Applying for Green Card based on marriage to US Citizen but entered on R1

G

galatians

New Member
I'm currently living in the US having entered 14 months ago on an R1 Visa which expires June 2010. I got married 9 months ago to a US citizen and so I'm looking to file for AOS soon.

I have 2 questions:

1. Can I file for a green card (I-130 + I-485 etc.) based on being married to a US citizen even though I entered the US 14 months ago on an R1 visa? There's a lot of extra work to apply for a green card based on my R1 alone (I-360 etc.) so I'd rather not go that route if possible.

2. Is it a good idea for my wife start the green card process now by submitting I-130 + fee even though we won't be able to submit the I-485 for a while because we don't have all the fees yet?

Thanks.
 
1. Yes, of course! You can adjust status based on marriage to a USC if you legally entered under any visa. The fact that R1 is a dual-intent visa means that you should have no problems at all, versus someone who comes in on a nonimmigrant visitor visa and gets married right away. You should definitely do the family-based petition.

2. What do you mean, you don't have all the fees yet? You don't have enough money to pay for the I-485 and biometric fee ($1,010)? How long is it going to take you to come up with that? If you can scrape it together soon then I would hold off and send everything together. If you need to save up for months then I would send in the I-130 packet and the rest later. It would be best to send it all in together, can you borrow it from somewhere? The sooner you file a complete packet the sooner you get your green card and become eligible to naturalize.

As long as you file the form I-485 before your visa expires you will be in status, but I believe filing I-130 alone does not keep you from being removable. Of course even if you go out of status that should be automatically forgiven when you apply to adjust status, but why complicate and drag things out?
 
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