F2 on OPT!!!!!!!

[ganeshm]

Hi ,
My name is Ganesh Muniyandy. I am doing my Masters in IIT, Chicago. I have 3 more courses left to complete my Masters. Most Probably I wil finish my courses by Dec 2005.

I have couple of questions....

1. I am getting married by FEB 2006. So it is possibel to bring my wife on my OPT period?. What are the chances?

2. Suppose if I have a job offer letter from the company for my OPT period?. It will be easy to get a F2 ?

Please send me info abt this...


Thanks!
Ganesh

[balajik]

hi ganesh
i had a similar issue, where i was planning to graduate in may 2005 and my marriage date was fixed for june 2005! when i talked to my international student advisers here, this is what i found out- when your wife goes for an F-2 visa, the officer at the consulate should be convinced that your wife will return to india after you complete your studies, because F visas are non-immigrant (in other words, the assumption is that, once studies are over, the visa holder returns to the home country).

when you are on OPT, it means that you are looking for jobs. if your wife applies for F-2 visa, the officer already knows that the husband is looking for a job or already has it. therefore he will certainly reject her application!

what i did in my case was, i advanced my marriage to february of 2005. once i returned to the US with my wife, i applied for an OPT. this is because, if the officer even knows that you have filed an application for OPT, he knows that you are going to graduate and hence will take up a job. also your graduation date should be 9 months to 1 year AFTER the date of your marriage and visa application. otherwise, the visa officer ask your wife to just stay in india and join you when you have completed your studies.

bottomline- get married while you are still a student AND before applying for OPT. remember that your EAD card will take 3 months to get processed and only after you get your EAD card can you start working. therefore, it is best to have enough money in hand before you get married. in addition, you also have to show funds for approximately 7700 dollars or so per dependent per year at the consulate. this should appear on your new OPT I-20 and will be checked by the visa officer. so make sure that you have that money. it is preferable to have that amount of money in a checking/savings account for 6 months running. if you have any questions, let me know.

the other option is, of course, getting married after you get your H1B approval papers. but that will take at least until 2006 october! so you will have to postpone your marriage by at least 8 months.

[cooljaz]

Hi:
I have few questions regarding OPT. Most probably i would be starting my OPT from Nov/Dec 2005. My wife already has got the F-2 visa,and would be joining me in Oct. Her F-2 visa is valid till May 2006 and my F-1 is valid till June 2006. Now,
1) if i go on OPT what would be the status of my wife?
2) does she has to apply for change of any status?
3) when i am applying for my OPT, do i have to apply for my wife too?
4) also, does the expiration of current visa status (f-1 and f-2), has any effect on OPT?

Reply would be highly appreciated.
Thanks.