Looking for good advice.
My wife is working now and we are gonna have a baby soon. Should I change to H4 visa(spouse of foreign worker)? I don't need any more school experiences I think. All I need now is a piece of job. If I go to school, I need to pay tuition and leave her alone.
But I may lose CPT and OPT for international students working permissions.

[Edited on August 16, 2011 at 9:32 AM. Reason : ;]

[Edited on August 16, 2011 at 9:33 AM. Reason : ;]

8/16/2011 9:31:28 AM

I'm not sure about the H4 visa but I can tell you that work visas take forever to get changed. We have a guy at work who is here from India on a work visa. His wife's research position got moved from Duke to Chapel Hill, and because of that he had to move. For some reason that affected his work visa (I think its an HBV1...not really sure). Anyway, he can't work at all right now and the paperwork is still "processing". He estimates it will be another 6 weeks to 90 days before he can be back.


So, I guess just keep that in mind that the government moves slow.

8/16/2011 9:41:24 AM

What are you on now? J-1?

8/16/2011 9:46:39 AM

F1

8/16/2011 9:47:43 AM

I think this way is more risky than F1

8/16/2011 10:00:10 AM

Switching from an F-1 to a work visa without a job sponsor is extremely difficult. The whole point of the F-1 is you come, get your degree, and leave. If you are serious about dropping your student visa, you need to find a sponsor first.

8/16/2011 10:09:33 AM

whats more risky?

Convert to H4 when your F1 expires and keep applying for jobs meanwhile. You will need the company to sponsor your H1b to start working anyways. It would be great if you could find a job on F1 so you could use your OPT/CPT to work while the company files for your H1b. What is your major? Have you tried talking to career services/OIS at state? start with internship or work for free for a while to gain experience. Most companies dont hire foriegn work directly. Contracting firms like manpower, robert half, TEK systems might find you some contracting jobs if you have the right experience.

8/16/2011 10:12:56 AM

^ he would have to leave the country in order to apply for the H-4 once the F-1 expires. We've had a couple of students get screwed this way at my job. You really need to talk to visa services on campus as they can explain it you best with your situation.

[Edited on August 16, 2011 at 10:18 AM. Reason : T]

8/16/2011 10:17:57 AM

Quote :

"he would have to leave the country in order to apply for the H-4 once the F-1 expires."

i always thought you could apply for H4 from usa but if you decide to travel outside usa, you need to get the visa stamped from home country to come back to the states.

I could be wrong but yes it is better you talk to people at OIS.


[Edited on August 16, 2011 at 10:25 AM. Reason : ..]

8/16/2011 10:24:27 AM

That's only if you can complete the application process before the F-1 expires, which usually doesn't work that way. And once your student visa expires, you're overstaying your welcome in the eyes of the government. It's also bad for the school if you overstay you valid visa so they strongly discourage you from doing it.

8/16/2011 10:32:54 AM