AlexHoran

Hello everyone,

Forgive me if this question has been answered elsewhere, I searched around and could not find answers for my specific situation.

I am currently living in Boston and am on a H1B visa. I have been dating my fiance for almost 3 years and we have been living together for the last year. We got engaged two months ago and have set a date to marry next August (2006) in the US.

All of the information I have found about marrying a US citizen talks about getting the K visa etc, which does not apply to my situation. Can anyone adivse me what steps I should be looking to follow and if there are things I can do prior to the marrage to help with the Green Card process?

Thanks in advance.
Alex

Andrea29

Read through the link and the instructions for the I-485 first. This may answer some of your questions.

http://uscis.gov/graphics/howdoi/legpermres.htm

Patric Johansson

Hi Alex, I am in a similar situation, here on an employment visa and
recently married to a US citizen. The forms you need to send in are
I-130, I-485 and I-765 plus a couple of other ones. If you go to your
local USCIS office they will give you a package with all forms and
instructions you should send in. Buy the book called "Fiance and
Marriage Visas: A Couple's Guide to U.S. Immigration", Amazon has it:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/141...424284-3628708

Good luck, Patric

jamie_nluv

In general people can file for Adjustment of Status to become a Permanent Resident if they marry a US Citizen. My husband has a friend he knows who did this. You simply need to co-file an I485 with an I-130. Your local CIS office can advise you on their filing procedures. The I-131 and I765 are (respectively) to allow you to depart and re-enter the US while you Adjustment of Status application is pending and to allow you to work.

What another person did not mention is that your current Visa Status may indeed remain valid until you are adjudicated for your Adjustment and get a green Card (then chaging your status to a LPR). You may want to consult an attorney to find this out because if so you probably do not need to file the I-131/765. Save you some $.

jamie_nluv

Oh here are some general guides that may apply to your situation:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?pg=i130faq

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?pg=otheraos

From those guides it appears if you continue to work for you H1 employer you can keep that status while waiting for your adjustment. That means you can leave/re-enter the US and work.

As ussual, for peace of mind get a cheap-o attorney consultation to be sure you know all your options. You can file all the papers yourself for free (less the required application fees).

AlexHoran

Thank you to everyone for their information, it was exactly what I was looking for. I will visit my local CIS office and also see a lawyer in order to make sure I am making all the applications I need.

Thanks again

Ray

Forget the visit to the USCIS ..there are not there to help you ..

neil

This is definitely true for L1 visas and I am pretty confident it's true for the H1 - the benefit to getting the employment authorisation though is that you are then free to work for anyone and are not tied to your sponsoring company.