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Posted by Paul on May 01, 2001 at 15:16:35:
In Reply to: Help Ukrainian student in the US posted by Natalya on April 16, 2001 at 12:03:30:
My wife came here as you did - on J-1, but not subject to the 2-year return requirment (her program recieved no government funds). She applied in May '97 for change of status to F-1, but did not recieve it until Novemeber '97. You have been correctly advised that this is a normal procedure, and perfectly legal. You are allowed to stay until the INS rules on your application for change of status. I think things have gotten slower since '97, so I'm not surprised by the delay. As for work, please don't take the advice of working illegally. Although the chances of being caught are small, why take the chance? There are procedures for getting "hardship" approval to work while on F-1 (and I think J-1). Probably, you would have to wait until you get your visa, then apply for the work authorization. You can more easily get authorization to work on campus even without hardship. Good luck.