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Brief summary:
Hi,
Here is little more detail of my background in next 2 paragraphs and my specific questions detailed below. Any help/Advice will be appreciated.
I switched from F1 to a medical J1 couple of years back through filing I539 and my spouse (F2) switched to J2 through the same application. We had sent in our Original I94 to USCIS, and kept only black and white photocopies of our I94s. We were later told by some others that sending original I94 we not necessary. But we had sent the original I94 because Page 2 of the instruction form for i539 says:
Anyhow, when our I539 change of status application was approved they sent back the two DS2019 with Approved for C/S to J1(/J2) and duration was for D/S. However, they issued only one I797A which has my(J1) name and an I94 replacement at the bottom in my(J1) name and did not issue any separate I797/I94 for my spouse (J2). Nowhere in the I797 is any mention of my J2 spouse, though they also put an approval stamp on both (J1 and J2) DS2019s. After visa conversion My spouse had J2 EAD issued several times from USCIS, and has a SSN.
Now I am in an emergency as I am currently facing a gap between my J1 renewal cycles and the New DS2019 is likely to be approved after my current grace period ends. So we have to leave the USA at the end of the grace period (in less than 2 weeks). We have never traveled outside USA after the visa status approval and so dont have any J1/J2 visa stamp in our passports or any travel stamps in our DS2019.
So I have the following Questions:
Thank you very much in advance for your insights and advice.
PLEASE HELP URGENTLY . WE NEED TO FLY IN 10 days. but no I94 was issued for J2 from USCIS during change of status, only I94 replacement for J1 was given at bottom of I797A.
We were on F1 & F2 and switched to J1 and J2 in the US by filing I539. When we were approved, we received only one notice of approval I797A with only 1 replacement I94 at the bottom mentioning only name of the J1, No I94 for J2. We know we should have figured out this answer earlier, but now we need to travel urgently in 10 days as our grace period is about to end, and we are anxious to figure out: how does J2 travel without an original I94 (more specific Questions below, with additional questions regarding grace period)?
We were on F1 & F2 and switched to J1 and J2 in the US by filing I539. When we were approved, we received only one notice of approval I797A with only 1 replacement I94 at the bottom mentioning only name of the J1, No I94 for J2. We know we should have figured out this answer earlier, but now we need to travel urgently in 10 days as our grace period is about to end, and we are anxious to figure out: how does J2 travel without an original I94 (more specific Questions below, with additional questions regarding grace period)?
Hi,
Here is little more detail of my background in next 2 paragraphs and my specific questions detailed below. Any help/Advice will be appreciated.
I switched from F1 to a medical J1 couple of years back through filing I539 and my spouse (F2) switched to J2 through the same application. We had sent in our Original I94 to USCIS, and kept only black and white photocopies of our I94s. We were later told by some others that sending original I94 we not necessary. But we had sent the original I94 because Page 2 of the instruction form for i539 says:
5. F-1, Academic Student
To request a change to F-1 status or to apply for reinstatement as an F- 1 student, you must submit your original Form 1-94, as well as the original Form 1-94 of each person included in the application.
To request a change to F-1 status or to apply for reinstatement as an F- 1 student, you must submit your original Form 1-94, as well as the original Form 1-94 of each person included in the application.
Now I am in an emergency as I am currently facing a gap between my J1 renewal cycles and the New DS2019 is likely to be approved after my current grace period ends. So we have to leave the USA at the end of the grace period (in less than 2 weeks). We have never traveled outside USA after the visa status approval and so dont have any J1/J2 visa stamp in our passports or any travel stamps in our DS2019.
So I have the following Questions:
- When we go to airport for security check-in for the international flight, will it be a enough if we carry only the following at the port of departure directly : a) I-797 (mentioning only my/J1 name) with a replacement I94 for me (J1) at the bottom, but no I94 for my J2 spouse.
b) Black and white photocopies of the original I94s issued from CBP at the port of entry, and say that our original I94 is with USCIS per I539 instructions; and the I-797A and the DS2019s are all we received back from USCIS.
c) All the DS2019s in continuity that do not have any travel stamp and our passports showing that we never traveled outside US after the status conversion.
d) are there any other documents that we may need to carry? - Is there a way to get a new I94 issued for my J2 spouse in less than 10 days? For that Do I need to :a) get an appointment at the Field USCIS office (Can it be the Chicago field office)?
b) Apply by a drop box to USCIS with an I102 and also file G1145?
c) Take an appointment at CBP deferral office and carry the I797A, a I102 and the DS2019s?
d) Do all the above parallelly ?
e) do something else?
- Am I legally alright in buying a flight that departs the day after my grace period ends as long as I have entered the airport security check in before the midnight of the day the grace period ends in local time?.. and how early before a flight can I go through international security check in (24 hours?? or 3 hours? ) What if my flight gets late? If it is not my fault can I still be flagged for having overstayed or face trouble during any future visits ?
- I know I cant work in Grace period. But can I hold a garage sell or sell my personal items at no profit during grace period? Are there any tax/legal hurdles, for which do I need to keep any documentation?
Thank you very much in advance for your insights and advice.
