got married after I130 approval under first preference family petition

[meyouzik]

This is a long story,..
my mother and family became Permanent residents of the US in 2002 and since i was over 21 at that time I fell out of the petition, however my mother filed for me sometime in 2002 and the petition has been pending since under first preference,....
I came to the US on an L1 visa and converted to E2 ,... the petition was still pending and was upgraded when my mother became a citizen in 2007 march,.. I got an I130 petition approval but when i applied for a change of status in 09 it was denied because apparently it was filed before the priority date....
Problem : I got married in 2009 january , and Ive read online that if i got married after my mother became a US citizen my petition (the one filed when she was a permanent resident) and priority date should not have any effect.
so heres another qs... the priority date on the bulletin for married children is currently 2001 and mine was filed in 2002 ... but i was filed as a single person and now am married.. do i still fall under that priority date? and shouldnt I have gotton my greencard with that year and half when my mother field after she was a citizen and i was unmarried.

 

[TheRealCanadian]

This is a long story,..
I got married in 2009 january , and Ive read online that if i got married after my mother became a US citizen my petition (the one filed when she was a permanent resident) and priority date should not have any effect.

You read wrong information. You are now FB3, not FB1.

the priority date on the bulletin for married children is currently 2001 and mine was filed in 2002 ... but i was filed as a single person and now am married.. do i still fall under that priority date? and shouldnt I have gotton my greencard with that year and half when my mother field after she was a citizen and i was unmarried.

I don't know what you did back then, but if the FB3 priority date is 2001 you cannot file an I-485 or be eligible for a consular interview yet.

 

[VisaNutz]

OP, priority date remains the same for one petition - even if the preference category is upgraded. What affects the visa number availability for a particular PD is the preference category.

Your PD is clearly indicated on the 797 that USCIS (INS) sent to your mother after she filed the petition - AND THAT's IT, as long as that I-130 is valid, your PD remains the same. At the time of filing, your preference category was 2B. The category was upgraded to first category (FB1) when your mother became USC in 2007. Then when you got married in Jan 09, your preference category was changed to the third category (FB3).

I assume you applied for AOS after you got married (since you got married in Jan 09). I am not sure when in 2009 you applied for AOS, but it doesn't matter since for ALL OF 2009, a PD of 2002 was not current. That's why your AOS was denied.

Assuming you are not from Mexico or Philippines, if you hadn't married in Jan 09 - you could have filed for AOS in 2009, since all PDs from 2002 in FB1 category were current at some point in 2009.

Now, according to the April 2010 VB, the most current PD in FB3 category is 22 May 01. So, you have to wait before your PD becomes current and then you can file for AOS if you are still in the US legally at that time.