Gorgieboy

Ok, many people on here will know that I'm on a J1 (student) visa but got married to a USC recently. My student programme runs out late September after which I would have got a month to travel the country before having to leave these shores.

Obviously now my circumstances have changed, however.

I went to tell the organisers of my student course (and sponsors) of my J1 visa that I was now married because, for reasons too complicated and boring to go into right now, they were going to find out anyway.

They told me that they have an agreement with the state department which says I will leave by October 12 (this I believe). However, they claimed that if I don't comply (and I may not be able to if my advanced parole isn't through in time) that it will negatively impact my bid to adjust my status.

I understand that they don't want many students staying in the US after the programme as the state department could close the programme down. However, my question is, are they simply protecting the programme (as I believe) by telling me porkies or will my case really be viewed negatively?

Noorah101

To my layman's knowledge, this is not true. There have been many people who overstayed a J-1 status, remained in the USA, and successfully did an AOS after marriage to a USC (as long as there was no HRR attached).

Rene

Gorgieboy

I should have added that - there is no home residency rule attached. I figured they were trying to protect their own programme by feeding me misinformation but I wanted to double check!

Noorah101

Once you file AOS and get the receipt, your status is protected here. You'll be pending adjustment to permanent resident. I don't see how that's connected to the completed J-1 in any way. Again, just my layman's opinion.

Rene

Bluegrass Lass

Liars. They are hoping you don't know enough about the AOS process, to try to protect their own butts. You've filed AOS, they can't effect that at all AFAIK.

ian-mstm

Complete rubbish! Don't give it a second thought.

Ian

emartin

If the course organizers don't know that you are married to a US Citizen, they are correct - you couldn't normally adjust status after overstaying. If they don't know your current situation fully, they are giving advice based on incomplete facts.

As others have said - you can generally adjust status when marrying a US citizen, even if you overstayed your nonimmigrant status.

Gorgieboy

"I went to tell the organisers of my student course (and sponsors) of my J1 visa that I was now married because, for reasons too complicated and boring to go into right now, they were going to find out anyway."


No, they know I'm married. I was up front with them but feel I'm just being fed a load of rubbish by them.

ian-mstm

You are. You have a legitimate route to permanent residency, so you can freely ignore any of their scare tactics.

Ian

Bob

But do they know you married a USC or not? Perhaps that is what they dont' understand?

Gorgieboy

Yes, they know the full story.

Nits22

Hi,

I went through something very similar.

I entered the U.S. with a J1 on December 08. My J1's expiration date was March 15th and then I had 30 days to travel.

James and I got married on Jan. 22nd and I told my employer about it. Following my lawyer's advice, I explained to the HR manager that I was fully authorized to work for them until March 15th (I had a visa allowing me), so they wouldn't be doing anything illegal. My H.R. manager agreed with the lawyer.

We managed to put everything together and we filed the paperwork on April 11th, so I never went out of status.

If your visa expires in late September and you have those 30 extra days, maybe you can get your paperwork in time to file??
According to my attorney, if I had gone out of status it probably wouldn't have been too bad but you just want to get on their good side.

In my case, I think going through a lawyer helped my feel more relaxed (although "relax" is not a word you can use when talking about immigration). I know it's expensive but maybe you want to consider the option?

Good luck to you =)