OPT/EAD to Immigrant visa

[sisyphus]

Hello all:

Posting for a friend. Her EAD is expiring end of February 2019. She has applied for an immigrant visa under EB1 category (extraordinary capability) in August 2018. Its a strong application and I believe it should get approved.

When we applied we were under the impression a decision on EB1 will be made within 2 or 3 months. The EB1 application was not fast tracked. It seems its going to be six months or more. Which means end of February arrives and if there is no decision on her EB1 she may get out of status.

Question: Is there a grace period after OPT/EAD expires a person can stay in the country legally? What are the ways for her to keep her status?

Thanks in advance,

AK

[scientist2016]

Hello all:

Posting for a friend. Her EAD is expiring end of February 2019. She has applied for an immigrant visa under EB1 category (extraordinary capability) in August 2018. Its a strong application and I believe it should get approved.

When we applied we were under the impression a decision on EB1 will be made within 2 or 3 months. The EB1 application was not fast tracked. It seems its going to be six months or more. Which means end of February arrives and if there is no decision on her EB1 she may get out of status.

Question: Is there a grace period after OPT/EAD expires a person can stay in the country legally? What are the ways for her to keep her status?

Thanks in advance,

AK

Even if the application had been fast tracked, it would not have helped your friend, since an approved I140 by itself does not confer any status for her, and she can neither continue residing in the US nor continue working solely on its basis (only a pending AOS petition allows her to continue her stay).

[sisyphus]

Even if the application had been fast tracked, it would not have helped your friend, since an approved I140 by itself does not confer any status for her, and she can neither continue residing in the US nor continue working solely on its basis (only a pending AOS petition allows her to continue her stay).

The plan was to apply for an adjustment of status immediately upon receiving a positive reply.

How many days after the expiry of OPT EAD can a person remain in US legally?

Is it possible to fast track the application at this point (meaning fast tracking an EB1 petition which was originally filed for normal processing) ?

What other options can a petitioner have to keep her status?

Thank you once again.

[scientist2016]

The plan was to apply for an adjustment of status immediately upon receiving a positive reply.

How many days after the expiry of OPT EAD can a person remain in US legally?

Is it possible to fast track the application at this point (meaning fast tracking an EB1 petition which was originally filed for normal processing) ?

What other options can a petitioner have to keep her status?

Thank you once again.

I understood that you wanted to wait to file I485. My point was that you were anyway not allowed to do it, since EB1 is backlogged. You can fast track I140 anytime, but it is of no use the current case, since EB1 is currently backlogged. The only other way (via employment) is filing for H1 in April 2019. But it is a lottery process, and anyways it does not solve the current problem of Feb EAD/OPT expiry.