Hey guys,

Currently flying for an airline in Asia but marrying my American girlfriend and looking at going to the US with her. I was wondering if anybody has any experience with employment while on the working visa while the green card is processing. I don’t want to not fly and not work for up to a year (the processing time atm apparently) so am curious to know about airlines hiring people who have a work permit with the GC pending and also the parole permit on how to leave and re-enter the country while the green card is processing.

Many thanks

 

I doubt any airline would invest the training costs in you without a permanent right-to-work (unless you're Australian, then you can get a 3-year pilot visa). But there might possibly be a desperate regional, you could try asking their recruiters directly.

You could probably find something in general aviation, or certainly CFI if you have the certs.

 

Depends what you mean by the working visa? What status are you planning to enter the country with? A K category?

If you plan to enter the country, marry, and file an I-485, you will only receive a temporary EAD and advance parole which, even though it fulfills I-9 requirements, probably will be a big red flag for potential employers because the outcome is not guaranteed and they have an expiration date.

 

Thanks for the replies!

I was planning on entering on a K-3 visa but am currently looking if there is a better option. My biggest issue is that I want to stay current and also don’t want to be unemployed whilst waiting.

 

The only way really to do that is to get married and wait and work outside the US until your GC is approved, 6-8 months unless you have skeletons in your closet that need further scrutiny.
If you enter as IR/CR-1, you'll get your SSN in a few weeks and can start working immediately after that.

If you enter with a K-3, you'll first need to wait for your EAD, and only after that you can get your SSN, that takes a few months, during which you'll run out of currency and no-one will hire you. And even after that, it's a red flag in your application.

 

Thanks Dera, good info!
Yes, that sounds like a good option! Will check it out next week along with the option of going over on an E-3 with a regional and then transferring to a GC! A lot things to consider

 

If you're Australian, you should be good to go. Multiple regional airlines hire E-3 visa holders, SkyWest for sure (I'm talking about the US SkyWest).

 

Some rather misinformed information on this thread, but that's not unusual for APC.

As a person with a US work permit, employers are not allowed to discriminate against you for the supposed "length" of your employment eligibility. All they are allowed to do is require you to show proof of your eligibility to work in the US. That may

Does that stop employers coming up with another reason to not hire you, but the real reason is they're not sure you'll stick around? I'm sure it's been done so never say never.

Technically E-3 visas (and the related work authorization) are non-immigrant visas and only valid for 2 years, although they are renewable indefinitely. To me that shows less intent to stay in the US permanently than a K-3 visa, since the whole idea of a K-3 visa is to marry your US citizen fiance(e) and establish permanent residency.

And yes, I have personal experience working in the US as a pilot while waiting for my adjustment of status to process after marrying my US citizen wife. I never applied for advance parole during my adjustment of status period so I can't help you with that one. My understanding these days is that if you apply for travel authorization with your adjustment of status, that your employment authorization document will be issued with an endorsement, allowing you to use it for both work and travel.

It should only take 90 days from filing I-485 to getting your EAD. I highly doubt not flying for 3 months will cause any issues in getting hired, especially at a regional.

 

This is what they will do if you don't have enough "runway" in front of you to justify their investment. Ie, they're not going to hand out a free type rating if you docs expire in six months unless they are comfortable that 1) you intend to stay and 2) have a good chance of getting an extension or green card.

The law is written for people who push brooms, and need ten minutes of OJT. It doesn't account for jobs where the employer must provide lengthy and costly training.



Two years is enough to get an ROI, especially since there's a high likelihood that the E3 will get renewed for the foreseeable future. Two months is not enough ROI. One year might be enough, regionals will hire military pilots who will most likely leave in 18-24 months, so that's a known baseline.

Also in today's environment regionals might, out of desperation, hire people on the premise that they *might* stick around, ie hire ten military pilots and maybe two will stick around longer term.

 

Most EADs are valid for one year, so when asked to provide proof of employment eligibility, the one year expiration date is what they will see. The expiration date on the card doesn’t mean the end of the eligibility to work, only that the card needs to be renewed.

HR types should know better than to ask too many questions on “how long” or else it could be viewed as a basis for discrimination.