Marrying a person who has GC in progress

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sekharan

Registered Users (C)
My girlfriend is an Australian citizen and I am an Indian citizen.

Her uncle and cousins immigrated to the US years ago and she seems to have a Family-Based Immigrant VISA under category F4.

Her parents have greencards too.

She believes her greencard was filed for her by her uncle after he got his US Citizenship.

1. Can this be the case? ( Can an uncle file a green card for a niece? Or was it filed by the cousins? )

We were recently browsing the USCIS site and it seems she still has to maintain continious residence in the US for 3 more years to be eligible for naturalization.

2. Is it mandatory for green card holders to have 5 years in the US to be eligible for naturalization regardless from the country they are from?

I mean, a lot of immigrants come from India, China etc, but applications from Australia are a lot less.

Will she, being an Australian citizen, have to wait for 5 years just like immigrants from India, China etc have to? Or can she wait in the US for less time?

3. We would love to get married soon. I don't have any immigrant or dual intent VISAs for the US nor am I very much interested in going to the US either.

However, her uncle has told her that her greencard would be revoked if she got married to me before getting her US Citizenship.

Is this just empty an threat from her uncle or are there really restrictions on how person with a greencard can get married or not?

4. Are not all greencards created equal?

5. Is there any way by which we can verify, by ourselves, what is the category and type of greencard she has?

Any special serial numbers/markings/etc?

I would love to have contacts of good immigration attorneys either in Hyderabad, India or San Francisco, US in case this case is complicated.
 
sekharan said:
My girlfriend is an Australian citizen and I am an Indian citizen.

Her uncle and cousins immigrated to the US years ago and she seems to have a Family-Based Immigrant VISA under category F4.

Her parents have greencards too.

She believes her greencard was filed for her by her uncle after he got his US Citizenship.

1. Can this be the case? ( Can an uncle file a green card for a niece? Or was it filed by the cousins? )

We were recently browsing the USCIS site and it seems she still has to maintain continious residence in the US for 3 more years to be eligible for naturalization.
Is she a greencard holder? She is required to have 5 years as a greencard holder before being eligible for naturalization..;)


2. Is it mandatory for green card holders to have 5 years in the US to be eligible for naturalization regardless from the country they are from?

Yes. It is mandatory, whether you are Australian, Indian or Chinese.

I mean, a lot of immigrants come from India, China etc, but applications from Australia are a lot less. It doesn't matter.

Will she, being an Australian citizen, have to wait for 5 years just like immigrants from India, China etc have to? Or can she wait in the US for less time? She has to wait 5 years like everybody else.

3. We would love to get married soon. I don't have any immigrant or dual intent VISAs for the US nor am I very much interested in going to the US either. Liar...pants on fire....:)

However, her uncle has told her that her greencard would be revoked if she got married to me before getting her US Citizenship.
The uncle is a liar, you can marry the devil as a greencard holder, as long as you don't engage in any illegal activities to cause it to be revoked. In other words, the Uncle might NOT like you, so he's misleading her about this crap. I think marrying the devil might be illegal...:D

Is this just empty an threat from her uncle or are there really restrictions on how person with a greencard can get married or not? Empty threat

4. Are not all greencards created equal? Not all greencards are created equal. Greencard holders by virtue marriage to US citizens can apply for naturalization after 2 yr 9 months, any other greencard holder is required to wait 5 years, or 4yrs 9 months. So, they aren't created equal:rolleyes:.

5. Is there any way by which we can verify, by ourselves, what is the category and type of greencard she has? She can look at the card and see what is written under category.

Any special serial numbers/markings/etc? No.

I would love to have contacts of good immigration attorneys either in Hyderabad, India or San Francisco, US in case this case is complicated.
Click to expand...

See responses in blue. good luck
 
1. Yes it's possible, however, not directly. She might have been a derivative beneficiary of a petition filed by her uncle for his brother/sister.

2. Generally, one has to be a GC holder for 5 years before he/she can apply for naturalization to become a U.S. citizen. However, it doesn't mean he/she would have to remain in the US continuously for 5 years.

3. No effect on her green card if she gets married before she becomes a U.S. Citizen.

4. All green cards give you the same benefits. Some has restrictions, such as a conditional GC which is what a beneficiary of a marriage based petition would get if the marriage is less than two years old on the day GC is approved.

5. It should say on the Permanent Resident Card, under "category".
 
Al Southner said:

Not all greencards are created equal. Greencard holders by virtue marriage to US citizens can apply for naturalization after 2 yr 9 months, any other greencard holder is required to wait 5 years, or 4yrs 9 months. So, they aren't created equal.
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Al, green card holders by virtue of a marriage to US citizens would still need to be married to a US citizen for at least three years to be eligible to apply.

And also, technically the benefit is really not because the green card is different. One can get a 10 year GC by virtue of a marriage and he will get the same GC like everyone else. However, if other conditions are met (not a condition on GC), he/she can still apply early.
 
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VisaNutz said:
Al, green card holders by virtue of a marriage to US citizens would still need to be married to a US citizen for at least three years to be eligible to apply.
Click to expand...

I guess the difference is little more nuanced (waiting 2 years less!). But if the GC was issued under a different category (like the brother/sister category) wont the person have refile for a new GC category to be eligible for the 3 year wait? Or can you change category of the GC given the marriage to a USC? This is kind of a stupid question, I know, nevertheless just for clarity sake...:-)
 
thomas_psu said:
I guess the difference is little more nuanced (waiting 2 years less!). But if the GC was issued under a different category (like the brother/sister category) wont the person have refile for a new GC category to be eligible for the 3 year wait? Or can you change category of the GC given the marriage to a USC? This is kind of a stupid question, I know, nevertheless just for clarity sake...:-)
Click to expand...

It doesn't matter how you got your GC or what category. As long as you have been an LPR for at least 3 years and you have been married to a USC for at least three years (the USC spouse needs to be USC for all of three years), you can file early. Of course, you will have to meet all other general requirements.
 
Correct. For some reason there is misconception that the GC must have been acquired through spousal sponsorship in order to use the 3 year naturalisation clause.

VisaNutz said:
It doesn't matter how you got your GC or what category. As long as you have been an LPR for at least 3 years and you have been married to a USC for at least three years (the USC spouse needs to be USC for all of three years), you can file early.
Click to expand...
 
Triple Citizen said:
For some reason there is misconception that the GC must have been acquired through spousal sponsorship in order to use the 3 year naturalisation clause.
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Thanks for that info. I always thought GC to Naturalization was processed based on the benefit category, which, obviously is wrong!
 
She already has the GC in hand.

She has been maintaining "permanent residence" for 2+ years since she got the GC in hand.

We are a little bit confused about the F4 category bit being about "unmarried and below 21 years of age".

In mosts texts we do not see "unmarried" the restriction - is it that the person for who GC has been filed needed to be bewlo 21 AND unmarried BEFORE she was issued the GC, but these restrictions do NOT matter ONCE she got the GC?
 
i am so confused. At first, OP was asking about a person who has GC in progress. Then, she suddenly has an immigrant visa. Then it turns out she's had a GC for two years. Which one is it?????
 
sekharan said:
She believes her greencard was filed for her by her uncle after he got his US Citizenship.

1. Can this be the case? ( Can an uncle file a green card for a niece? Or was it filed by the cousins? )
Click to expand...
An uncle can sponsor a niece indirectly by sponsoring the uncle's sibling who is the parent of the niece. The niece can then join as a derivative beneficiary.

2. Is it mandatory for green card holders to have 5 years in the US to be eligible for naturalization regardless from the country they are from?
Click to expand...
There are ways of becoming a citizen faster than 5 years, such as by marriage to a US citizen (3 years) or expedited citizenship in the military, but still the country where you are from doesn't matter (except maybe for the narrow category of somebody who is a "US National" but not a US citizen because they're from a US possession such as American Samoa). Unless one of those other conditions applies to her, she has to wait 5 years like everybody else.
3. We would love to get married soon. I don't have any immigrant or dual intent VISAs for the US nor am I very much interested in going to the US either.

However, her uncle has told her that her greencard would be revoked if she got married to me before getting her US Citizenship.
Click to expand...
Your uncle is confused with another rule. If she got married while her green card process was pending, her green card application would have been voided, because she would have to remain unmarried to join her parent as a derivative beneficiary. But after she has the green card, she can get married without losing it.

4. Are not all greencards created equal?
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Not exactly. Most green cards are valid 10 years and maintaining it has nothing to do with marital status, but people who obtained their green cards via a marriage-based petition would first get a 2-year conditional card if they've been married for less than 2 years.
5. Is there any way by which we can verify, by ourselves, what is the category and type of greencard she has?

Any special serial numbers/markings/etc?
Click to expand...
Look for the category code on the front of the green card.
 
The OP has intention to immigrate to the US, irrespective of his "rant" that he has no intentions of moving to the US. He's invested in finding out about this GC of his girlfriend. :rolleyes:

He's confused about this entire process, I suspect she's in the process of receiving another GC, because she's already has had one for two years. I am confused...:confused:
 
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