Hi,
I am on H1-B visa in the US, and my wife needs to start college on August 15th on her F1 visa. However, currently she cannot find any visa slots, and she is eligible for Emergency appointment. We are newly married, can she also apply for EA using student category, and also include the details about being newly married and show family separation as a secondary reason for EA request? or is it better to leave that information out. please advice.
Thank you,
Varun
Your best bet is getting visa appointment for F1. Your spouse do not qualify for family separation.
Checkout the below link for faq for more details.
https://in.usembassy.gov/visas/national-interest-exception-frequently-asked-questions/
Thanks for the response Kalpesh, I understand that she does not qualify for Family separation. She will apply for Expedited Appointment based on student admission to the college in August. However, my question is whether it would help with EA approval if we include the information about being recently married and family separation along with I-20 and SEVIS fee payment proofs which as required for EA appointment for students?
I don’t think it will help. In fact it may go against as F-1 is considered a non-immigrant visa and the candidate has to establish the intent to return back to their home country after completing the education (even though lot of F-1s gets COS to H1B which is dual intent visa or can get married to US person).
Now if the VO asks her if she is married and where her husband is, she can always say the truth about you being on H1B, however I won’t advice using the separation reason for her F-1 EA.