F1->H4 or H4->F1 which is better?

[kclmanian]

 Hi All,

 

SCENARIO:

1) I am working as a full-time employee on H1B visa.

2) I am getting married on April 2014.

3) My fiance has currently applied for MBA in United States and will probably get her I-20s on February 2014.

4) My fiance is planning to do her MBA starting Fall 2014. 

 

QUESTIONS:

Option A:  Coming to U.S.A in Student Visa (F1):

1) Will I be able to show by wife as a dependent and provide her the dependent  benefits? 

2) Are we able to file our taxes in married status and get the tax benefits?

3) Can my wife work on C.B.T and O.P.T? 

4) I will be applying my Green Card shortly, does adding her name cause any problems? 

 

Option B: Coming to U.S.A in Dependent Visa (H4):

1) Can she change the status from H4 to F1 after coming here, if yes, how long does it take?

2) Can she study in H4 with her received I20s?

3) What advantages she gain and loose when she study in H4?

 

Which is better Option A or Option B?

[t75]

Filing status for taxes for 2013 will depend on your marital status at the end of the year.

[quantbuff]

 Hi All,

 

SCENARIO:

1) I am working as a full-time employee on H1B visa.

2) I am getting married on April 2014.

3) My fiance has currently applied for MBA in United States and will probably get her I-20s on February 2014.

4) My fiance is planning to do her MBA starting Fall 2014. 

 

QUESTIONS:

Option A:  Coming to U.S.A in Student Visa (F1):

1) Will I be able to show by wife as a dependent and provide her the dependent  benefits?  Yes

2) Are we able to file our taxes in married status and get the tax benefits? Yes

3) Can my wife work on C.B.T and O.P.T?  Yes

4) I will be applying my Green Card shortly, does adding her name cause any problems?  Ideally she can apply for F1 Visa before marriage. so dosen't matter

 

Option B: Coming to U.S.A in Dependent Visa (H4): -- I will not suggest this ?

1) Can she change the status from H4 to F1 after coming here, if yes, how long does it take? -- Yes Time Depends ( For my Wife it took 4 months)

2) Can she study in H4 with her received I20s? YES

3) What advantages she gain and loose when she study in H4? Unnecessary COS application fees and headche. She has to be on F1 to get CBT ( atleast get F1 before she finished one year to get CBT benifit)

No Advantage what so ever in my opinion. 

 

Which is better Option A or Option B?

 

From Personal Experience I will say option A. That will show her true intent ( why do you want to go from H4 - F1 ) of coming to US for studying

[danik]

On H4 your wife can study, get drivers license, do voluntary jobs (strictly without pay) . can take as many less courses she likes. i.e. if F1 students are supposed to take 9 credits per semesters, where as H4 students can take 3 , 6 or 9 credits. 

In my opinion, she should get F1 visa before entering USA. H4 to F1 time is not specific. it might get approved in 1 month or 6 months or even a year. (case to case) 

On F1 your wife can do Internships (Paid) on campus/off campus (CPT) also can take teaching assistant jobs which is again paid. she can get SSN based on their internship (even on campus jobs)  these advantages are not there on H4. also once studies are complete on F1 she can apply for OPT. (depends on she gets job by then) 

If she does H4 to F1 change of status in USA then whenever she goes out of USA , she has to go for F1 visa stamping and the process is similar to attending new visa interview (chances of denial are there, though she has COS approved) 

I am not sure of Green card, how it works, but compared to H4 , F1 seems better for the intention of study and internship.