I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA

Re:I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for... by rayiner on Saturday December 06, 2025 @12:10AM (#46170911)

No, if your visa expires you need to maintain your legal status while a PERM application is pending: https://www.alllaw.com/articles/nolo/us-immigration/maintain... (“This is especially important if and when you are waiting to apply for lawful permanent residence, commonly called a ‘green card.’ If you are in the United States without any immigration status, you are considered to be here illegally, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) may deny your green card application for that reason alone.”).

What’s happening here is that these people were here on tourist visas or completely illegally. Then at some point they married a U.S. citizen and filed a PERM application. But that filing doesn’t protect them from deportation for their original illegal status.

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Re:I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for... by USMCAThrowAway on Saturday December 06, 2025 @12:37AM (#46171012)

> What’s happening here is that these people were here on tourist visas or completely illegally. Then at some point they married a U.S. citizen and filed a PERM application.

There's no PERM process in family based adjustment of status. You're confusing FB AOS with EB AOS.

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Re:I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for... by yesb on Saturday December 06, 2025 @11:29AM (#46174543)

PERM is for employment based green cards, not relevant here. Pending AOS for a spouse grants them legal status, including a work permit if they apply. The underlying visa doesn't matter unless the PR application is denied. You'd then be out of status if you didn't maintain a "backup" visa.

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Re:I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for... by rayiner on Sunday December 07, 2025 @09:45AM (#46182020)

In general, the Attorney General is prohibited from granting an AOS if you have violated the underlying visa (8 USC 1255(c)): https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim... (“subsection (a) [allowing AOS] shall not be applicable to… (8) any alien who was employed while the alien was an unauthorized alien, as defined in section 1324a(h)(3) of this title, or who has otherwise violated the terms of a nonimmigrant visa.”).

Subsection (d) allows the attorney general to grant an AOS notwithstanding subsection (c) where an immigrant enters j to a bona fide marriage during proceedings regarding their immigration status. But under subsection (a) the AOS is entirely at the “discretion” of the Attorney General.

Indeed, section 1255 doesn’t grant anyone legal status. It contains various provisions where an AOS must be denied. Then, it allows but does not require the Attorney General to grant an AOS under other circumstances.

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