Q. I am a U.S. citizen. I am planning to marry a woman who came here on a visitor’s visa. I understand that getting her a green card could take a year or longer. Can she stay here while U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services processes her application? Manohar Deochand, Mamaroneck Advertisement A. Yes. Your fiancée may remain in the United States while her green card application is pending. That’s provided she doesn’t do something that would make her an Immigration and Customs Enforcement target, like committing a serious crime. Plus, when she files her green card application she can include an application for employment authorization and travel permission for no extra fee. Because your fiancée entered legally and she qualifies for her green card under the category for the Immediate Relative of a U.S. citizen, she can interview for permanent residence in the United States, the process called “adjustment of status.” Immigration and Customs Enforcement typically allows an adjustment of status applicant to remain in the country pending a decision on the application. That’s true no matter whether the applicant’s visitor status expires before or after she files for adjustment of status. Once a visitor’s status expires, that person is considered unlawfully here and subject to removal. However, ICE only very rarely tries to deport a person with an adjustment of status application pending. Getting married to a U.S. citizen is by far the easiest way to get a green card. That’s assuming of course that the marriage is bona fide or “real.” Once you marry, your wife should send USCIS the following USCIS forms: I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, I-130A – Supplemental Information for Spouse Beneficiary, I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, and I-864, Affidavit of Support. For travel permission while her application is pending, your wife should include form I-131, Application for Travel Document. For employment authorization, include form I-765. Get the forms and filing instructions, including photo instructions, at uscis.gov or by calling 1- 800-870-3676. USCIS is planning to change the filing fees in the coming months. You’ll save a couple of thousand dollars by marrying and filing before the new fees take effect. Allan Wernick is an attorney and director of the City University of New Yorks Citizenship Now! project. Send questions and comments to Allan Wernick, New York Daily News, 4 New York Plaza, New York, N.Y., 10004 or email to questions@allanwernick.com. Follow him on Twitter @awernick. ALLAN WERNICK: Getting your green card through marriage with a visitor visa
ALLAN WERNICK: Getting your green card through marriage with a visitor visa
Q. I am a U.S. citizen. I am planning to marry a woman who came here on a visitor’s visa. I understand that getting her a green card could take a year or longer. Can she stay here while U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services processes her application? Manohar Deochand, Mamaroneck Advertisement A. Yes. Your fiancée may remain in the United States while her green card application is pending. That’s provided she doesn’t do something that would make her an Immigration and Customs Enforcement target, like committing a serious crime. Plus, when she files her green card application she can include an application for employment authorization and travel permission for no extra fee. Because your fiancée entered legally and she qualifies for her green card under the category for the Immediate Relative of a U.S. citizen, she can interview for permanent residence in the United States, the process called “adjustment of status.” Immigration and Customs Enforcement typically allows an adjustment of status applicant to remain in the country pending a decision on the application. That’s true no matter whether the applicant’s visitor status expires before or after she files for adjustment of status. Once a visitor’s status expires, that person is considered unlawfully here and subject to removal. However, ICE only very rarely tries to deport a person with an adjustment of status application pending. Getting married to a U.S. citizen is by far the easiest way to get a green card. That’s assuming of course that the marriage is bona fide or “real.” Once you marry, your wife should send USCIS the following USCIS forms: I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, I-130A – Supplemental Information for Spouse Beneficiary, I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, and I-864, Affidavit of Support. For travel permission while her application is pending, your wife should include form I-131, Application for Travel Document. For employment authorization, include form I-765. Get the forms and filing instructions, including photo instructions, at uscis.gov or by calling 1- 800-870-3676. USCIS is planning to change the filing fees in the coming months. You’ll save a couple of thousand dollars by marrying and filing before the new fees take effect. Allan Wernick is an attorney and director of the City University of New Yorks Citizenship Now! project. Send questions and comments to Allan Wernick, New York Daily News, 4 New York Plaza, New York, N.Y., 10004 or email to questions@allanwernick.com. Follow him on Twitter @awernick. ALLAN WERNICK: Getting your green card through marriage with a visitor visa
0 Comments