Dmitry Freitor

Hi,

I am a Green Card holder, and I will be applying for Naturalization in a few month. I
want to merry a woman, who is in the US on an H-1 visa. Can anyone advise on her
getting her GC in the following scenarios:
1. We get married before I apply for naturalization
2. We get married after I apply, but before I get the Citizenship
3. We get married after I become a Citizen (this will probably take at least 1.5
years, hate to wait that long! -

Thanks.

Rete

There is nothing to stop you from marry but there is no reason why she has to apply for adjustment of status right away. If she is legally here on an H-1B work visa, she can continue on that until you become a citizen at which point you can apply for her adjustment under your cloak of citizenship.

If she were to lose her job before your citizenship is final, you can apply for her I-130 (not the I-485) then and when your citizenship is granted then you can upgrade your petition to that of citizen applying for a spouse's residency in the US.

Bear in mind, however, that if she loses her job and you are not a citizen, she does not have the right to remain in the US and will be considered out of status.

Rete

Liwen Liang

Well.. she is on H1 right. Does she enjoy her job? Does she still want to work after
getting married with you?

Your scenario 1 and 2 doesn't change anything, she will still need H1 to stay here
legally. You won't be a citizen until you finish the complete naturalization process
(till you swear in,) before that, you are a green card holder, doesn't matter if you
apply for naturalization or not.

As a green card holder, you can petition your wife with I-130, but the visa number
won't be available for what, 6 years? While your wife is waiting, she will need some
kind of valid status to stay here legally, that's what her H1 comes in.

Is her employer going to sponsor her to get green card? Or how many years has she
been on her H1?

If her employer is sponsoring her for green card, and is currently working on it. It
probably takes the same amount of time for her to get her green card, either from her
employer or you (after you become a citizen.)

You two can always get married, she seems to be in good shape if she can still hold
on to her H1 for the next 1 to 2 years.

[email protected] (Dmitry Freitor) wrote in message
news:<[email protected]. com>...
    > Hi,
    >
    > I am a Green Card holder, and I will be applying for Naturalization in a few month.
    > I want to merry a woman, who is in the US on an H-1 visa. Can anyone advise on her
    > getting her GC in the following scenarios:
    > 1. We get married before I apply for naturalization
    > 2. We get married after I apply, but before I get the Citizenship
    > 3. We get married after I become a Citizen (this will probably take at least 1.5
    > years, hate to wait that long! -
    >
    > Thanks.

Dmitry Freitor

Thanks to all who replied. Still a small question, though: once I become a citizen,
how long will her AOS take? Is it just as long as any other AOS (say,
employment-based)?

Sylvia Ottemoel

Dmitry Freitor wrote:

    > Thanks to all who replied. Still a small question, though: once I become a citizen,
    > how long will her AOS take? Is it just as long as any other AOS (say,
    > employment-based)?

The processing time for family based adjustment of status is unique to each INS
district office. (It is not related to the processing time for any employment based
adjustment.) See http://members.aol.com/MDUdall/instimes.htm.