to BDJ - drkinjaldesai

[ArchivalUser]

superb explanations bdj,,,,,,,,that clears a lot of my doubts.
can i ask u something,,,,,,,if u could ans to the best of your knowledge, i want to know that i am going to marry a citizen girl whom i fell in love last year and we got engaged to last year ,,,,,,, so if if if i get my residency next year on J1 is there a possiblity of converting it to H1 or what happens when i get married to her in next june or july after she becomes a citizen,,,,,,,,, will i have to go to india after 3 years..........
I will be definitely trying for H1 but looking at my scores i dont know if i will at all get or not........
What should i do in this case............coz she doesnt get her Citizenship until next june and i need to find something atleast before july 15th when my OPT ends........................
thanks a lot

[ArchivalUser]

This is harder to answer...I am not a legal advisor and the only person I can think I could ask (who married a US citizen and came on a J1 visa and did a fellowship) decided to go back to his country cue to personal reasons (ended up hating the US system!).
July 15th ends your OPT you have 60 days to leave the country. When are you planning to marry her? If she has a GC now, and you are still legally here and you get marry before july 15th (even if it's just the civil wedding) she might be able to claim you on her GC I am not completely sure but it's possible.

Here's what has happened with people that I know:

I have a friend who married a US citizen while on F1 and he's getting his GC without having to leave the country.
A friend on an H1B in research who married a US citizen, still on H1B waited a year and a half had a child and then got his GC (bumped from the list because now he has his wife and child which moves you up in the waiting list).
Can you look for H1B on research or on the field (whatever it is) that you're on OPT now? That will serve the purpose. I am now on H4 as my OPT expired in december and I am still waiting for my residency to begin. I didn't have to leave the country and my spouse's program sponsored the H1 previously. This is another option for those whose spouse has either H1 or J1 (which can grant you a J2 and you can work differently from H4 in which you can't do any work)

Sorry I can't be of more help....
Best
BDJ

[ArchivalUser]

so as per u i should not look for J1 but H1 right,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,thats leaves me in a better position even when i apply for residency for next year........
What if i get J1,,,,,,is it possible to convert it to J1 Clinical when i get residency,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,and after the residency if i get a waiver,,,,,,,,,,,would i still have to go back home for 2 years................and what if i got married meanwhile and my wife applies for my GC................
I know its all complicated..........but i feel u have really sound knowledge of these issues........
sorry once again for bothering uuuuuuuu
thanks a lottttttttttt reallyyyyyyy

[ArchivalUser]

BDJ,
I have sent u a mail..please do reply when you get time.

[ArchivalUser]

Ok kinjal I just re-read your post. You will marry her after she'd become a citizen, right? When is she becoming a citizen may be an important question....
If you marry her given that she is already a citizen and you are legally in the US, you are technically eligible for a GC. What I don't know is if anybody has any limitations in terms of claiming significant others within a certain time of becoming a citizen. You may want to look into that.

Also I am not sure whether if you marry her after your OPT expires or near to that period, if they may ask you to go back to India. You may just want to "marry" earlier (civil marry) in order to expedite your paperwork as long as she has her citizenship already in place. You could get a J1 in research and then switch to an H1B before starting residency, or directly aim to get sponsorship for H1B for research and then move to GC once she is a citizen providing that there are no limitations. This is why immigration lawyers are so important these people really know the nuts and bolts .

GL
BDJ

[ArchivalUser]

Again
YOU ALWAYS WANT TO AVOID J1 AT ALL COSTS....
J1 IS EVIL IN MEDICINE!!! LOL Harsh but true!

SO, You could do J1 in your actual field of expertise and make every attempt to move to H1 while in the same field. As I mentioned on the other post, J1 to H1 in medicine is a very very hard intricate difficult painful worse than not-matching process!

You can move from J1 to J1-clinical yes but almost impossible to avoid leaving the country when you want to stay even if you marry a citizen. Lots of sad stories. Even in research is hard, that is why my friend decided to move to a different lab look for H1 sponsorship before marrying and waiting to have a child so he could get his GC within 8-10 months.

So aim for H1 if you want to stay here, H1 is the best next step to GC in most places. Expensive in the beginning, painful b/c you have to pass step 3 on time and that is stressful, but it pays.

Have I answered your question kinjaldesai?
GL
BDJ

PS please please call a lawyer and make sure I'm not just saying non-sense things here. I go by my friends' experience and by a 2-hour meeting with the imm lawyer in my program.

[ArchivalUser]

your last question was can you get a waiver? yes hard but possible be prepared to go to Montana, far far away and if your wife then has a successful carrer also consider that. Waiver means you go to an underserved area whatever whichever area they consider important not always where you think you would want to go. The law is intended to change it's in the congress now, they want to set a requirement of 5-10 years of commitment in that underserved area...so be prepared to be there for a while.
And sometimes even after you'd done the waiver they may say "Sorry Dr. Kinjaldesai you have to go back to India for a year". They are entitled to do anything they want, I learnt throughout my years that USCIS/INS is one of the most powerful systems. They rule and you follow the rules (whichever they are according to their standards)
This is the price to pay when you want to follow the american dream
GL
BDJ

[ArchivalUser]

I beg to differ a little bit here on the waiver job.....
It has become much easier than in the past to get a j1 waiver job..And you dont have to go to Montana to do it...Every 50 states have their own underserved areas so it could be in NY itself if you are living in that area ...Two of my friends got their waiver job in Boston,just half an hour away.....It just has to be an underserved area not necessarily Montana or Missisipi you would think!!!!!!!! 3 of my friends graduated from NY hospitals are doing waivers in Florida about 40 miles from Miami!!!.....And when they hire you to do a waiver job most of the hospitals also sponsor your GC and thats what is happening to my friends ...


Its easier to get waiver job in IM,FM and peds than compare to Path I would say but its not as bad as people are saying.

And yes INS/USCIS are definitely the most powerful system but getting things changed from conress takes time and doesnot happen overnight like in any other countrys even here in the US when it comes to goverment work its slow..