Overstayed Student Visa Married to USC and need AOS Info

[jasonbz99]

I am writing because I have two friends who are here on student visas and have overstayed. One came to the US in 1993 and the other in 2003 and both proceeded to overstay their student visas. The are both now married for over 4 years to US citizens and want to know the best way to do adjustment of status to become US citizens or LPR's.
Thanks

 

[BigJoe5]

I am writing because I have two friends who are here on student visas and have overstayed. One came to the US in 1993 and the other in 2003 and both proceeded to overstay their student visas. The are both now married for over 4 years to US citizens and want to know the best way to do adjustment of status to become US citizens or LPR's.
Thanks

Immediate relatives of USCs are forgiven their overstay and unauthorized employment. They file an I-485 and I-765 with their USC spouse's I-130 and all the required additional forms and evidence per the instructions with the forms and on the USCIS website.

Don't bother with the I-131 as it cannot be used. After 180 days, and then one year, of unlawful presence, if you leave you can't come back for 3 or 10 years, respectively, unless granted a hard to get waiver.

Immediate relatives are defined in the INA as alien spouses, minor unmarried children, and parents of USCs. Even they must have made a legal entry in order to adjust and must be otherwise admissible as immigrants. Since it is so easy to marry for a greencard, Congress created barriers, and checks as well as stiff penalties for sham marriages.

Marriages of less than two years duration at time of admission or adjustment will result in conditional status and a "back-end burden of proof" in order to lift conditions later via the I-751. Anyone who is found to have been in a sham immigration marriage is barred from all benefits from the INA for life. That includes USC petitioners as well as aliens seeking visas.