, it still says two-year rule applies, and was told that she will
> have to face it once she is done with her education here.
>
> Now, my question. Is there any way for me to get a job here and for us to get married
> and carry on with our lives? From what I gather she _has_ to go back home, no matter
> what, because she was Fullbright. The options for her (and hence for me) seem the
> following:
>
> 1. we stay in the US. Maybe my prospective employer can do something for her (to have
> her stay here, getting a waiver)? Although I would be reluctant to ask her to stay
> as dependent, i.e. without the ability to work, given that she is a professional
> herself ...

Your prospective employer can do nothing for her. Actually, if you qualify for O-1 status,
she could utilize the O-3 dependent status to stay with you. Her 2 yr HRR would be
postponed. She is not eligible for H-4 status.

If it were not a Fulbright-based obligation, she might possibly get a waiver. But the J-1
exchange program virtually never grants a waiver when U.S. government money is involved. I
have heard of one such case in 8 years, in which a person obligated to the 2 yr HRR
obtained a waiver based on an IGA recommendation (interested government agency). It took 5
years, and an immigration attorney prepared the IGA case. I'm sure the fees were many
thousands of dollars. See http://travel.state.gov/waiver_instructions.html.

Maybe she could enroll in a Ph.D. program, using F-1 status to authorize her program.
That would give her a few more years in the U.S., and elevate her stature for the higher
level immigration benefits. She could accumulate time in her home country during the
summers or breaks.

If she possesses extraordinary ability and has risen to the top of her field, and gets a
job offer from a cooperative employer, maybe she could get O-1 status. An obligated J-1
status holder can obtain O-1 status by getting an employer to file a petition which is
approved by INS, and then leaving the U.S., getting an O-1 stamp, and re-entering the U.S.
in O-1 status. In the case I mentioned above, the person held O-1 status for several years
while waiting for the waiver process. O-1 status can be held indefinitely. After the first
three years, it is renewable one year at a time.

> 2. we go to Canada. I have heard that it is relatively easy to get landed immigrant
> status there for young professionals. Is this true? Will her two year condition
> impede he in this pursuit?

Try misc.immigration.canada. I don't think Canada has the slightest interest in the
U.S. 2 yr HRR.

> 3. she goes back home and I wait for her. If she has to go back home, can she apply
> toward the two years condition the time she spent home during the last two years
> (that would be almost a year, all included)?

This is a grey area. She could try.

> See, this is a period in which she was under a J1 from the US University, and _after_
> the original J1 which instituted the two-years rule expired. Also -- and this is most
> puzzling -- I have heard of people that was allowed to come back after 6 months, 9
> months, 1 year ... i.e. they did not have to spend all the two years period back home.
> Anybody knows how this works? Is there ‘method to the madness’?

You may not know details of these cases. Maybe they entered the U.S. in a status other
than H, L, or PR. Maybe they got a waiver in the meantime that you don't know about. If
they really entered the U.S. in H, L, or PR status before satisfying the entire 2 yr HRR,
and no waiver was involved, then some U.S. government official made a mistake in counting
the time, or perhaps the person got a new passport and lied about ever having held J
status, and the computer databases didn't pick it up. The person risks running into
trouble later, perhaps at the time of applying for citizenship.

> Any other option I have not though of? Any, any advice would be most appreciated. This
> thing is starting to consume me. Thanks form the bottom of my heart.