the person is right, you are no longer a valid F1 status, reach out to the international student office in your school.. I also have an F1 visa and I got my EAD from I-485 while waiting for EAD from OPT, I reached to my school to let them know the situation on ground and I was told if I start working with the GC EAD, I will no longer be a valid F1 status. so they advised me to wait for my OPT EAD to remain in status. with this in mind, you should qualify for resident tuition and don’t have to pay the rate of an international student.

@Abbie O thank you for the input! I’m really confused now. My lawyer and thé school advised me to enroll. I got my I-20 from them as well.

is your school aware that you have started working with your I-485 EAD???

your F1 status is not valid anymore. you can just drop your school. there is no need to pay the tuition to maintain F1.

Congratulations on wasting tuition and being ill-advised by an ignorant immigration lawyer. Immediately your I485 EAD was validated by I9... your F1 was gone... except this was not done

@Abbie O yes they are aware.

@X Y the way you talked looks like you are well experienced. can you tell me more about I9?

I think whoever you are communicating with in your school is not well informed because there is no way they would issue you an I-20 knowing fully well that you are already working using your EAD from I-485. I graduated in May and I got my GC EAD, my school outrighly gave me the option to either wait till my GC is approved before working with the EAD or wait for my OPT EAD, so I can still be in status just in case GC is not approved. please go to their office in person and ask to speak to someone else. my honest advice, try to communicate with another person entirely in your school if you are in doubt but to be honest you don’t need the second degree except you are paying resident tuition,

@Abbie O Thank you for the advice! greatly appreciate it. I will talk to the school tomorrow.

@LM F you are welcome, I wish you the best

Do not reach out to anyone, your F1 is valid. USCIS gave you the EAD and they did not terminate your F1. It will only arise if ever you abandon the marriage and want to adjust through other means. just keep your F1 valid as long as you want. advise from a former F1 STUDENT

@az az thank you for your advice! I’ve been searching through web, asking and calling friends, asking for legal advice, but I’m getting different response. I called the school this morning and they confirmed that I’m still in F1 status. apparently they have students that are in the same situation as mine.

You're welcome. like I told you, you're not in any trouble. just go about your normal business and never worry about this.

@LM F Technically you can only have one type of EAD active, either the C3 category one or the C9 category one. You cannot have both EAD. But you can still be on F1 status as long as your i485 itself is not approved yet. Judging from what you said, you now are using the c9 category EAD, so you can no longer apply for a c3 category one. But I don’t think you will need one anyways. I’m on the opposite situation with switching from c3 EAD to c9 EAD...but other than that, my school, my lawyer and my company all confirm the same information that only one type of EAD can be used at a time