While love freely crosses boundaries all the time, the United States legal system has much stricter requirements on who and what can cross its borders.
That’s why if you’re a foreign national who’s decided to marry a U.S. citizen or green card holder, you need to know how to get your green card if you want to live in the same country as your spouse.
While the process itself isn’t that difficult if you have a skilled lawyer on your side, there’s still a few obstacles that you’ll encounter on your journey to obtaining a green card through marriage.
The immigration process is too important to navigate alone. Trust a professional at Albizu Law to help you move forward with confidence.
To begin the green card marriage process, the U.S. citizen or green card holding spouse must fill out and submit a Form I-130 (Petition for Alien Relative). This is a family-based immigrant visa petition.
Along with your carefully filled-out Form I-130, you’ll need to provide USCIS with your marriage certificate and other documents proving that your marriage isn’t just to obtain a green card.
Joint bank account statements or a joint lease for a house would fulfill this requirement, as would wedding photos depicting you and your spouse.
Your green card marriage attorney may suggest that you also submit a letter alongside your immigrant visa petition – you should always follow your lawyer’s advice on exactly what to include within it.
Once your immigration attorney has completed Form I-130 and assembled the proper documentation, you can either choose to submit it online through the USCIS website or mail it to the physical address of the USCIS office that services your area. Most of our clients choose to file online.
Next, your lawyer will help you actually apply to become a lawful permanent resident of the United States by filing an application for your green card. How you apply for your actual green cards depends on if you’re living in the U.S. or elsewhere in the world at the time of applying.
If you’re already living in the U.S. legally (such as on a student visa or temporary work visa), you’ll need to file for an adjustment of status. Meanwhile, if you live abroad in another country you’ll use consular processing. Don’t worry if it seems overwhelming – we will help you through this process!
If your spouse already lives on U.S. soil legally, your lawyer will file Form I-485 (Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status) with USCIS. You’ll need to submit several documents alongside your application. These include:
Spouses of U.S. citizens usually submit the green card application at the same time as the visa petition. Spouses of green card holders unfortunately can’t file these forms concurrently.
If you’re not living on U.S. soil with a legal status, you’ll have to use consular processing when you apply for your marriage green card. Consular processing simply means you use a U.S. embassy or consulate to process your marriage green card while waiting in your home country. After USCIS approves the immigrant visa petition, it sends the entire file to the State Department’s National Visa Center.
The National Visa Center will notify you anytime there is an update in your case. It’ll also let you know as soon as it’s time to submit your green card marriage filing package. Your immigration attorney will instruct you on how to pay the filing fee and assemble this package so that it includes:
After immigration officials have gone through all your documents, it’ll be time for the marriage green card interview. The immigration officer conducting the interview will ask personal questions about your marital relationship. These may feel invasive, but they need to ask these questions to search for potential green card marriage fraud. Your immigration lawyer will prepare you for all the questions you’re likely to receive.
If the foreign spouse lives abroad, this interview will take place at the consulate or U.S. embassy. If the foreign spouse lives in the United States, the interview will take place at a USCIS office.
During consular processing only the foreign spouse needs to be at the interview but both spouses need to attend the interview during adjustment of status.
If approved, those already in the U.S. will receive their green card in the mail. Those outside of the U.S. will get a visa packet to enter the U.S., then receive their green card in the mail at their new U.S. address.
For over six years, the Albizu Law Firm has been advising clients on their unique situations with great success. If you want to begin the process of getting your marriage green card, contact attorney Iris Albizu for a consultation today!
All Rights Reserved 2011 - 2025 | Albizu Law Firm
