Courvet

My GC mother has filed for me and I-130 now approved . Should I marry my girlfriend now or after the consulate interview. If we marry now can she travel to the US with me and will my stepson(12 yr old) be eligible for immigration also. We have a young daughter and I fear leaving them behind.

If we marry will this afect the speed of my further processing.

Ingo Pakleppa

If you marry your girlfriend now, you would lose the Green Card! The immigration
category your mother used was for *unmarried* childen of Green Card holders; there
is no category for *married* childen of GC holders. Before getting married, have
your mother become a naturalized US citizen - that's the only way you can bring
your girlfriend with you. That is because there *is* a category for married childen
of US citizens.

Incidentally, just because the I-130 was approved doesn't mean that the consular
interview is imminent. You'll still have to wait for your priority date to become
current. In the Family 2B category that your mother filed for you, the current
priority date is August 8, 1993 unless you were born in Mexico (in that case, there
are no Green Cards at all available until October, and even then who knows when the
priority date will be current again) - that means that only I-130s filed before that
date are eligible to receive a Green Card right now. You have to follow the visa
bulletin published by Department of State once a month to see when your case is
likely to come up. If your mother filed the I-130 in, say, 1999, my guess is that it
will be at least another ten years or so (it will almost certainly be more than the
six years that the numbers seem to suggest on the face of it!)

The quota backlog (another term for the wait caused by the priority date) for the
Family 3rd category (married children of US citizens) is also quite substantial -
currently six years for most countries, 10 for Mexico and 14 for the Philippines.
These numbers are likely to rise even more in the future.

Understanding the priority dates is actually quite tricky, but very important for
you.

Ingo

On 18 Mar 2002 18:32:38 -0600, Courvet <[email protected]> wrote:

    >My GC mother has filed for me and I-130 now approved . Should I marry my girlfriend
    >now or after the consulate interview. If we marry now can she travel to the US with
    >me and will my stepson(12 yr old) be eligible for immigration also. We have a young
    >daughter and I fear leaving them behind.
    >
    >If we marry will this afect the speed of my further processing.
    >
    >
    >
    >--
    >CMW
    >
    >Posted via http://britishexpats.com

I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice. For reliable advice, please consult
with a professional immigration attorney.

For further information, check the following frequently-requested links.

For many questions, you may find answers at
http://travel.state.gov/visa_services.html (Department of State)

or http://ins.usdoj.gov (INS).

For consular policies and visa reciprocity fees, find your consulate in
http://travel.state.gov/links.html

For DOL Faxback status information: http://workforcesecurity.doleta.gov/

For information on affidavit of support for marriage to US citizens (I-864), go to
http://travel.state.gov/i864gen.html and http://travel.state.gov/checklist.html

For information on entering the US as a K-1: http://www.k1poelist.com/

For poverty levels, see http://aspe.os.dhhs.gov/poverty/00poverty.htm

For information on H/L/O/P visa extensions at Dept. of State in St. Louis, MO, see
http://travel.state.gov/revals.html

For non-official information, check:

(When using these sites, and any Web sites, please watch out for privacy, as I do not
know all site operators.)

http://www.visalaw.com http://www.shusterman.com http://www.immigration.com
http://members.aol.com/MDUdall http://www.murthy.com/ http://www.richw.org/dualcit/
(dual citizenship FAQ) http://www.ilw.com/pederson/visa.htm (dual citizenship info)
http://www.srs-usvisa.com http://www.getusavisa.com
http://greencard-lottery.virtualave.net/ http://www.jcvisa.com (H-1B)
http://www.h1bresources.com (marriage and fiancee) http://www.kamya.com/misc/
(marriage and fiancee) http://www2.apex.net/users/thehydes http://www.formshome.com
http://www.workpermit.com

This is not an endorsement of any of these Web sites. I am not affiliated with any of
the Web site owners and do not receive nor accept payment in return for listing them,
and typically don't even know them.

(if believe you have a good immigration-related Web site and want your Web site
listed here, please e-mail me).