Employment or family based green card?

C

cranialsurge

New Member
I am currently on my H1B and working. My Visa is valid until August 2013 after which I should be eligible for a renewal. My fiance is a US citizen and we will be getting married in a year. My dilemma essentially is, should I apply for a green card via my current employer and then transfer the process over to a family-based process once we get married (if that is even possible?) or should I just wait, get married and apply for a family based green card?

Thanks,
Sudeep
 
Go for both if you can, then finish up with whichever one gets close to completion first. It is acceptable to have multiple active immigrant petitions, although you'll eventually have to pick one.
 
cranialsurge said:
I am currently on my H1B and working. My Visa is valid until August 2013 after which I should be eligible for a renewal. My fiance is a US citizen and we will be getting married in a year. My dilemma essentially is, should I apply for a green card via my current employer and then transfer the process over to a family-based process once we get married (if that is even possible?) or should I just wait, get married and apply for a family based green card?

Thanks,
Sudeep
Click to expand...

The employer would 1st have to file a labor certification application (PERM) with DOL and then file an I-140 for you. The PERM filing date would be your "priority date" (PD). In order to file an I-485 based on the approved I-140 which will come some months AFTER the PERM is filed, you have to wait for the PD to become current on the Visa Bulletin. For example, an EB-3 from India would probably have to wait 9 years for the PD to become current if the PERM were filed tomorrow. That same Indian in EB-2 would wait 4 1/2 to 5 years.

YOUR Immediate Relative (IR) status would be a solid basis for filing a concurrent I-485 with your USC spouse's I-130 the day of or day after the marriage. The IR of a USC has a visa immediately available to allow concurrent filing for adjustment as long the alien spouse made a lawful entry initially, even if you fell out of status or worked without proper authorization, you would still get a greencard. (Just don't fall out of status for more than 180 days or you can't leave the U.S. without triggering the re-entry bar).

However, a greencard based on a marriage that is less than 2 years old only gets a conditional greencard and requires an additional step of an I-751 to lift conditions around two years after getting the card.
 
BigJoe5 said:
The employer would 1st have to file a labor certification application (PERM) with DOL and then file an I-140 for you. The PERM filing date would be your "priority date" (PD). In order to file an I-485 based on the approved I-140 which will come some months AFTER the PERM is filed, you have to wait for the PD to become current on the Visa Bulletin. For example, an EB-3 from India would probably have to wait 9 years for the PD to become current if the PERM were filed tomorrow. That same Indian in EB-2 would wait 4 1/2 to 5 years.

YOUR Immediate Relative (IR) status would be a solid basis for filing a concurrent I-485 with your USC spouse's I-130 the day of or day after the marriage. The IR of a USC has a visa immediately available to allow concurrent filing for adjustment as long the alien spouse made a lawful entry initially, even if you fell out of status or worked without proper authorization, you would still get a greencard. (Just don't fall out of status for more than 180 days or you can't leave the U.S. without triggering the re-entry bar).

However, a greencard based on a marriage that is less than 2 years old only gets a conditional greencard and requires an additional step of an I-751 to lift conditions around two years after getting the card.
Click to expand...

Thank you for your detailed response :)
 
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