Green Card sponsorship through J-1 or B-1/2

Sandy08

New Member
I want to sponsor my wife for Green Card who will be applying for either a J-1 or B-1/2 visa shortly. I am currently a US Green Card holder for the last 2 years. First of all, is it possible for me to sponsor her Green Card if she applies for any one of the above visas? And if yes, what is the procedure and timeline for the entire process?
 
If an I-130 has been filed for anyone, then the chances of them getting a nonimmigrant visa drops sharply. The processing timeframe for a spouse of a greencard holder is relatively short right now. Please check the State Departmant Visa Bulletin for current expected wait time.
 
She probably won't be approved for the J-1 or B1/B2. On the application, she will have to mention that she has a spouse with a green card. Once they see that she's married to a permanent resident, it's a 95% chance that they'll reject the visa, unless she has a very long history of traveling to the US without overstaying.

If she manages to get the visa approved, you should select consular processing when you file the I-130, to avoid the risk of having her green card denied due to preconceived immigrant intent. While they are generally lenient about the immigrant intent issue for immediate relatives of US citizens, you aren't a US citizen so she can't expect that lenience.

If she gets a J-1 visa, it may have the added issue of the 2-year home country requirement.

Based on the visa bulletin and I-130 processing times, 8-12 months would be a reasonable estimate for the whole process if the visa bulletin doesn't retrogress or stagnate in the family 2A category. So it might be better to just forget about the J-1 or B1/B2 and just directly file the I-130 right now. Then she'll probably get a GC in mid to late next year.
 
Top