How marriage based Green Card works
Green card for Spouses:
All US Citizens and Permanent Residents have the ability to petition to bring their foreign national spouse to live in the United States as a permanent resident whether that spouse is lawfully residing in the US under a separate lawful visa classification or if he/she is residing abroad. Spouses of permanent resident petitioners may be subject to increased wait times due to limited visa number availability, though spouses of US Citizens will not face the same issue. Petitioning spouses who wish for their spouse to come to the US as soon as possible and don’t think risking rejected petitions and copious amounts of capital lost on mistakes is worth it instead choose to take advantage of the services offered by a skilled and experienced Los Angeles immigration lawyer. Our full-service immigration law firm employs a host of these, all of whom are willing and more than able to assist new clients with all of their immigration needs.
Aside from the petition itself which is comprised of several forms and fees, a petitioning spouse must submit:
- A copy of the civil marriage certificate
- A copy of any and all divorce decrees, annulment decrees, or death certificates, or other lawful pieces of documentation testifying to the termination of any and all previous marriages of either spouse
- Passport-style photos of both spouses which adhere to USCIS standards (contact our office and speak with a Los Angeles immigration lawyer who can instruct you in the proper photograph protocol
- Evidence of any and all legal name changes for either spouse which recurred as a result of marriage, divorce, adoption, court-judged name change, or any other legal form of name-change
Our Los Angeles immigration lawyers understand that large amounts of time apart are hard, especially if you know that your winning petition submitted by our highly talented attorneys will spend months being processed by USCIS. For this reason, our firm highly suggests utilizing the K-3 visa if the petitioner is a US Citizen and the V visa if the petitioner is a permanent resident. These visa classifications allow a spouse whose permanent resident visa petition is pending to enter the US to live and work until the verdict on the permanent residency petition is given. Contact a Los Angeles immigration lawyer from our firm for assistance in filing and bringing your family together.
If you and your spouse have been married for less than two years on the date that your foreign national spouse is granted permanent residency, the green card will have been granted on a temporary basis. This means that you and your spouse must file to remove the conditions of residence within the 90 days that immediately follow the date that permanent residency is filed or it will be terminated. Contact a Los Angeles immigration lawyer from our firm to take immediate action.
We look forward to hearing from you and beginning this wonderful journey towards happiness with you!