Immigration Forum / USA Marriage Base / January 2006

hey

well I dont know about the H1-B thing so I cant help you on that.

however, I was on F1 visa and got married and filed my AOS. U can file
for work permit (1-765/EAD) togather with the AOS. It takes from 2 to 3
months to get the authorization to work based on your "pending AOS
application", so u can have this time to refresh your skills as u
mentioned.  ** am still waiting for mine :-)!

The work permit expires within a year so u need to renew it. u can have
all the info on USCIS.gov

here is what happened to me. I took my receipt to school (receipt of my
AOS application) and they changed my status to that of pending
immigrant. this means:

1) u can no longer obtain ANY work permits from your school anymore.
2) u can no longer sign your I-20 as an int'l student and leave
  the country.
3) even status documents for DMVs and SSN..etc can no longer be obtained
  form school.

EVERYTHING must come from USCIS.  u can choose to keep your status as F1
student Visa, even with a receipt of AOS. I decided to terminate my F1
status only because i didnt want to be bound to a 12 credits minimum
(full time student) every semester.

HOWEVER IF U APPLIED FOR A WORK PERMIT through USCIS, they interpret the
fact that u are working off-campus to mean that u have chosen to
terminate your F1 status.

hope that answers some of your questions!