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Hello folks
This is my first post here, but I've been reading all your great contributions for a while which has been extremely helpful to me.
Let me briefly describe my case.
I'm LPR, my wife is currently on F1 visa attending a college. She has been on F-1 Visa attending high school in US since a few years back, and now she's a college student still on F-1 since 2014. We met in 2015 and she went back to her home country during the summer of 2015 and got back to US to attend school in Aug. 2015. After she came back, we decided it's time for us to move forward with our relationship and we got married in US in Oct 2015 (roughly around 70 days after her last entry to US on F-1 in Aug 2015). In Mar, 2016, I submitted I130 for her based on F2A. She went back to her home country for summer break in Aug 2016 and came back the same month. Since the priority date for F2A is current in next month, she's planning to submit I-485 in Oct 2017.
So in summary:
F-1, high school, prior to 2014
F-1, college, from 2014 to now
Went back to home country, summer 2015, got back in Aug 2015, on F-1
We got married in Oct 2015 (70 days after her entry)
I-130 submitted, Mar, 2016
Went back to home country, summer 2016, got back in Aug 2016, on F-1
Planning to submit I-485 in Oct, 2017
Everything seems fine, until recently. I came upon the updated US Department of State Foreign Affairs Manual (FAM), which is most recently modified on 9/1/2017, with this added:
(b) (U) For purposes of applying the 90-day rule, conduct that violates or
is otherwise inconsistent with an alien’s nonimmigrant status includes, but
is not limited to:
(iii) (U) A nonimmigrant in B or F status, or any other status
prohibiting immigrant intent, marrying a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident and taking up residence in the United States; or
I'm horrified to see the new wording replaced the previous FAM's 30/60 day rule regarding AOS. The new DOS rule seems to suggest that it' s not considered permitted to "marrying a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident and taking up residence in the United States". I'm not sure how to interpret the wording "and taking up residence in the United States"; does that (taking up residence in the US) refer to the AOS itself? That means we are OK if we got married within 90 days but didn't submit AOS request (thus taking up residence in the US)?
Any help is much appreciated on this matter as we are planning to submit the I-485 package soon. Her intentions for the F-1 Visa is to study and never to use the visa to take residency, so we should not worry. But if the USCIS officer is nitpicking on the wording, I'm a little worried, want to make sure if my understanding of the new rule is correct.
This is my first post here, but I've been reading all your great contributions for a while which has been extremely helpful to me.
Let me briefly describe my case.
I'm LPR, my wife is currently on F1 visa attending a college. She has been on F-1 Visa attending high school in US since a few years back, and now she's a college student still on F-1 since 2014. We met in 2015 and she went back to her home country during the summer of 2015 and got back to US to attend school in Aug. 2015. After she came back, we decided it's time for us to move forward with our relationship and we got married in US in Oct 2015 (roughly around 70 days after her last entry to US on F-1 in Aug 2015). In Mar, 2016, I submitted I130 for her based on F2A. She went back to her home country for summer break in Aug 2016 and came back the same month. Since the priority date for F2A is current in next month, she's planning to submit I-485 in Oct 2017.
So in summary:
F-1, high school, prior to 2014
F-1, college, from 2014 to now
Went back to home country, summer 2015, got back in Aug 2015, on F-1
We got married in Oct 2015 (70 days after her entry)
I-130 submitted, Mar, 2016
Went back to home country, summer 2016, got back in Aug 2016, on F-1
Planning to submit I-485 in Oct, 2017
Everything seems fine, until recently. I came upon the updated US Department of State Foreign Affairs Manual (FAM), which is most recently modified on 9/1/2017, with this added:
(b) (U) For purposes of applying the 90-day rule, conduct that violates or
is otherwise inconsistent with an alien’s nonimmigrant status includes, but
is not limited to:
(iii) (U) A nonimmigrant in B or F status, or any other status
prohibiting immigrant intent, marrying a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident and taking up residence in the United States; or
I'm horrified to see the new wording replaced the previous FAM's 30/60 day rule regarding AOS. The new DOS rule seems to suggest that it' s not considered permitted to "marrying a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident and taking up residence in the United States". I'm not sure how to interpret the wording "and taking up residence in the United States"; does that (taking up residence in the US) refer to the AOS itself? That means we are OK if we got married within 90 days but didn't submit AOS request (thus taking up residence in the US)?
Any help is much appreciated on this matter as we are planning to submit the I-485 package soon. Her intentions for the F-1 Visa is to study and never to use the visa to take residency, so we should not worry. But if the USCIS officer is nitpicking on the wording, I'm a little worried, want to make sure if my understanding of the new rule is correct.
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