I’d like to know whether I need to receive my conditional green card before my visa expires to avoid being out of status.
I entered the U.S. on a student visa, finished college, and am currently on OPT.
My OPT will expire soon. My question is: do I need to have already received my conditional green card before my F-1 status expires to avoid falling out of status? Or does simply having filed for marriage-based green card mean I’m not out of status, with no issue to my status?
Regardless of your current visa/status expiration date, as long as you’ve filed for a marriage-based green card, you are considered to be in lawful status for the duration of the waiting period and review — so this is not treated as unlawful presence.
Also, even if you had a prior status violation, this generally shouldn’t be a problem for filing a green card application from within the U.S.