Green Card Holder

Question:

This comes down to the point that I am in a financial worry from the moment I wake up to the moment I go to sleep. My green card will come, but not within the next year. We need money and I am willing to work hard to get at it. Can someone please tell me what kind of jobs will pay a noncitizen? Are on campus temporary jobs at my college allowed by the rules of INS? Is there ANY way for me to get money as a noncitizen? I plan to transfer to my previous top choice college, but I don't think you can reapply to the college if you don't have your green card?

Answer:

This is my situation: I will not receive my green card anytime during the next year. My father lost his job due to the poor economy in the US in the past few years. He has not found one as of yet. I am in college right now. And it is expensive. I had a college that I set my goal on in highschool. I worked very hard all thru highschool to get into this top choice college. I was admitted in, yet I had to forego it to go to a college less expensive (the one I'm going to now- still a lot of money) because we did not have enough money to get into my top choice. I had gotten a scholarship at this school, but couldn't receive the money because I am noncitizen. I could not get a job because I didn't have my green card yet. I couldn't do anything really to get money. I have received a full scholarship in the college I am attending now. Again, I cannot actually RECEIVE the money in that scholarship because I am still noncitizen. We are paying everything right now. It was and is an enormous heartbreak to me.

OK I am not an expert, but there are two kinds of student visa. One allows you to work and the other doesn't (F1 and J1, I think, but I don't recall which is which). OTOH, if you are here with your father, you may have an H4 or L2 visa, neither of which allow you to work except in a case of hardship, which you may be able to prove (?). It would help to know your father's immigration status. Unless he is a US citizen or has a greencard he will be out of status?

It doesn't seem that you have given all the info needed. It seems, however, that to work legally you need either to get the right type of student visa, or to get a hardship exemption. One or the other ought to be possible. The former will probably limit the number of hours you can work, whereas the latter probably would not.

My father and mother both are waiting to receive the green card like me. We'll all be getting it basically around the same time. My father is able to work, but my mom and I came to the US on a H4 visa, which of course stopped our ability to work. My father said that there was no other choice he had except to put us on the H4 at that time. He came to the US a year before us. My mom and I came to the US together. The problem was that we should have gotten our green card by now and I was supposed to get it before going to college (hence my parents expected back then that what scholarships I might get and the money they saved up would be sufficient for my college education). Sadly, the waiting list we were on stalled for some reason around the time we were supposed to get it. I don't really know why. So this has caused much aggravation because our Cards was delayed by 2 years. I don't know what other info you need and don't know what is meant by that. I admit that I don't know everything about our situation because my parents are handling this and not telling me *every* detail about it. They don't want me to think too much about it. But I am anyway because I feel like I've had my dreams squashed. I don't think we could qualify for a hardship exemption, though I don't know the qualiifications for that either. We are able to get by right now with being able to put meals on the table and affording to pay for whatever it is that needs to be paid (car, taxes, the big stuff). Is it still possible for me to obtain a student visa right now? We will (hopefully) be getting the green card sometime late 2004, but until then. Is it too late for me? Or should I just wait until I get my Card and not even bother? Is there anything else I can do?

OK. I thought your father wasn't working for some reason. If you have an H4 you could apply for a hardship exemption to be allowed to work, but it isn't designed to cover paying tuition, it's really meant to deal with cases where you don't have enough income to live, so this may not work for you. If your family income was low enough for hardship (it probably isn't) then you could work an unlimited amount of hours, since being a student wouldn't be considered. I don't know if you could convert at this stage from an H4 to a student visa that allows working, but it seems plausible, and would doubtless permit some kind of part-time work on or near campus. Hopefully someone who knows more about student visas will reply.

Yeah, my father unfortunetley lost his job a while ago. He's been working small jobs, but hasn't found a "stable" one so far, like the one he had. Well, thank you for the help so far. I'm not really expecting to get a hardship exemption. I've heard about worse cases than mine. I'll try to see what I can do though.

Both F-1 student status and J-1 student status permit employment by the principal alien under certain circumstances.

J-2 (dependent of J-1) status holders are eligible for employment authorization under certain circumstances. Hardship is *not* among these circumstances; in fact, hardship makes a J-2 status holder ineligible.

F-2 (dependent of F-1) status holders are not eligible for employment authorization under any circumstances. (Actually, if a person held some other immigration condition in addition to F-2, like "TPS" or "asylum applicant," there may be grounds for eligibility for employment authorization, but it would not be based on the F-2 status.)

OTOH, if you are here with your father,

H-4 status holders are not eligible for employment authorization under any circumstances whatsoever.

L-2 status holders are eligible for employment authorization upon filing and obtaining approval of Form I-765 (hardship is not an element of eligibility for an L-2 EAD).

Any attempt by you to obtain a student visa or student status would be risky, because your permanent intention can be uncovered fairly easily. However, this does not mean the attempt is impossible.

You should sit down with your father's attorney and try to understand the details of what is going on. If that attorney is not particularly experienced in student visas and status, you should also consult with a good immigration attorney who *is* experienced in that area.

H-4 status holders are not eligible for employment authorization under any circumstances whatsoever. Hardship has no bearing on the situation.

There is still something puzzling about your story. As soon as your father can file Form I-485, you can also file Form I-485, and simultaneously file Form I-765, application for employment authorization, based on being I-485 applicant. When the I-765 is approved, you can work for any employer, doing any job.