Report of unauthorized employment and status concerns after being terminated during a green card process
I was terminated during my green card process. And I now need to report the unpaid wages I never properly received to the labor department.
If I file that report, my employer will surely report to USCIS that I engaged in unauthorized employment. In that case, my green card process would be closed out — would I also lose my F-1 status?
Since a labor department report and immigration are unrelated, please handle the unpaid wages through a labor law attorney consultation. Unauthorized employment falls under immigration’s domain — if the company reports taxes and it’s discovered at the I-485 stage, immigration could be denied. Immigration-law violations under 180 days are, in practice, often excused. For now, it looks like your F-1 status should remain intact as long as you continue to maintain it.