回複：My understanding from your saying (other questions)

Actually this area is obscure. Even immigration lawyers won’t agree with each other what status your wife is holding now.

I’m talking based on my experience.

You can use CPT since it is approved by school and they don’t have a way to check if you filed immigration application.

OPT is approved by USCIS. Theoretically, once you filed 485 for your wife, she can’t apply OPT anymore. USCIS will find it out if they want. Well, she might get lucked out if USCIS didn’t check carefully.

Your wife can transfer to H1B if she finds a job after graduation (she needs to keep her F1 valid though). Some officers at international office don’t know much about the immigration law. If you told them your case, they might say you are not a student anymore. (Again, I think this is a hole in the immigration law). Why bother to tell them?

If your wife didn’t find a job after graduation, her status would still be legal. She would be a pending PR. But her F1 would expire and she has to use EAD to work later (she can’t transfer to H1B in US).