Marriage To A US Citizen

Once a U.S. citizen marries a foreign national, the foreign national become eligible to immigrate to the U.S. and become a lawful permanent resident or “green card” holder. The spouse is in a family-based category referred to as “Immediate Relatives”. Immediate relatives of U.S. citizens include parents, children and 21 and spouses.

In order to start the green card process, the U.S. citizen and foreign national must enter into a legal marriage. Once married, the U.S. citizen spouse must file the Form I-130, Immigrant Petition for Alien Relative with USCIS with proof of the marriage and the proof of the U.S citizen’s citizenship.

The documents generally required with the Form I-130 include, but are not limited to:

1. Proof of the US citizen’s citizenship (U.S. birth certificate, U.S. passport, Naturalization Certificate, Certificate of Citizenship, Consular report of Birth Abroad or other comparable evidence)

2. Copy of the Marriage Certificate

3. Evidence that both of you were free to marry (proof of termination of all previous marriages)

4. Evidence showing that you are in a bona fide relationship (this means your marriage is real and was not entered solely for the foreign national to obtain a green card.

If the foreign national spouse is outside the U.S., they will go through “consular processing” at a U.S. Consulate or Embassy once the Form I-130 is approved.

1. Once the Form I-130 is approved, USCIS will send the Form I-130 Approval to the National Visa Center (NVC), a division of the Department of State, which processes immigrant visa documents. NVC will process the application so that the foreign national spouse can appear for an interview at the U.S. Consulate or Embassy in their country of residence. In addition to the required fees, the following documents and forms must be submitted to the NVC:

2. Once NVC determines that all required documents have been submitted, they will schedule the spouse to appear for an interview at the U.S. Consulate. Before the interview, the foreign national spouse must also complete a medical examination with a doctor pre-determined by the U.S. Consulate. Upon successfully completing the interview, the applicant will be given an “immigrant visa” or Form I-551.

3. Once the spouse enters the U.S., they will automatically be a lawful permanent resident and will receive their green card in the mail from USCIS.

If the foreign national spouse is already in the U.S. and they entered the U.S. lawfully and were inspected, they have the option of filing for Adjustment of Status instead of doing “consular processing.”

1. The Form I-485, Adjustment of Status, can be filed together with the Form I-130 or after the Form I-130 is filed and the US citizen spouse has received proof of filing (I-797, Notice of Action or “Receipt Notice).The Form I-485 should be filed with the following documents:

Once USCIS processes the Form I-485, the couple may be required to appear for an interview at a USCIS Field Office near their current residence in the U.S. Once approved, the foreign national will obtain their green card in the mail.

Yes, foreign nationals can marry in the U.S., even those who don’t have legal immigrant status.

Marriages in the U.S. are regulated by individual states. However, there are no states that prohibit foreign nationals from marrying and there are no national prohibitions as well. States may have residency rules stipulating that at least one person has to be a “resident” of the state but residency in the state is generally not related to legal immigration status.

Yes, foreign nationals are permitted to come to the U.S. for the sole purpose of getting married in the U.S., including to a U.S. citizen.

Those coming to the U.S. on a B-2 Visitor Visa or on Visa Waiver should be ready to show that their trip to the U.S. conforms to all the rules related to their visa category- essentially that they are coming to the U.S. for a temporary visit and that they will return to their country of residence after the temporary visit. Marrying a US citizen during that visit is allowed.

Additionally, those who are coming to the U.S. for the purpose of getting married should be ready to provide the reason for their trip to the Customs & Border Protection officer at the port of entry as well as evidence showing that they intend to leave the U.S. at the conclusion of the trip.

If you want to enter the U.S. to marry a U.S. citizen and then file for permanent residency, then the appropriate visa category to use is the K-1 Fiancé(e) visa.

In order to obtain a K-1 visa, the US citizen must file the Form I-129F with USCIS. Once the Form I-129F is approved, the foreign national will be eligible to obtain the K-1 visa at the U.S. Consulate. Once the K-1 visa is issued, the foreign national fiancé(e) can then come to the U.S. and upon entry, the K-1 visa holder and the U.S. citizen must get married within 90 days. As long as the foreign national marries the U.S. citizen within 90 days, they can file for Adjustment of Status (Form I-485) to adjust or change status to lawful permanent resident and obtain a green card.

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Check My Eligibility

No, there is no green card path or category to gain permanent resident status based on your relationship before actually marrying your U.S. citizen fiancé(e).

To explore alternative paths to the Green Card check out: 11 Ways To Get A U.S. Green Card: Family, Employment & Marriage Based.

Otherwise, you have to marry your U.S. citizen fiancé(e) first before the U.S. citizen can sponsor you for lawful permanent residence.

If you are married to a U.S. citizen, entered the U.S. legally, and were inspected, you may be able to apply for permanent residence or the green card through Adjustment of Status. This means you will not have to return to your country of residency to do “consular processing.”

There are many factors to consider to determine whether it’s safe to file for Adjustment of Status after marriage to a U.S. citizen and you should speak with a VisaPro Immigration Attorney before making a final decision. These factors include, but are not limited to:

1. What was the intent of your trip when you first came to the U.S.?
2. If you came to the U.S. with a visa that does not support dual-intent (B-1/B-2, F-1, M-1, J-1, etc) or on Visa Waiver (ESTA), how long has it been since your last entry?
3. If you entered as a visitor (B-1/B-2 or Visa Waiver), what did you tell the Customs & Border Protection officer was the purpose of the trip? What other questions did CBP officer ask and were you completely honest about your answers?

If you are married to a U.S. citizen, entered the U.S. legally, and were inspected, you should be able to apply for permanent residence even though you are now out of status.

U.S. immigration regulations provide that the immediate relatives of US citizens can file for Adjustment of Status (Form I-485) even if they are currently out of status. You can follow the normal method outlined above for Adjustment of Status.

We recommend that you speak with speak with a VisaPro Immigration Attorney

The processing time for a marriage-based Green Card varies depending on the Service Center where your petition is now pending and on whether you are doing consular processing or adjustment of status. For Consular Processing, the entire process from petition filing through obtaining the immigrant visa may take up to 12-24 months. For Adjustment of Status in the U.S., when filing the Form I-130 and Form I-485 together or “concurrently”, the processing time is usually 6-12 months.

No, you do not give up your passport on becoming a legal permanent resident or green card holder because you remain a citizen of your country of nationality.

After obtaining the green card, you may become eligible to apply for U.S. citizenship through a process called “naturalization”. Most individuals are eligible to apply after being a lawful permanent resident for 5 years and meeting other requirements. If you are a green card holder who is married to a U.S. citizen and you have resided with your spouse for 3 years, you may be eligible after only 3 years.

It depends. If you are abroad and are consular processing, you are required to appear for your interview at the U.S. Consulate alone. While some consulates may allow the U.S. citizen petitioner to attend, their presence is not required, and at many consulates, no one else other than the visa applicant can attend the interview due to security and space constraints.

If you are in the U.S. and applying for Adjustment of Status, you and your spouse are both required to attend the green card interview.

Note: The purpose of the interview is to determine that the marriage was entered into in good faith and that all USCIS Forms have been correctly completed.

Yes, if you are in the U.S. and are pursuing the Adjustment of Status process, you can also file the Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization to obtain the Employment Authorization Document or “EAD”, commonly known as the work permit. Once the EAD is approved, you can legally work in the U.S. and obtain a social security number (if you don’t already have one) while you wait for your adjustment of status to be adjudicated and approved. Once you have the green card, you will no longer need the EAD because being a lawful permanent resident means you have the right to live and work in the U.S.

A conditional resident is someone who obtains a green card that is valid for 2 years, instead of 10 years, which is the standard validity of a green card.

For marriage-based applicants, including those who obtain their green card based on marriage to a U.C. citizen, USCIS will issue a 2 year conditional green card if the couple were married for less than 2 years on the date the green card was approved.

• For Adjustment of Status (I-485) applicants, if the marriage is less than 2 years old when the I-485 is approved, the applicant will get a 2 year conditional green card.
• For Consular Processing applications, if the marriage is less than 2 years old when the applicant enters the U.S. for the first time with their immigrant visa, the applicant will get a 2 year conditional green card.

Those with a conditional green card must file an application for Removal of Conditions to get a permanent, 10-year Green Card. This process was created so that USCIS could do a second check on the marriage after two years to combat marriage fraud, since marriage is seen as a relatively easy route to get permanent residency in the U.S.

The Removal of Conditions (Form I-751) must be filed in the 90-day period preceding the expiration of your 2-year green card. The application must be filed with additional evidence that your marriage was real or bona fide and should be filed “jointly” with the US citizen spouse unless you qualify for a waiver of the joint filing requirement (you have divorced or your spouse has died but can still show that your marriage was bona fide, you can show that you have been abused or subjected to extreme cruelty by your spouse, or termination of your status would subject you to extreme hardship).