Question:
I am a graduate student in electrical engineering. I was going
over the blog related to green card and it was pretty much confusing
since i have 0 knowledge in this field. I have a gun shot question:
I have 2 IEEE international conference papers and 1 ordinary journal
paper and i have filed a U.S. Patent based on my master’s thesis. Now,
1) Can a master’s student apply for a green card on his own?
2) If so, what are the forms or other materials required to be filled
up in order to get an EAD (Work authorization) before getting green
card ?
3) How much time does it take to fill up every form and how much time
does it take to get an EAD approved?
I would really appreciate if you can please be kind enough to reply my
questions.
Answer:
1)
We assume you are on an F1 visa. Yes, anyone with credentials satisfying uscis criteria can self-petition in EB1A or EB2-niw. Some people have applied while on on an F1 it in the past. But there are risks involved.
Filing I-140 (permanent residency petition) implies an intent to immigrate, you will not be able to renew your F1 visa. This is a problem if green card petition is rejected (either i-140 or i-485) or significantly delayed and in the meantime you still want to continue on an F1. So you should only apply if you are sure of i-140 approval and if you are sure that you do not need a F1 renewal before your 485 is approved.
2)
If you are concurrently filing i-140, and 485, you can also apply for i-131 (ead) at the same time. All the documents needed with these forms should be filed. I-140 is the green card petition and can be a involved process (collecting evidence, recommendation letters etc) and can take few weeks of focussed effort.
3)
3 mo according to uscis. But can be typically less.
Best of luck