I am a physician completing my J-1 waiver ( on H-1B now in US, waiver will finish by June 2015). My wife became a U.S. citizen few months ago and she has filed I-130 for me. If I-130 is approved, do I have to wait till June 2015 to apply for adjustment of status or can I apply sooner ? If I have to wait till June to apply for I-485, will I be able to get EAD right away or will I need to be on H-1 for a while I-485 is accepted ?
See clip from Attorney Rajiv S. Khanna's conference call video that addresses this question.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YV-qIlAEpI#t=1320
FAQ Transcript
The way it works is physicians when they have J-1 they get a waiver job like Conrad 30 program or through veteran's administration any one of these things. They are working on completing their waiver job typically 3 years. So the question is when can I file I-485? This comes up very frequently in the context of physician, both when they are trying to do EB-1 or National Interest Waiver. In this case applying for his wife. The answer is you cannot file I-485 until your 3 years of waiver is complete. Even if you file 1 day early your I-485 will be rejected. So until your waiver is complete you cannot file I-485.