Marriage GC: US citizen VS US Permanent Resident

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beemer8

Registered Users (C)
Hi,
What is the difference between marrying a US citizen Vs US PR, i mean as far as the time period by which one gets his/her conditional GC and the following Unconditional GC , or any other major difference. Any advantage to one over other, please help ...you guys are great resource..nice to see a whole community helping each other in tis pursuit of the American dream
 
There is a major difference.

As the spouse of a US citizen filing for AOS, there is no waiting period for the approval of an I-130 (petition for alien relative), and it may be filed concurrently with I-485 (application for adjustment of status). Processing times are currently about 6 months for concurrently filed I130 / I485.

On the other hand, as the spouse of a permanent resident, one needs to wait for the approval of the I-130 before filing for AOS, which currently shows a processing timeframe of over 2 years! (January 2005 at the California Service Center)
The one advantage, despite the long wait, is that by the time someone is granted Permanent Resident status through marriage to a PR, he/she would very likely have been married for over two years and therefore would automatically receive a 10 yr. GC, instead of having to apply for removal of condition after 2 years.
 
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That thought did come to mind when I first read the OP. Let's give the benefit of the doubt by assuming that beemer8's inquiry could be about the same person, a permanent resident with whom he/she is currently in a serious relationship and has the option of becoming a US citizen.
In that case (again assuming that there is an existing relationship), beemer8 would benefit from getting married now while his/her spouse applies for naturalization (if naturalization is an available option for beemer8's spouse to be...)
It seems that it takes less time for a PR to become a US citizen (about a year), than for an immigrant visa based on marriage to a PR to become available.
 
rein021d said:
That thought did come to mind when I first read the OP. Let's give the benefit of the doubt by assuming that beemer8's inquiry could be about the same person, a permanent resident with whom he/she is currently in a serious relationship and has the option of becoming a US citizen.
In that case (again assuming that there is an existing relationship), beemer8 would benefit from getting married now while his/her spouse applies for naturalization (if naturalization is an available option for beemer8's spouse to be...)
It seems that it takes less time for a PR to become a US citizen (about a year), than for an immigrant visa based on marriage to a PR to become available.
Click to expand...

You are right. Let's give the OP that benefit. Though the norm seems to be that people think they should "pick" the "best" way to get a GC.
 
rein021d said:
In that case (again assuming that there is an existing relationship), beemer8 would benefit from getting married now while his/her spouse applies for naturalization
Click to expand...

If the spouse is going to become a citizen, there's no advantage to getting married prior to that point.
 
There is one advantage: If the application processes (N-400 and then I-485) drag on -as we all know they can- enough that the applicant has been married for two years by the time he/she gets the I-485 approved, then he/she will automatically receives a 10 year green card, with no need to file an I-751 later and pay another $545, and go to another interview, etc. Reading through the forums, I think a lot of people have found great consolation in that fact, after having suffered unexpected delays in their pending AOS applications.
 
Thanks Guys

Thank you all for clarifying my doubts, I owe you all an explanation as to why I asked that question. I am currently in a serious relationship with a USC and my best friend is dating a PR, this conversation come up and I wanted to find out, that is all...thanks for giving the benefit of the doubt nevertheless.
 
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