Marriage Green Card
When you are a US citizen and residing in the US desiring to marry an alien or a foreign resident then the alien is eligible for a marriage green card. In this case your spouse will be considered as immediate relative and she or he can obtain a permanent residency. However, to be granted a permanent residency and the US citizenship, living in US has the ability to appeal for admitting your spouse as a permanent US resident. As the time required to get an approval may vary upon the situation of every applicant, marriage green card is being issued in not less than 16 weeks.
Benefits of Marriage Green Cards
One of the main benefits of obtaining a marriage green card before relocating to US is that there is no paperwork to adjust your visa status later on. Due to this green card holders in US will be eligible to quickly start working once they arrive in US without even obtaining an EAD (employment authorization document). This means they have already completed the overall process for registering the green card. To obtain a marriage green card before relocating can even bring a better prospect for you to obtain a US citizenship immediately compared to those people who apply to obtain other kinds of green cards or a visa.
Eligibility Criteria
When it comes to marriage green card, to get a sponsorship for your foreign spouse, you must either possess a green card or be a US citizen. Moreover, you must also try to meet some requirements which include: -
- The couple must be lawfully married and has to produce a legal marriage certificate. Unmarried partners are not eligible for a green card or visa sponsored by a US citizen.
- The party sponsoring the spouse under marriage green card must be above 18 years to support or sign an affidavit.
- Moreover, selecting some documents is also needed which includes the applicants original passport, police clearance certificate, medical examination, sponsor’s citizenship proof, marriage certificate and so on.
Timescales
In case you are a US citizen and your spouse is a foreign resident, the procedure of getting marriage green card will usually take almost 12 to 18 months. However, if you are residing abroad with your spouse being a foreign national, the procedure in this case usually takes not more than 16 weeks. By the way, US residents must normally submit their appeal for obtaining green cards on the basis of marriage while residing in US and should not leave the country at the time of making a petition. In this case, the time required for obtaining green cards is from 24 to 36 months.
Dependent Immigration
Dependents who are under 21 years of age are being included on the application form while applying for a green card. This must be done if these dependents are hundred percent supported by the beneficiaries. In the cases which involve legal joint custody, lawful documents must be provided to make sure that both the parties take the responsibility of the child’s well being they must even be ready to obtain a permanent residence of the child.
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