Green Card

[SpanishFry]

Hello,

I'm in a serious relationship with Canadian and we are discussing the option of marriage and her moving here. I've been over the govt. sites trying to get this process down for her to be a legal resident, but don't get it. I am American, btw.

Can anyone with some experience help? How long will it take to get her green card? Is there something we should be doing now? We're not currently engaged yet. We will be married in a foreign country, does that matter? Will she be able to live here as soon as we're married. Please help with any info.

 

[Manok]

The fastest way to get her to you is to file for a K1 (fiancee) visa. Since it is a nonimmigrant visa, you will have to get married within 90 days and then adjust her status. After that, she will have an interview at a service center and will get her green card.

If you get married in a foreign country, you will have to file a K3 visa and that will take longer to process because it is an immigrant visa. The good thing is she will already have her green card and wont have to adjust her status. Depends on what you want to do.

I got my wife over here on a K1 visa and it only took 6 months.

PS. I hope you kept all your correspondance with each other i.e. love letters, emails, phone cards, phone records, pictures, etc. You have to have visited her country within the last year (i think) as well. Save your plane tickets, gas receipts, visa stamps...whatever you have.

The important thing is that you show an actual relationship or she will never get her visa. They will grill her at the embassy. Make sure she knows you back and forth and where you went to school, what your mothers maiden name is, etc.

Good luck, it's a shitty process and very paper intensive. Right now I'm trying to get my stepdaughter over here. I even managed to get a tourist visa for my mother in law and the country she is from, that just doesn't happen much unless you are wealthy. I know a thing or two about visas.


This site is where you need to go. www.visajourney.com. They have all the answers and guides to walk you through everything. Your case is actually pretty simple.

Oh, forgot to tell you, if you go the K3 route, you will have to marry her in Canada and leave without her because you have to file the paperwork in the states. She wont be able to come to the states untill she gets her visa. Being that it's canada though, she can still come over normally untill she gets her visa so you are lucky.
-Manok

 

[gleong]

If you're getting married to her in a foreign country:

After the marriage:
- Come back to the US without her
- File Form I-130 Petition for Alien Relative

Processing time for the I-130 is 6 months or so. After the I-130 is processed, they'll ship the visa over to the US embassy closest to where where she lives and will be called in for an interview. If she passes that, she'll be allowed to come into the US as a permanent resident. Yay, process completed!

Of course, it still takes time from the moment the I-130 is processed to being interviewed at the embassy, etc. So if you prefer not to be away from your spouse during that time, after filing the I-130, immediately file Form I-129f Petition for Alien Fiance(e) for a K-3 visa. The K-3 will allow your spouse to enter the country as a non-immigrant while the I-130 is pending. Once the I-130 is processed, instead of interviewing at the US embassy abroad, she'll have to file an adjustment of status in the US to a permanent resident. There is a whole bunch of forms to file there, each with their own list of supporting documents you'll have asked to provide.

Form I-485
Form I-693
Form I-864
G-325A
copy of her birth certificate
copy of her passport ID page and entry stamps/visas
copy of the last 3 years of your Federal Income Taxes
a letter from your employer to verify your employment/salary
there's probably more docs

The Adjustment of Status is like a 6month to 1 year long process if all goes well Involves an interview at a local office.

The upside to the whole K-3 --> Adjustment of Status process is that you both get to be together in the states while she's filing for her permanent residence, but it means more paperwork/time.

If you decide to marry in the US:
- File Form I-129f (above)
- Once it is processed, she'll be given a K-1 Fiance visa to enter the US
- Get married within 90 days of entry
- File for Adjustment of Status

All I can think of at the moment

 

[SpanishFry]

thank you

 

[Descartes]

I petitioned for late last year, and we got her green card in about 6 months total. We were married in the US and she's a non-citizen.

My honest suggestion would be to consult with an immigration lawyer as the process can't be frustrating. Your situation sounds non-complicated, so it really shouldn't cost that much. I think we paid a mere $1500 for the entire process. I could offer a recommendation in the Atlanta area, but I'm not sure if that will help you where you are.

Good luck.

 

[SpanishFry]

Originally posted by: Descartes
I petitioned for late last year, and we got her green card in about 6 months total. We were married in the US and she's a non-citizen.

My honest suggestion would be to consult with an immigration lawyer as the process can't be frustrating. Your situation sounds non-complicated, so it really shouldn't cost that much. I think we paid a mere $1500 for the entire process. I could offer a recommendation in the Atlanta area, but I'm not sure if that will help you where you are.

Good luck.

Thanks for the info. Would you mind giving me a brief timeline? i.e. Engaged, File for green card, married, ?? I'm trying to figure out when to file and how the whole process intertwines with our relationship and her moving here.

 

[Descartes]

Originally posted by: SpanishFry

Originally posted by: Descartes
I petitioned for late last year, and we got her green card in about 6 months total. We were married in the US and she's a non-citizen.

My honest suggestion would be to consult with an immigration lawyer as the process can't be frustrating. Your situation sounds non-complicated, so it really shouldn't cost that much. I think we paid a mere $1500 for the entire process. I could offer a recommendation in the Atlanta area, but I'm not sure if that will help you where you are.

Good luck.

Thanks for the info. Would you mind giving me a brief timeline? i.e. Engaged, File for green card, married, ?? I'm trying to figure out when to file and how the whole process intertwines with our relationship and her moving here.

Sure. Also, sorry about my post. I just read it again and realized that I missed a few words, so not sure what I was thinking. Too much wine with dinner tonight. Glad you got the point though.

Our engagement was somewhat informal, so we didn't do the fiance petition. She was already in the US on an H1B as well, so I didn't need to petition to get her in the US.

We got married in April of last year and filed a week or two after that. We received the green card at the beginning of December, but we received her work authorization several weeks before that. We were also able to receive a stamp for her passport that allowed her to enter/exit the US without issue even before receiving the greencard.

It's obviously a lot easier if you're already married. That's primarily why we did that. I'm not too familiar with the fiance visa though, so not sure how you'd go about getting her into the US in the first place. I would consult with an immigration attorney for this, because the amount of paperwork that we had to manage was ridiculous.

Wish I could be of more help. Good luck with everything though. The process is generally pretty smooth, so you shouldn't have any issues. You will do an interview at the immigration office for them to see if it's a legitimate marriage, but that too is fairly smooth; they just ask you a lot of really uncomfortable questions.

 

[ponyo]

I did the K1 fiance visa for my wife. Took little over 2 years for her to get her green card which is about average. I did all the paperwork myself. It's not hard. Just lots of it and pain in the ass. Application fees were around 1k or so.

We went the fiance visa route so she could enter the country with me and wouldn't have to stay apart while waiting for the green card. I filed for travel document so she could travel internationally and reenter as often as she wanted.

You shouldn't need a lawyer unless your situation is complicated.

 

[Wreckem]

Contact your Congressmans office. They will have someone who handles Immigration casework. Theres no need for an immigration lawyer unless you need to file a legal appeal after all non legal options are exhausted.