Okay, so I was diving deep into this whole visa thing, specifically about whether my wife could work here in the States while I’m on my F1 student visa. It’s a bit of a maze, but I’ve been picking through it, and here’s what went down.
First off, I started digging around to see what the general rules are. I mean, who knows this stuff off the top of their head, right? Turns out, it’s pretty clear that if you’re here on an F1, your main gig is studying, not working. And for your spouse, who would be on an F2, working is mostly a no-go.
But, there are a bunch of exceptions for other visa types, like if you’re an E-1 or E-2. I found out that spouses of E-1 Treaty Traders or E-2 Treaty Investors can work. But, that doesn’t apply to me or my spouse as we’re not traders or investors. So, I ruled that out.
Then, I started looking into what an F2 visa actually lets you do. I found a bunch of official-sounding stuff about family-based immigrant visas for relatives of U.S. citizens and green card holders. Turns out that F2 visa holders can study, sure, but working? Nope, that’s off the table.
Next up, I thought, “Maybe there’s a workaround if I get my Optional Practical Training (OPT) sorted?” So, I got to researching and found that I had to wait for the OPT to be approved. I thought maybe if I applied for my wife’s F2 visa at the same time as my OPT, maybe they’ll be approved together. But, nope, my wife would be denied the F2 unless my OPT was approved first, and she had evidence of the approval BEFORE her interview.
So, after all this digging, here’s the deal:
- F1 is for studying, not working off-campus, especially in your first year.
- F2 is for accompanying the F1 student, not for working. School’s okay, jobs aren’t.
- There’s a bunch of different visas, but they’re not for us.
The Bottom Line
My spouse can’t work while I’m on my F1 and she’s on her F2. I guess it makes sense, focusing on my studies and all, but it definitely changes our plans a bit. It’s a bummer, but hey, rules are rules. We’ll figure it out. Maybe once I’m done with school and on OPT, things will look different. For now, it’s books for me and exploring other options for her.
