Hi, I'm a New Zealander trying to live and work in the US permanently. My situation is kind of messy but it goes like this:
I arrived in the US on a B1 visa on Dec 29th 2011. Half way during 2012 my lawyer extended the visa for the next six months until Dec 26th. Within this time, I found an employer to sponsor me and although the relationship was rocky, the papers got signed last minute and sent off to USCIS with a few days to go... A month into the year and the personal differences between my employer led to us parting ways. At this stage I didn't know whether the O1 visa had been approved or not and neither did my lawyer because the form that represents him in the case (G-something?) was missing from the application. How, I do not know... I called USCIS acting as my employer and found that the visa had been approved on January 9th! I asked for the approval letters to be sent out again as no-one had received them. Over the course of the last few months I called an additional two times to try to get the approval letters sent out to my lawyer or employer as they wouldn't post it to me but neither my lawyer or employer would inform me if they'd received any letters. And now neither are speaking to me, the employer because of the relationship break-down and the lawyer because it's a "conflict of interest" to represent me because the petitioner was unhappy. But recently I had another company in place willing to swap the sponsorship over to me. I called USCIS on May 20th to get the details of my O1 visa so that I could send a new I-129 form through and was told my O1 VISA HAS BEEN REVOKED on April 19th. Therefore because the O1 visa was never stamped, it was never validated and it now appears I've been overstaying in the US for almost five months...
As far as I understand, my options could include leaving and applying for an O1 visa with this new company outside the US to hopefully be approved to come back in. In this case I would go to London, where my family lives. I also wondered whether I could come back in on the B1 visa as it's still in my passport but I'm not sure if they pick-up on the visa revocation, plus my intentions are not to be a visitor and I'm not sure how applying for another O1 visa while in the US would look. Not good, I'd think. Either option may be denied by USCIS because of this visa revocation AND overstaying. I'm told overstaying under six months can be looked-over but it's case-by-case. Alternatively, I have a boyfriend and have mentioned marriage to him. I'm told I could overstay in the US for 10 years and still gain a spousal visa as it overrides overstaying and illegal employment. I would want to get this process underway quickly though as I want to start my own business (initially under his name) with the option to become a president of my company either once my social security or green card come through (I'm not sure which will allow me to do so first???) This seems like the best option at this stage.
I'm also wondering whether if we get married straight away, is it wise I apply for the spousal visa straight-away or can I float around in the US without it for a while? This is down to funds mainly... I figure if I was caught-out before we had the spousal visa in process then I could at least prove I'm married and that I intended to go through this process to gain the correct papers. And last big question is - can I travel within the US if I'm a) an overstayer b) overstaying but married c) overstaying but married in the process of gaining spousal visa?
Thank you in advance for your advice!!!

