TPS , Pending asylum and applying for I-485

[bingoend]

Hello everyone,
I registered here to see if anyone has an answer to my question. I find this website very helpful for people who are seeking information about immigration and I really appreciate if any one has an insight on my case. Just bear in mind that since I entered the United States in January 2016 I haven't left the country.
I entered to the U.S.A in January 2016 on F-1 visa. the visa expired in December 2016 but I was able to extend my I-20 until May 2017.
Meanwhile while I applied for TPS in October 2016 and got it approved in February 2017 until March 2018. Also in August 2016 I applied for asylum and my case is still pending until this moment.
Also, you need to know that I have an EAD through TPS and another EAD through pending asylum. I have only used TPS based EAD for work, but I had to use EAD through pending asylum to open a bank account and to get a driver's licence.
I have been dating a person since I came in to the united states. He is not a U.S citizen but now he is in the process of getting a green card though his employer. We have been dating together for 2 years and we decicded to get married. We discussed applying for I-485 and I have a couple of questions for who has been through the same thing or has information about it.


1- Does my TPS and pending asylum affect applying for I-485 ?
2- I have been told that applying with an active TPS status is better than applying with only pending asylum, is that correct?
3- Does the use of pending asylum EAD to open a bank account or get a driver's licence means that the EAD through asylum has been activated ?

I would really appreciate any input or insight into this.

[azblk]

Are you married yet? How far in the process is your partner in his employment based green card?

[bingoend]

Are you married yet? How far in the process is your partner in his employment based green card?

No we are not married yet. My boyfriend should be filing for I-485 within the next 6 months.
We are getting married this month.

[newacct]

Hello everyone,
I registered here to see if anyone has an answer to my question. I find this website very helpful for people who are seeking information about immigration and I really appreciate if any one has an insight on my case. Just bear in mind that since I entered the United States in January 2016 I haven't left the country.
I entered to the U.S.A in January 2016 on F-1 visa. the visa expired in December 2016 but I was able to extend my I-20 until May 2017.
Meanwhile while I applied for TPS in October 2016 and got it approved in February 2017 until March 2018. Also in August 2016 I applied for asylum and my case is still pending until this moment.
Also, you need to know that I have an EAD through TPS and another EAD through pending asylum. I have only used TPS based EAD for work, but I had to use EAD through pending asylum to open a bank account and to get a driver's licence.
I have been dating a person since I came in to the united states. He is not a U.S citizen but now he is in the process of getting a green card though his employer. We have been dating together for 2 years and we decicded to get married. We discussed applying for I-485 and I have a couple of questions for who has been through the same thing or has information about it.


1- Does my TPS and pending asylum affect applying for I-485 ?
2- I have been told that applying with an active TPS status is better than applying with only pending asylum, is that correct?
3- Does the use of pending asylum EAD to open a bank account or get a driver's licence means that the EAD through asylum has been activated ?

I would really appreciate any input or insight into this.

You should be able to file I-485 once married. AOS in an employment-based category is okay as long as you haven't been out of status or illegally employed for more than 180 days since your last entry, and TPS is considered to be in status for the purposes of AOS, and since your TPS and F-1 status overlap, you have never been out of status for the purposes of AOS.

1. TPS and pending asylum don't affect I-485. There have been some cases where people whose asylum were denied or withdrawn are put into removal proceedings even though they already had a pending I-485. In the worst case though, you can still file I-485 again with the immigration judge.

2. TPS is considered to be in status for purposes of AOS, whereas other pending situations are not. This is the advantage of TPS. For people in the Immediate Relative category (spouse, unmarried under-21 child, or parent of US citizen), they don't have to be in status and how long they've been out of status doesn't matter. For people in other family-based categories, ever being out of status in the past disqualifies them. For people in employment-based categories, like you guys are, you are okay as long as you haven't been out of status or illegally employed for 180 days since the most recent entry. Pending COS, EOS, AOS, asylum applications allow you to stay in the US, but they do not give status. But TPS is special in that, although it is not a status, it is considered a status for the purposes of AOS, so your having been under TPS causes you to have never been out of status since your entry.

3. I don't think there is a concept of "activating". If you were in a status like F1 that doesn't allow work except under certain circumstances, and you used an EAD to work, that would violate the status; that might be what people mean when they say "activate" -- to mean to use it to work. But here, you are not currently in a status, so it doesn't really make a difference if you use an EAD to work or not.

[bingoend]

You should be able to file I-485 once married. AOS in an employment-based category is okay as long as you haven't been out of status or illegally employed for more than 180 days since your last entry, and TPS is considered to be in status for the purposes of AOS, and since your TPS and F-1 status overlap, you have never been out of status for the purposes of AOS.

1. TPS and pending asylum don't affect I-485. There have been some cases where people whose asylum were denied or withdrawn are put into removal proceedings even though they already had a pending I-485. In the worst case though, you can still file I-485 again with the immigration judge.

2. TPS is considered to be in status for purposes of AOS, whereas other pending situations are not. This is the advantage of TPS. For people in the Immediate Relative category (spouse, unmarried under-21 child, or parent of US citizen), they don't have to be in status and how long they've been out of status doesn't matter. For people in other family-based categories, ever being out of status in the past disqualifies them. For people in employment-based categories, like you guys are, you are okay as long as you haven't been out of status or illegally employed for 180 days since the most recent entry. Pending COS, EOS, AOS, asylum applications allow you to stay in the US, but they do not give status. But TPS is special in that, although it is not a status, it is considered a status for the purposes of AOS, so your having been under TPS causes you to have never been out of status since your entry.

3. I don't think there is a concept of "activating". If you were in a status like F1 that doesn't allow work except under certain circumstances, and you used an EAD to work, that would violate the status; that might be what people mean when they say "activate" -- to mean to use it to work. But here, you are not currently in a status, so it doesn't really make a difference if you use an EAD to work or not.

I really appreciate your response. I am terrified of what is going on in my situation.
For me I have been always doing things according to the laws here and I didn't violate any laws.
My fear is that I have been told that if I want to do AOS I need to cancel my pending asylum. Is that correct? Does having pending asylum while applying for AOS affect either process in bad way ?
The last thing I want to ask is I have been told to keep the TPS status active until I file I-485.and I am concerned that I used pending asylum based EAD to open a bank account and to get a driver's licence ? would that affect AOS ?
Again I really appreciate the response as I am in a huge distress due to my situation.

[azblk]

No we are not married yet. My boyfriend should be filing for I-485 within the next 6 months.
We are getting married this month.

Ok get married right away. Your husband company will have to file i-140 and you/him i-485 before your TPS runs out unless you are sure you can extend it.

[newacct]

Ok get married right away. Your husband company will have to file i-140 and you/him i-485 before your TPS runs out unless you are sure you can extend it.

Well they're in an employment-based category so they can afford some out of status time before I-485 is filed; but of course, it's best to not have any out of status time.

[kAMALKANTA]

Can you please let us know what happened to your case. I am on the same boat and trying to understand what is the best option.