Legal Question in Immigration Law in Massachusetts

Change of Status by Marriage to a Citizen

My fiance and I will be getting married on May 25th, 2002, in Boston by a Justice of Peace. We are also planning a wedding banquet for our families at another country, so we will be traveling outside of US between June 18th and July 7th. I am a US Citizen and she's currently holding H1B Visa expiring on August 23, 2002, and we are planning on filing for change of status after our wedding in Boston.

1. Because we've heard that her H1B Visa will become invalid once she applies for permanent residence, is it better for us to apply for the change of status, work authorization, and advance parole before we travel to in June, or is it better to wait until we come back to the US in July? If we wait until we comes back, will she have problem using her H1B Visa to return to US in July, since it expires in August?

2. On our marriage licence, her last name will be changed to my last name. If we're going to file change of status right after our wedding , should she applies for the change of status using her orignial family name or my last name? Before we file for the change of status, do we need to file other paper work for the name chang, such as with the social security and driver's licence, etc?


Asked on 5/06/02, 6:22 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Carolyn Goldfarb Carolyn S. Goldfarb, Esq.

Re: Change of Status by Marriage to a Citizen

I would wait until after you get back from your trip iin July to file for adjustment of status. She should have no problem traveling on her H-1B visa. (I am assuming she is in valid H-1b status working for the H-1B petitioner. Otherwise, I would not use the H-1b visa to travel and would proceed with the adjustment as soon as you get married). If you file for the change of status, things could get a little complicated. Your wife must apply for and receive advance parole to travel. If she plans to change her name, she should do the immigration forms in her married name. Otherwise she won't get her greencard in her married name. You don't have to change the name on the SS card until your wife receives her employmnet authoriztion card after you file the adjustment application. The same goes for the driver license.

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Answered on 5/07/02, 1:00 am


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