Originally Posted by FinAnalyst (Post 695845)

Where is you wife from? Maybe you guys can pick a different country? Honestly it’s a hard decision and you both need to decide where you see your family flourishing.

Your situation is very similar to mine. I also fell in love with an international student holding an F1... you are right, we can’t choose who we love. We’ve been engaged for 8 months, haven’t married because we wanted to see what would happen with DACA. Take it from personal experience, her ability to maintain an F1 requires a lot of hurdles, will be expensive, and her ability to work will be very limited. However, it’s not impossible and if she gets very lucky maybe she can transition to an H1b and eventually a green card.

My fiancée and I started dating while doing our undergrad. Once we graduate she did OPT for a year and then after transitioned back to student status while doing our MBA’s. She was able to apply for CPT employment and interned with the same company she did her OPT. The organization tried HB1 sponsorship for her in following order.

1st year MBA - didn’t get picked in lottery
2nd year MBA - didn’t get picked in lottery
OPT after MBA - picked in lottery, received OPT extension, Trump administration changed the rules for especialty occupation, received RFE, RFE evidence sent, H1B denied, organization hired more immigration lawyers and appealed, H1B denied again.

What is worse is that the organization has multiple people under the same h1b category and they’ve never been denied before!

Fast forward to now, she went back for an additional Masters degree to buy time, but our decision is moving out of the country. Luckily both our organizations allow us to work remotely and with mine I will open up my own branch. If you plan to leave, I’d suggest that you talk to your company and see if working remotely is an option. Trick is to turn this shitty situation in an opportunity!

Best of luck!

Originally Posted by FinAnalyst (Post 685283)

My company knows my situation and wants to ensure I stay in the organization. I’ve been there almost 5 years and I was just promoted last year to corporate level management. They’ve offered me the following options (I also get to keep my US level salary and bonuses)

1. Work remotely from anyplace in the world as long as I have access to a good internet connection.
2. Open up and manage my own branch in any of the following locations
a. Canada (Vancouver)
b. Mexico (anywhere) but I will pick PV
c. South America (preferably Colombia or Brazil)
3. Work in our partners office in London

Options 1 and 3 are cool but I will have more continuous growth potential if I open up my own branch. That’s is why I’m sticking with option 2. Now out of a, b, and c... I dont know anyone is South America so I already passed on that one.. a and b was a very close call but then I remember how much I dislike cold weather and how expensive Vancouver is.. Overall I’m leaning hard on b as it would be on a beach town with all the amenities that we are used to, plus amazing food, great weather and a crime rate lower than the city I currently work at. Not to mention that I have family there and the cost of living is 65% less! I could easily choose to retire in about 15 years.

Originally Posted by FinAnalyst (Post 707259)

That’s right, I will be fulfilling my “graceful exit” from the country that raised and educated me (BS Management, BS Finance and Economics, MBA Finance), yet still refuses to accept me... For the last few months I’ve been coordinating all the logistical aspects of making sure that my fiancée and I have a smooth transition into our new surroundings in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

I cannot tell you guys how ready I am to espacape what’s I’ve described as a “golden cage” (USA), it may be “golden” but it sure as hell still feels like a cage. I’ve always dreamed of traveling and it finally feels like I will get the chance to do so! Luckily, we are both able to work remotely for our organizations and we will also get the chance to take a full month off before we start back on full time. We will use this opportunity to travel her homeland as well as other parts of Europe (Italy, Spain, Austria, Czech and Slovakia).

I know some of you have seen some of my previous posts and know that our main reason for leaving is the new restrictions of H1B’s, (Fiancée is an European student) and the fact that we don’t anticipate any fast resolution to the DACA issue.

I do want to wish everyone here the very best of luck and hope that his mess gets resolved with the best possible outcome for all DREAMers. Every single one of you true DREAMers deserves a chance at stability and the opportunity to achieve success! Thank you all for all the amazing informative posts on this site, I cannot stress enough how helpful it was both back on the pre-DACA days as well as post DACA. Not to worry, I will still come and lurk around as well as let you all know how life from the “outside” looks and feels like. After all, I do still have a vested interest in DACA as my sister will remain in the states under the program while awaiting approval of her AOS via I-601A Waiver.

Below is some background:

Originally Posted by Got_Daca (Post 707269)

Daca legislation will pass before fall

Originally Posted by libertarian1776 (Post 707260)

i wish you nothing but the best fam, i too will be exiting in a year or so to Canada.

i just gotta finish all the logistical aspects of it.

good luck bro, its America’s loss that u are leaving.

Originally Posted by ECW (Post 707261)

I wish you nothing but the best my brother. With such an alternative option at your disposal, seem as though you could have execute it when ever you wanted. Why now? Why not let this whole DACA situation play out?