F1 Student getting married to a Green Card Holder.

[tomo35]

I am a Green Card Holder and my girlfriend just came to the US from Vietnam with F-1 Student Visa(2 year MBA program) . We are thinking about getting married. What is the best way for us to stay together (avoiding the situation that we are married and she has to go back to wait for her GC.) We want to lve in the US togother forever. And I don't know if I want to get Citizenship because I don't want to lose my origianal citizenship from Japan.

Should we get married now? (I heard it's be better to wait for 6 months or so since she just got here.)

Can she still keep the F-1 status after she get married? and keep going her OPT and changing status to H-1?

We don't want to waste any time while she is here, please help us on how to go from now on.

[midbrain]

Once you file a petition for her under 2nd family
category after your marriage, she may have problems reentering after travel abroad on her F-1,since F-1 requires non-immigrant intent.

If she can avoid travel, you can file for her after marriage and she can
continue her F-1 to OPT to H-1 journey. She can adjust to green card whenever(4-5 yrs) the visa number becomes available.

Or you could explore if japan allows dual citizenship (US does).
If yes, and you are close to eligibility period of US citizenship,
go for it and file for her under immediate realtive category which
will be fast.

The timing of your marriage wouldn't matter because she is not
going to obtain immediate immigration benefits through marriage.
It holds true for marriages with US citizens where the benefits are
almost immediate.

[Kayalami]

I am a Green Card Holder and my girlfriend just came to the US from Vietnam with F-1 Student Visa(2 year MBA program).

1. How did you get your GC?
2. When did you get your GC?
3. What is annotated on your g/f's I-94 i.e. a specific date or D/S?

[tomo35]

1. I got my GC through employment.
2. I got imy GC in last October.
3. Her I-94 say D/S

If we get married, and if she get H-1 afer graduation, can she go out and in to the US while she is waiting for her GC?

According to midbrain, she cannot reenter US with her F1 once we get married in F 1 status..

[tomo35]

Japan does not allow dual citizenship. If I get citizenship, my girlfriend can probably get GC faster, but this means I can't go back to japan to see my parents?

[midbrain]

No point considering US citizenship since you have more than 4 years before you can apply for it. If you file for her now, she will get her GC in 4-5 years anyway.

With a GC pending, she could avoid travel till she got her H-1b
H-1b does not have any problems with immigrant intent, so she
can reenter even if her GC petition is pending.

But consider this; If she changes status in US from F-1 to H-1b (
H-1b stamp on I-94)and she travels abroad, she will need to get an H-1 stamp from the US embassy at home to reenter US, where they may question her original intent when she applied for her F-1 and why she changed status in US.

An option is not to change status from F-1 to H-1b in US but
to apply for an H-1 from home when her F-1 is over and she gets an H-1 offer.With a multiple entry H-1b stamp in her passport she can reenter
US even if her GC is pending.

[tomo35]

so if we get married now, she should not go out of the US till she finished school, but after she changed to H-1 in the US, can she still reenter the US? If she is pending on GC and go back to get H-1 in vietnam, we are worried she will be denied for H-1? I couldn't tell the difference of these 2...

[midbrain]

Like I said, H-1b does not have a problem with immigrant intent like F-1 does.

So if she met all other requirements for H-1b, she would be given
the visa at vietnam even if her GC is pending and she'd be able to enter.

But if she changed status from F-1 to H-1b in US and then needed to travel
to vietnam, she'd need a fresh H-1b stamp from the embassy at vietnam, where they could deny her H-1b on the basis of her intent while
applying for F-1 because she changed status in US.