Legal Question in Immigration Law in Washington
Employer Petition to Spouse Petition for Permanent Status
My husband is British. He entered USA in June 2004 under an H-1..his employer also submitted a petition as his sponsor for permanent status. He currently has an EAD through this process which has been renewed and expires March of 2005. We have been married for 18 months and resided together for 3 years. Since the permanent process through his employer has taken almost 2 years thus far I am going to sponsor him as my spouse as the wait for this is like 7 months we were told by INS and they are only working on February 2002 so far and my husbands receipt is November 2002. Do we have to start from square one, is his EAD nul and voided once we start the new application? Can he work? What forms will I have to use? Can my petition be concurrent with his employers? My husband was an employee for this company now he is a self-employed contractor, do you foresee any problems with that? I have all the forms I believe but times I am confused on the language. Please help. Thank you ever so much for your time and for having this forum.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Employer Petition to Spouse Petition for Permanent Status
If you are a U.S. citizen, you could have filed for his green card/work permit/travel permit the day after your marriage. It does not matter that the green card through his work is pending. It is best to get a new work permit under the "green card through family" category. You would have gotten the work/travel permits within 90 days and the green card within approximately one year.
We help many people who are confused about the forms. Any good immigration attorney should be able to help you if you don't wish to keep struggling (it's confusing!) -- good luck!
Danielle Homant
Immigration Attorney
Re: Employer Petition to Spouse Petition for Permanent Status
Yes, its frustrating to wait for CIS. Your situation is not so unusual. And not bad. It sounds like you at least HAVE an option, either way. I hesitate to advise you from what you said here. I think you should bring your paperwork in for someone to see to give you a good solid opinion about what to do. I don't feel like I could or should do that based on your description.
You have a lot of good questions, such as validity of work permits, etc. I would want to see ecah document that was filed (copies) and when, in order to really give you an opinion about what is the better choice at this point. THen there is the choice of do you want to do this yourself or have help.
I think your $$ would be well spent if you consulted us or another immigration attorney. Invariably, more questions are raised than you expected at these consultations, which can be by telephone or in person.
I hope this is helpful.
Lisa Seifert
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