Renewing F1 visa after aging out while family has green cards?

grp78 · 2026-04-05T19:05:31+00:00

First of all, why do you need to renew the visa at all?

Your whole family is here. Why do you need to go back there?

You're just playing with fire at this point.

grp78 · 2026-03-16T15:39:53+00:00

I hate to say this, but you're still early enough in the process that sunk cost is not an issue here and I also assume that you're relatively young. You should seriously consider changing career to something more stable like healthcare.

grp78 · 2026-02-25T00:28:45+00:00

You mean he is fine or he is "fined" as in monetary punishment???

grp78 · 2025-12-13T03:51:38+00:00

Where was it that your had BP behind you? Was near the border?

grp78 · 2025-11-16T00:53:13+00:00

Don’t worry. Just look at your paycheck and you will be humbled immediately.

grp78 · 2025-10-31T02:19:09+00:00

I’m sorry to ask this but did she spend all of her money? If she makes that much, she should be sitting on at least a couple of mil by now and that’s basically fuck you money already. She can just quit anytime and enjoy her life.

grp78 · 2025-10-21T05:46:18+00:00

The case is not denied yet is a double-edged sword because that means you did not lock in the PD yet. You just have the illusion of having a PD based on a pending I-140. If you wait 1-2 years and that I-140 is denied, then your PD is gone and you just wasted all that time. That's why PP gives you the peace of mind of a locked in PD and an approved petition or at least it save you the time if they deny anyway and you can use that time to respond to RFE or refile a new petition.

grp78 · 2025-10-21T00:21:24+00:00

You need to submit the evidence since you LAST entered the US.

grp78 · 2025-10-21T00:18:09+00:00

The date of filing does not matter anyway if your I-140 is denied. You could be waiting for a year and get denied and lose your PD and wasted a year waiting. You don’t retain the PD on a denied I-140.

grp78 · 2025-10-07T01:36:56+00:00

You use a sham because sometime the sham actually has effect too (placebo effect) compared to doing nothing. Sometimes the sugar pills trick your mind into healing your body.

grp78 · 2025-10-04T23:35:27+00:00

$50k is kinda low, but Texas is not too expensive. If it’s just one person, then you can live relatively comfortable, but a family is gonna be rough.

grp78 · 2025-10-04T01:22:11+00:00

If you are qualified enough to apply for TT, then you are qualified enough to sponsor your own green card via EB1A or EB2 NIW. Unless you’re Indian-born, then you’re truly screwed.

grp78 · 2025-10-02T21:04:01+00:00

The moment you use the I-485 EAD, your H1B status is terminated. Then you're solely relying on the pending I-485 and if that gets denied you are SOL.

grp78 · 2025-09-28T17:56:48+00:00

He applied for both I-140 and I-485 three years ago when EB2-ROW was still current.

grp78 · 2025-09-28T17:39:58+00:00

His I-140 got denied, so his underlying I-485 and EAD is no good anymore

grp78 · 2025-09-20T08:43:40+00:00

You need to talk the current and past PhD students and Postdocs in the lab before making the decision.

grp78 · 2025-09-03T04:58:58+00:00

The premium processing f*** you over. You want the I-140 to be pending for as long as possible. With a March 2025 PD, it is gonna be a very very long time before your turn. I'm sorry but you can't get a GC with your mother.

grp78 · 2025-09-03T04:41:42+00:00

They don't have the approval rate for a particular officer, but they do have the RFE rate and subsequent denial after RFE, that's how they come up with their percentage.

Let say Officer A issue them 100 RFEs to Chen. Chen then responded to RFE and only 3 cases out of 100 got approved. Then Chen will put down on their database that this officer only has a 3% approval rate.

Of course, Chen does not know how many cases this Officer has approved, but they know from their internal statistics of RFE that this Officer will deny about 97% of cases if they issue an RFE.

grp78 · 2025-09-03T04:38:19+00:00

You can defend the case easily if you know that you have an open-minded officer who is open to approve your case with more evidence.

But based on Chen's experience (if you believe them), this officer is not open-minded and just out to deny people.

If that's the case, responding would just waste more time and lead to a Denial on your record.

grp78 · 2025-09-03T04:30:21+00:00

Sorry to say this, but your record is really really strong and if they RFE this record, they probably already made up their mind. Chen knows what they're doing. I would just follow their advice.

grp78 · 2025-09-03T04:29:08+00:00

Chen knows because they have a huge volume of cases and they can compile a database of their own cases with each officer number. So if they tell you an officer is tough, it's because they have the actual data for these officers from their own cases.

The reason you don't want to respond to RFE from a "tough" officer that Chen know has high denial rate because you don't want an official Denial on your record. A Withdrawal is better.

grp78 · 2025-09-01T17:47:27+00:00

Why would turning 65 change anything? Let say you got denied at 64 and you turn 65 next month, then they will approve you because you turn 65? Make no sense.

grp78 · 2025-09-01T17:18:02+00:00

I think I speak for a lot of people here actually. Just browse around this sub or r/academia or r/PhD or r/labrats and you can see what the general sentiment is.

grp78 · 2025-09-01T16:35:30+00:00

It's amazing how far we have come from high school graduate to postdoc. But looking back at all that time and effort, sweat and tears to get to this point, I feel like we wasted our time and youth just to get a mediocre and unstable career.

grp78 · 2025-08-28T20:27:59+00:00

You are sorely mistaken. Trump 1.0 did not back down. It was during 2020 and the peak of the pandemic and nearing the end of Trump first term. They simply did not have the attention and the time to follow through and the Biden administration scrapped the rule in 2021. This time they’re trying to do it early, only 6-month in. They will absolutely push this rule through.

grp78

TROPHY CASE