Just a simple question

[zaragyemo]

I am on J1 visa which expires this December. The J1 VISA came with 2 year residency stipulation. I applied for a waiver based on " No Objection" It was approved by Waiver division and is now pending in USCIS office. I am hoping that they grant the waiver.

Now the tricky part, Once it's been approved, I plan to marry my boyfriend of 7 years and apply for AOS. He is a US citizen. The interviewer might ask suspicious questions to us but I am willing to take the heat. They might ask me questions about my intention for coming here, well I happen to get the job I love and be with the guy I love and they just happen to coincide. So I am going to tell honestly how my intentions are mixed.

The thing is if I extend my J1 or change it to H1 or whatever, eventually I have to apply AOS based on marriage in the end cause I am going to marry him irrespectively. So I do not want to waste extra money extending or changing the status of my visa when I can apply for AOS and achieve the same result.

My question is " Since my J1 visa expires in December and obviously I will apply for AOS before that, do I need to fill any form such as I 140, Labor certificate, etc before December when my J1 expiries?"

Do I need to apply for any sort of employment authorization ?

Thank you for all the help provided on this wonderful helpful website.

zaragyemo

[PraetorianXI]

No need to pursue a GC based on employment then.

Yes, you have to apply for EAD (i-765) so you can work while your Adjustment of Status is pending.

[zaragyemo]

Thank you all!

This forum is an amazing source of information regarding anything related to immigration. Thanks to PraetorianXI and tbhx1.

I came here on June 29th,2007 and I will have my conditional green card in 2 weeks.( So they said)

Here is my time line.

June 29,2007 - entered USA on J-1 visa with 2 Year foreign residency requirement and visa valid till Dec 2008. ( 18 months visa)
Oct 2007 - started working on "No Objection letter" to waive off 2 year requirement.
May 2008 - Nepalese Embassy in DC sent "No Objection" letter to States Department.
July 2008 - States Department approved the "Waiver"
Aug 2008 - Married my 6 years of boyfriend. He is a US citizen.
Oct 1 2008, Filed AOS. I-130,I-485,G-325A for him,G-325A for me,I-864,I-131,I-765,I-693 on the basis of marriage with US citizen.
Oct 30,2008 - Biometric for EAD done.
Nov 2008- Received IRE for no reason for I485, so send them everything I already sent with I-485
Dec 2008- Received another IRE for the same thing. It said my income cannot be counted with my sponsor's income and my sponsor's income wasn't enough for both of us. It didn't make any sense to me, I am married to my sponsor and I was working on J-1, so my income should count.SO I sent the same thing I sent with my original I 485, but this time added a letter explaining the situation and how my income should be counted in the household income since I was legally working in the USA and that I wasn't dependent on his income.
Jan 22,2009 - They resumed by case without asking me for any more IRE. I think my letter helped them to clear things up.
Feb 2,2009 - 1765 (EAD) and I131 (Advance Parole) approved. Card and letter received.
March 2009, Received letter for Initial Interview with the immigration officer.
April 20 - Interview given, my immigration officer was super duper nice. I went with my husband, she said she has everything she needs. Only asked us to show our rent lease and joint bank account copies and Photo ID. We brought bunch of pictures, travel doc, holidays, family pics with both of us, went through all sample questions...just in case.Men are so bad with dates, engagement and marriage or any dates. It was less than 5 minute interview including the time she went to make copies of our photo id.
She said she has approved my case and that I will receive my conditional GC in the next 2-3 weeks. We thanked her for being very nice and she said it was her pleasure.
She then asked if we had any questions, I asked if she needs my EAD and advance Parole. She said lot of officers take them away but she doesn't think it's necessary. She said she wants me to keep it just in case anything happens and I will be left with no legal paper work. It's safer to have all the paper with me till I get my GC is what she said.

We thanked profusely and left. It was super easy but I know that's not always the case...so I thanked my lucky stars.

Happy ending.

Thank you guys for making this forum an invaluable source of information. I had no help from any immigration attorney. I found all the information I needed from visiting this site, asking questions and reading other's thread.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU.

And good luck to everyone else.

Zaragyemo