Marriage after GC

S

sanlaks

New Member
Hi Friends, I got my GC approved in dec 2004. I was planning to marry my girlfriend who is a student around that time. But my GC got approved all of a sudden and I was left with no other choice but marry her. I married my girlfriend last month. She has not applied for GC and she is still on student opt and is searching for a job. My question is that should I inform Immigration about my marriage ?? How long will it take for my wife to get a green card? She has not yet applied for GC.

I would very much appreciate if somebody can answer these questions..

Regards,
Santosh
 
Congrats to GC and marriage,

but why do you write:"But my GC got approved all of a sudden and I was left with no other choice but marry her. I married my girlfriend last month. "

Why were you left with no other choice?

Anyway, the way I see it (I am not a laywer but someone with a somewhat similar situation who now does not have a GC but a wife), you have at least two choices:
1) Yor wife can file as an family dependant based on your greencard. The horrible thing is that the wait is forever (I have heard up to 7+ years). Check USCIS webpage (e.g. CA) and see that they are working on I-130 from 1998. I have a friend with a gc who has been married for 5 years now and although his wife has had ger gc pending based on his - she could not even enter US all this time. I am not sure if your wife being here makes a difference and she can at least stay here.

2) Your wife gets a gc of her own. While that's less certain than through yours it is most certainly faster.

3) Combine both methods and see what comes through faster.

In my case, lawyer stromgly advised me to marry her (if that was really our wish) and immediately file her I-130 before my I-485 was adjudicated. Things came differently though - my company closed their location and laid us all off 4 weeks after we got married - so we didn't even get around to filing her I-130 and they told me they would revoke my still non adjudicated I-140... Well, that'll the be another story. Right now I am trying my luck with a new employer and with a combo of traditional and hopefully soon PERM labor - what a mess.

Good luck!
 
sanlaks said:
Hi Friends, I got my GC approved in dec 2004. I was planning to marry my girlfriend who is a student around that time. But my GC got approved all of a sudden and I was left with no other choice but marry her. I married my girlfriend last month. She has not applied for GC and she is still on student opt and is searching for a job. My question is that should I inform Immigration about my marriage ?? How long will it take for my wife to get a green card? She has not yet applied for GC.

I would very much appreciate if somebody can answer these questions..

Regards,
Santosh
Click to expand...

If you were married before your GC approval date, she can file her I485 as your dependent in employment category, provide your GC is employment based (or opt for consular processing - which is faster some way for employment based GC).
If you were married after your GC approval date, then her GC application goes to family based category, which takes miserably longer time (atleast 5+ years). In this case, filing I485 has some advantage because she may not be able to keep her visa status for such a long duration and that can result her to leave USA and wait for consular interview date. However, if she can get her own independent dual intent visa (for example, H1 or L1) that solves the problem.

You don't need to inform USCIS separately. You can file her I485 (or opt for consular processing) with marriage certificate.
 
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