Hi,
I am posting this query on behalf of my husband. He got admission in the university of Pennsylvania for MS. He completed his engineering in 2016 and started working freelance for a Project under IIT Bombay Professor. So, after sometime he applied for an MS and got a call letter. Now to fund his studies, He has taken an education loan.
So, I have two questions precisely. Firstly, showing education loan to fund your studies will have any negative impact on VO? Because it seems obvious one needs to stay in US to earn in dollars so that they can repay their loan and secondly, how should I proceed if I too want to go US to stay with him? Is there some way for spouse to stay in the US?
@Tanvi
Please pass on my wishes to your better half for getting admit in the University of Pennsylvania.
According to the guidelines issued by the US government "Only married spouses can obtain a dependent visa status. The student, scholar or employee can add a dependent spouse to his or her record, and the spouse can then obtain a dependent visa status (F-2, J-2 or H-4).
However, there are few restrictions associated with this:-
- F-2 spouses cannot work and also cannot study unless the study is “vocational or recreational in nature.” Recreational classes may include things like language, cooking, or writing courses, but cannot lead to academic objective or degree.
- J-2 spouses can study, and work if they [first obtain work authorization]
- H-4 spouses of H-1B workers are allowed to study, but they cannot work.
For applicants, the choice between F-1 and J-1 status will affect their spouses’ work and study options.
However, there are other Visa options available as well.
For partners who do not want to stay in the U.S. long-term but do want to visit, the B visitor visa is an option. Stays are limited in duration and B visitors must demonstrate non-immigrant intent.
2) Study full-time and obtain a student visa. Many partners choose to study at the same time, so that both partners can obtain independent student visa statuses. The international student office at the school where the partner will attend will sponsor the student visa.
3) Find a job and obtain a work visa. Though it is not particularly easy, some partners have found jobs that sponsored them for a work visa.
Popular Work Visa options are:-
a. [Transfer visa (L-1): Partners currently working for multinational companies could look into transferring to a local office, and obtaining an L-1 visa.
b. [H-1B visa] Partners with at least a bachelor’s degree equivalent or higher can obtain an H-1B visa for work within their field.
c. [TN visa] - A work visa for citizens of Canada and Mexico
d. E- 3 - A work visa for citizens of Australia.
For more details, check out this link.
https://internationalaffairs.uchicago.edu/page/spouses-and-partners-international-students-scholars-and-employees#group
Hope it was useful
@Salil_Singh
Thank you so much. However, I have decided to stay and not move with my husband. I got a great job offer recently in Bangalore.
Anyway thanks for the information