We’ve been living legally in the US for more than 6 years. My father applied for a green card through an employment based immigrant visa and the petition was approved last month. We are currently living in the United States under adjustment of status (AOS) until our I-485 is approved, which might happen in around 6 months. Then we should receive our green card. I have SSN, drivers license, work authorization and my parents filled for tax returns.
On the common app, there is no place for my case. Since I don’t have a valid visa/green card if I choose I currently do not have a valid U.S. visa and explain my case in additional information I will be considered as an international student, which I am not. Does anyone has/had the same issue? Any advice how should I proceed? Thanks
@Naish
The below thread might shed some light on your question. Good luck.
@happymomof1 any idea?
Generally, schools will consider you an international student until you become a permanent resident/have green card.
What schools are you applying to? You can call each one (I would start with an international admissions officer) and ask your questions as to how they want you to submit your app.
This statement implies your father is on a work visa (H1) which suggests you are on a worker-dependent visa (H4). Until your green card comes through your current visa status should still be valid (or what am I missing?)
So this isn’t true:
If it were, then you’re illegally present in the United States and your adjustment of status to permanent residency would be halted, which isn’t the case.
I agree with @Mwfan1921 that you’ll be considered an international student.
Actually…I believe that until you have your green card, you ARE considered an international student. At this point, your citizenship is another country. You have a valid visa to BE here…but you would still be an international student. Unless there is something missing that I don’t know.
You’re considered an international student until you get the green card, because you ARE an international student. You would be international, even if you and your family had been in your current status for the past 16 years, because you don’t yet have that green card, you don’t qualify for DACA, and you’re a citizen of your country of birth, and your passport is from your country of birth. Hopefully, the green card will come in time, but the likelihood is that it will not come before ED/EA dates, and probably not even before the end of 2022.
I suggest that you call and speak with someone high up in the admissions office at the schools you’re applying to, and ask whether the almost certain expectation of a green card before the school year begins would be taken into account by the schools. I doubt it would be unless it comes through by, say, February, in time for the admissions committee to move your application to the US citizen/permanent resident pile, but hey, you never know. As for fin aid, you’d be eligible for federal aid as soon as the green card comes through - even for the semester that you’ve already begun. For example, you can file a FAFSA in the middle of the semester, and still get federal loans.
If the green card is not expected to come through in time for this application cycle, but is definitely expected shortly thereafter, maybe you should consider taking a gap year and applying next summer for admission for fall '24. By early fall '23, you should have the green card and be able to submit your applications with permanent resident status. If you are in need of, and would be eligible for significant fin aid, this is probably your best option.
In some states, because of your family’s long residence there you would be considered an in-state applicant for tuition and fees. So start with the advice from @Mwfan1921 and contact each place on your list. Don’t talk with the first person who picks up the phone. Talk with the head of international admissions. They have seen this problem before.
Alternately, you can wait to file the applications after you to have your green card. Talk with your parents about taking a gap year and just working and/or volunteering while you wait out the paperwork issue. The money you save on in-state tuition, improved admissions chances, and better chances for decent financial aid based on legal residence status might make a semester or year delay worthwhile.
Thank you for your help!
Hi, thank you! I will call all admissions officers and check how to proceed with each one of them!
Hi, thank you for your help. My case is a little different. We arrived in the US under an investor visa my father had. Some years later he applied for an employment based visa (EB2, not H1) filling at the same time adjustment of status. Last year his investor visa expired and this year his green card petition was approved, under the EB2 visa. But we are still under adjustment of status, since we didn’t receive the green card yet. I have my own SSN and I have work authorization. I think I will call each admission office and explain my situation to see how to proceed. Thank you!
Hi, thank you!
Hi thank you, I will call the admission offices to check how to proceed in my case. I already submitted my FAFSA application last week since I have a SSN and I am considered a parolee, which makes me eligible according to them. Let’s hope the green card arrives soon! Thank you very much.
Thank you! I will call the admission office in each one of the colleges. Thank you very much for your help!
Best wishes while you wait. There have been delays for green cards to be processed during the pandemic. I hope it gets settled soon.
What does this mean?
@kelsmom should this student have indicated he or she was eligible to file a FAFSA?
https://studentaid.gov/help-center/answers/article/i-am-non-us-citizen-can-i-get-federal-student-aid
Hi, thank you. My case is considered under this, so it makes me a non citizen that is eligible to federal student aid.
- “Parolee” (you must be paroled for at least one year, and you must be able to provide evidence from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services that you’re in the United States for other than a temporary purpose with the intention of becoming a U.S. citizen or permanent resident).
Have you been granted parole status by an appropriate authority? It sounded like your father was here on a work visa. That wouldn’t normally be a parole status person.
Hi, thank you. I have been granted a parole status by USCIS and my father is not here on a work Visa.