Spouse's F1 expiring. Can I apply for her H4 by filling out DS160 while she's in US

[sarvesh201261]

Hello,

Thank you for reading my question. I am currently on H1B visa and my spouse is on F1 visa which will be expiring in July 2021. She will be travelling to India in the month of May 2021 and is planning to come back to US on H4 visa sometime later. Based on the comments in other posts, I see that filing for a COS is not beneficial since the application will be considered invalid as soon as she leaves US.

So the question is - Can I fill out a DS-160 form (and schedule a H4 visa interview) for her while she is in US and on F1 visa so that she can go to India and give her interview for H4 visa? Will this affect her current F1 status? The reason I am asking this is because in the DS 160 I will be filling out her residency address as US (which I was not sure if it will be an issue).

Thank you in advance.

[rkk09]

Hi,
If you have a plan to travel home country then you can prefer to get H4 visa at consulate instead of filing change of status petition.. As you know, change of status to H4 petition is getting bit delay in the current situation due to COVID 19. So, Prefer visa Interview to speed up getting H4 visa. And it will not affect your spouse education too.
Thanks