ISO good immigration attorney who knows how to address AP who is getting married?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Well, I am the op and have concluded that she does need some basic advice. Not someone to file her forms but some advice. I have Learned from well informed sources that if she gets married and stays she could have issues down the road, especially if her family wants to visit her on a visa. To strictly comply, she needs to go home per her visa requirements and then apply for a fiancée visa. Yes some people get married right before their visa and it works out fine. But you never know. She wants to do it right. Life is long. Plus she wants to visit her family in the next couple of months.

OP, this is incorrect. As long as she is in valid status, she can get married and adjust her status. Actually, even if she's out of status, she can get married and adjust. Marriage to a US citizen is THAT powerful as an immigration avenue.

There won't be issues down the road with regard to family visitation. Her family's visits will be adjudicated based on their circumstances when they apply for a tourist visa.

If SHE wants to visit her family in the next couple of months, she can't. If you file for adjustment of status, you CANNOT leave the country unless you have a travel document/advance parole, and that generally takes more than a couple of months.


Advise her that if she leaves and applies for a fiancee visa, it will be many, many months before she sees America again. Fiancee visas take a loooong time to process. It's must easier to marry and adjust status within the US. This is not about "doing it right" because there is nothing wrong with adjusting from within the US. She is free to marry and adjust status. That's not illegal.

J-1 visas do not come with the 2-year home country residency requirement unless her stay here is sponsored by her or the U.S. government (this typically applies only to fellowship holders like Muskie etc.) Her visa stamp in her passport will be clearly annotated if this requirement applies to her. If there is no notation, it does not apply.

NOTE: if the 2-year residency requirement is attached to her visa, marriage to the U.S. citizen WILL NOT lift it. Waiver of 2-year residency under J-1 requires a special petition and waiver, which is not easy to get.

Are you an immigration attorney?

Also, isn't marrying while on a j1 visa which requires you to be single then invalidate the visa?

[Anonymous]

PP - I'm not an immigration attorney. I am, however, someone who has been through various circles of immigration for the last 12 years, and there is very little I don't know about the process.

Look, if she wants to pay for the attorney consult, she should do it. A 1-hr consultation wouldn't break the bank. I'm just telling you that based on the facts you laid out, there is nothing terribly complicated or ominous in her case, and certainly not for the circumstances you mentioned (family visiting etc.)

No, marrying while on a J-1 visa does not invalidate it. What's with the requirement to be single?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP - I'm not an immigration attorney. I am, however, someone who has been through various circles of immigration for the last 12 years, and there is very little I don't know about the process.

Look, if she wants to pay for the attorney consult, she should do it. A 1-hr consultation wouldn't break the bank. I'm just telling you that based on the facts you laid out, there is nothing terribly complicated or ominous in her case, and certainly not for the circumstances you mentioned (family visiting etc.)

No, marrying while on a J-1 visa does not invalidate it. What's with the requirement to be single?

NP here. But Au pairs can't be married. So if she dies get married on her visa, which I dependent upon her participation in the program, then it would violate her visa.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP - I'm not an immigration attorney. I am, however, someone who has been through various circles of immigration for the last 12 years, and there is very little I don't know about the process.

Look, if she wants to pay for the attorney consult, she should do it. A 1-hr consultation wouldn't break the bank. I'm just telling you that based on the facts you laid out, there is nothing terribly complicated or ominous in her case, and certainly not for the circumstances you mentioned (family visiting etc.)

No, marrying while on a J-1 visa does not invalidate it. What's with the requirement to be single?

NP here. But Au pairs can't be married. So if she dies get married on her visa, which I dependent upon her participation in the program, then it would violate her visa.

Is it an actual legal requirement that they can't be married? To my knowledge, no visas actually REQUIRE you to be single as a condition of the visa (other than the fiancee ones).

If they marry and file for adjustment immediately, at that point she isn't violating anything. If what you're saying is true (and please send the USCIS link that says so), then they can't be married when they receive their J-1 visas. I've known too many au pairs who married and adjusted status with no issues for what you say to be true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP - I'm not an immigration attorney. I am, however, someone who has been through various circles of immigration for the last 12 years, and there is very little I don't know about the process.

Look, if she wants to pay for the attorney consult, she should do it. A 1-hr consultation wouldn't break the bank. I'm just telling you that based on the facts you laid out, there is nothing terribly complicated or ominous in her case, and certainly not for the circumstances you mentioned (family visiting etc.)

No, marrying while on a J-1 visa does not invalidate it. What's with the requirement to be single?

NP here. But Au pairs can't be married. So if she dies get married on her visa, which I dependent upon her participation in the program, then it would violate her visa.

Even if that were true, please understand that marriage to a US citizen is one of the few exceptions to the requirement to maintain legal status at all times. Marriage to a US citizen is like blanket forgiveness - you can file for adjustment of status even if at the time of filing you are already out of status. Once you file for AoS, you're protected from deportation, and can stay in the country legally while awaiting adjudication.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does her J visa have a two-year home residency requirement? If it does she will need to get a waiver before she can get a green card.
If not, then just have her go to the USCIS website, get the forms and apply. She will have to get married first to adjust her status, but it is a straightforward process and quick.
No need for a lawyer unless she has overstayed or has some other complications.
The only thing with the J visa is to make sure there is no two-year return clause.

Her visa stamp will be thus annotated if the 2-year residency requirement applies. If not, not.

Not necessarily true. I am a former J visa holder.
I am not aware of au-pair requirements, but if you are on the skills list then lack of a 2-year HRR stamp on the J visa does not mean that you are not subject to it. This usually applies to scholars and medical professionals who come on J visas. The only way to make sure is to get an advisory opinion from the State Department.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP - I'm not an immigration attorney. I am, however, someone who has been through various circles of immigration for the last 12 years, and there is very little I don't know about the process.

Look, if she wants to pay for the attorney consult, she should do it. A 1-hr consultation wouldn't break the bank. I'm just telling you that based on the facts you laid out, there is nothing terribly complicated or ominous in her case, and certainly not for the circumstances you mentioned (family visiting etc.)

No, marrying while on a J-1 visa does not invalidate it. What's with the requirement to be single?

NP here. But Au pairs can't be married. So if she dies get married on her visa, which I dependent upon her participation in the program, then it would violate her visa.

Even if that were true, please understand that marriage to a US citizen is one of the few exceptions to the requirement to maintain legal status at all times. Marriage to a US citizen is like blanket forgiveness - you can file for adjustment of status even if at the time of filing you are already out of status. Once you file for AoS, you're protected from deportation, and can stay in the country legally while awaiting adjudication.

Thanks for the follow up!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does her J visa have a two-year home residency requirement? If it does she will need to get a waiver before she can get a green card.
If not, then just have her go to the USCIS website, get the forms and apply. She will have to get married first to adjust her status, but it is a straightforward process and quick.
No need for a lawyer unless she has overstayed or has some other complications.
The only thing with the J visa is to make sure there is no two-year return clause.

Her visa stamp will be thus annotated if the 2-year residency requirement applies. If not, not.

Not necessarily true. I am a former J visa holder.
I am not aware of au-pair requirements, but if you are on the skills list then lack of a 2-year HRR stamp on the J visa does not mean that you are not subject to it. This usually applies to scholars and medical professionals who come on J visas. The only way to make sure is to get an advisory opinion from the State Department.

Generally J-1 visa applicants who fall into the two-year residency requirement category will be made aware of that far in advance of the time when their visas are issued. Certainly, that's the case with scholarship recipients.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, isn't marrying while on a j1 visa which requires you to be single then invalidate the visa?

My understanding (not an immigration lawyer either ) is that she can no longer be an au pair after marriage as being single is a rule all agencies (as far as I know) have. It doesn't seem to be part of the offical AP regulations - at least I couldn't find anything on family status in 22 CFR 62.31 - Au pairs - but with the moment she marries a US citizen she will no longer be in the US under her J1 visa but will need to AOS thus she would no longer be considered an au pair. At least that is how it has been explained to me by an agency representative. She would still be in the US legally (due to being married to a US citizen) just no longer on her J1 visa. That's why APs should get married on their last work day or during their travel month or at least let the family know she is not going to remain in the program so that they can arrange childcare for when she is married.

I agree with 01/06/2015 15:30 - it seems that at least in the past marriage to a US citizen has been like blanket forgiveness to pretty much anything (including working for the former host family as a nanny during AOS and while working for the work permit). Contacting an immigration lawyer will not hurt (albeit financially) but should not be absolutely necessary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, isn't marrying while on a j1 visa which requires you to be single then invalidate the visa?

My understanding (not an immigration lawyer either ) is that she can no longer be an au pair after marriage as being single is a rule all agencies (as far as I know) have. It doesn't seem to be part of the offical AP regulations - at least I couldn't find anything on family status in 22 CFR 62.31 - Au pairs - but with the moment she marries a US citizen she will no longer be in the US under her J1 visa but will need to AOS thus she would no longer be considered an au pair. At least that is how it has been explained to me by an agency representative. She would still be in the US legally (due to being married to a US citizen) just no longer on her J1 visa. That's why APs should get married on their last work day or during their travel month or at least let the family know she is not going to remain in the program so that they can arrange childcare for when she is married.

I agree with 01/06/2015 15:30 - it seems that at least in the past marriage to a US citizen has been like blanket forgiveness to pretty much anything (including working for the former host family as a nanny during AOS and while working for the work permit). Contacting an immigration lawyer will not hurt (albeit financially) but should not be absolutely necessary.

Just to correct that she can work for a former host family as a nanny but ONLY AFTER she receives her work permit as a part of AOS application.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Well, I am the op and have concluded that she does need some basic advice. Not someone to file her forms but some advice. I have Learned from well informed sources that if she gets married and stays she could have issues down the road, especially if her family wants to visit her on a visa. To strictly comply, she needs to go home per her visa requirements and then apply for a fiancée visa. Yes some people get married right before their visa and it works out fine. But you never know. She wants to do it right. Life is long. Plus she wants to visit her family in the next couple of months.

OP, this is incorrect. As long as she is in valid status, she can get married and adjust her status. Actually, even if she's out of status, she can get married and adjust. Marriage to a US citizen is THAT powerful as an immigration avenue.

There won't be issues down the road with regard to family visitation. Her family's visits will be adjudicated based on their circumstances when they apply for a tourist visa.

If SHE wants to visit her family in the next couple of months, she can't. If you file for adjustment of status, you CANNOT leave the country unless you have a travel document/advance parole, and that generally takes more than a couple of months.

Advise her that if she leaves and applies for a fiancee visa, it will be many, many months before she sees America again. Fiancee visas take a loooong time to process. It's must easier to marry and adjust status within the US. This is not about "doing it right" because there is nothing wrong with adjusting from within the US. She is free to marry and adjust status. That's not illegal.

J-1 visas do not come with the 2-year home country residency requirement unless her stay here is sponsored by her or the U.S. government (this typically applies only to fellowship holders like Muskie etc.) Her visa stamp in her passport will be clearly annotated if this requirement applies to her. If there is no notation, it does not apply.

NOTE: if the 2-year residency requirement is attached to her visa, marriage to the U.S. citizen WILL NOT lift it. Waiver of 2-year residency under J-1 requires a special petition and waiver, which is not easy to get.

PP. if my AP got married during her travel month, and is now applying for a work permit, which Form 765 "who can file" category would she fall into.

Yes, I know this is very specific question and we should ask an attorney. We will explore. But want this posters take.

She doesn't have a 2 year home residency requirement.