I’m in H1. My wife is in F1 and she currently has a pending OPT-EAD application for her summer job. My lawyer just notified me he is ready to file my I-140/485 concurrently. This is supposed to be good news, but here is the problem, the company that I work for is going through changes and there are tons of uncertainties on my job. On one hand, I want to file I140/485 thing now and start the clock for AC21; on the other hand, I’m afraid if I file I140/485 with my wife together, that will jeopardize my wife’s career once I lost my job. The reason being that is once I put my wife’s name on the 485, her current F1 will stay but her pending OPT-EAD application as well as any future F1-related application (maybe even H1) will be most likely declined because of AOS status.
Here is my plan, I alone will file the I140/485 with “married” status now, then I amend her name on the I485 later on after my wife’s pending OPT-EAD gets approved and hopefully after my job gets a little bit more stable. In this way, all the eggs won’t be in the same basket.
My question is whether this is doable. Will my wife’s pending OPT-EAD application be affected anyway even though her name is not on the I485 now? What is the disadvantage of this approach? Please share your opinion on this.