Marriage to US resident

J

jenifer1

New Member
Hi everybody. I'm very new here. Please try to answer my question.
Last year I married a legal resident, he lives in the usa 12 years but has only green card (not citizen). My question is: can I apply for a green card, or any legal status? Right now my tourist visa is expired and I don't know if I am eligible for any legal status.
Thank you in advance for your help.
 
jenifer1 said:
Hi everybody. I'm very new here. Please try to answer my question.
Last year I married a legal resident, he lives in the usa 12 years but has only green card (not citizen). My question is: can I apply for a green card, or any legal status? Right now my tourist visa is expired and I don't know if I am eligible for any legal status.
Thank you in advance for your help.
Click to expand...
 
Yes, ur husband can petition for u b4 ur current status expires, but ur wait will be long 4 a visa, (coz ur spouse is a gc holder) ask ur husband to file 4 his citizenship and things would speed up 4 u... Good luck
 
agree with previous post....your husband should have already applied for citizenship..then he can apply for you and you won't have to wait too much to get your GC. Otherwise its going to more than 7 years for you before your get it.
 
HMM.. what you guys should do is add the estimated time it would take for him to get his citizenship: 6 months, and the estimated amount of time it would take for you to be granted a green card as the spouse of a Citizen.. maybe 3 years.

Compare that to the amount of time it would take you to get your green card as the spouse of a permenant resident.

I think that filing under the spouse of a citizenship would be what you want to do because with that you can begin workign within months of him filing for you and you'd also be in status as "waiting for a change of status."

Under the spouse of a permenant resident, you'd have to wait upwards of 4 years to start work, AND you'd be out of status because they don't grant status for someone that's just waiting for a petition to be approved, which is what you'd have to do for 4 years plus if you filed like that.
 
I second chills. My attorney told me a gc holder doesn't provides shelter for his spouse. In another word, you have to keep legal status on your own, either f1, or h1, or you have to go back to your own country to wait.
 
chills said:
HMM.. what you guys should do is add the estimated time it would take for him to get his citizenship: 6 months, and the estimated amount of time it would take for you to be granted a green card as the spouse of a Citizen.. maybe 3 years.
Click to expand...

Only in the very extreme of cases, it takes that long to get a green card as a spouse of a USC. It takes on average somewhere between 3-8 months.
 
Charchamps: she is out of her status already.
Chills, machelon: she can't apply as spouse of permanent resident, she is out of status, so that's out of question.
Zoelee: I agree with you (except "seconding chills" part).
Jenifer: The overstay is forgiven only to immediate families of US citizen. So, first thing to do is for your husband to apply for citizenship. And then you can apply for AOS.
 
Pinturicchio said:
Only in the very extreme of cases, it takes that long to get a green card as a spouse of a USC. It takes on average somewhere between 3-8 months.
Click to expand...
Exactly.
 
Anahit said:
Charchamps: she is out of her status already.
Chills, machelon: she can't apply as spouse of permanent resident, she is out of status, so that's out of question.
Zoelee: I agree with you (except "seconding chills" part).
Jenifer: The overstay is forgiven only to immediate families of US citizen. So, first thing to do is for your husband to apply for citizenship. And then you can apply for AOS.
Click to expand...
Hello Anahit, I am not out of status hon... :p (I was mark u :cool: ), my situation was very much like jenifer1 (husband, gc holder - citizen) that is y I was able 2 give her my point of view... all the sugesstions listed r in somewhat related, so which ever way she chooses we wish her the best of luck..Ps she can apply as a spouse of a pernament resident even if she is out of status but she will have to have cp done in her home country..there r many ways to skin a cat... :)
 
charchamps said:
Hello Anahit, I am not out of status hon... :p (I was mark u :cool: ), my situation was very much like jenifer1 (husband, gc holder - citizen) that is y I was able 2 give her my point of view...
Click to expand...
I didn't say you're out of status. You said "Yes, ur husband can petition for u b4 ur current status expires". And, I just reminded you, based on Jenifer's post, that her status is already expired.
all the sugesstions listed r in somewhat related, so which ever way she chooses we wish her the best of luck..
Click to expand...
Of course we do. But we don't want to advise her to apply for GC while being out of status here.
Ps she can apply as a spouse of a pernament resident even if she is out of status but she will have to have cp done in her home country..there r many ways to skin a cat... :)
Click to expand...
We're talking about AOS...
 
In the case of CP...she must check out if she has been out of status more than 180 days up to a year, because she could be within the 3/10 year ban.
 
Pinturicchio said:
Only in the very extreme of cases, it takes that long to get a green card as a spouse of a USC. It takes on average somewhere between 3-8 months.
Click to expand...


3-8 months to receive your green card when your US citizen spouse petitions for you? I've never heard that. Usually you're granted conditional residency that can turn to permenant residency in 2 or more years. With conditional residency you have some restrictions. One is traveling in that time that you're a conditional resident, which is what she won't be able to do unless she wants to be barred from the country for 3 to 10 years.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
chills said:
3-8 months to receive your green card when your US citizen spouse petitions for you? I've never heard that. Usually you're granted conditional residency that can turn to permenant residency in 2 or more years. With conditional residency you have some restrictions. One is traveling in that time that you're a conditional resident, which is what she won't be able to do unless she wants to be barred from the country for 3 to 10 years.
Click to expand...

What are you talking about ?

A conditional GC has nothing to do with the restrictions you mention. The only thing is, that USCIS is going to check whether or not you're still married once the 2 years are over and you've filed for removal of conditions.
There's no such thing as travel restrictions.
 
I was told by several immigration officials that you shouldn't travel with Advanced Parole during your conditional residency if you've been unlawfully present because it could put you at the possibility of being barred. Only when you're a permenant resident are you safe.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
chills said:
I was told by several immigration officials that you shouldn't travel with Advanced Parole during your conditional residency if you've been unlawfully present because it could put you at the possibility of being barred. Only when you're a permenant resident are you safe.
Click to expand...

You shouldn't be traveling once you've unlawfully present, period.
Has nothing to do with conditional GC, on which the conditions are due to the fact that the marriage prior to receiving the GC wasn't older than 24 months
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top