I Married An Alien

This post regards couples in the USA who have gotten married in the USA. (For couples looking for information on other scenarios, like one of you is in the USA and another is in a foreign country, you might start with immigration discussion boards on the sites of law firms–but remember the information posted often comes from members of the public, only sometimes from attorneys. ) For the spouses of US citizens in the USA who have filed paperwork, it may be a long time before the spouse can safely leave and return to the US.  If you have filed your paperwork with USCIS, try calling their hotline at 1-800-870-3676 to see what the estimated wait time will be. The process will go like this:

1. You will get married and submit paperwork to adjust your spouse’s status. Submitting the paperwork goes pretty quickly–it’s just a matter of getting the right documents together:) By the way, if your spouse is already ON a visa and can travel, such as a student or H1-b visa, it may be worth asking USCIS or an attorney if you can just wait to adjust status when your spouse returns.
2. If you know that your spouse will need to travel when you submit the I-485 paperwork, submit his or her application for Advanced Parole with it. If you don’t know, that’s okay. For timelines on how long your paperwork might process, check USCIS Processing Timeframes from their website, and check with others who have recently received their two-year temporary greencards at this discussion board.
3. If your spouse didn’t submit an application for Advanced Parole, do so as soon as he or she sees the need to travel. Getting approval can take weeks, sometimes even months! (Some people get it sooner though). It is strongly advised not to buy any tickets until you receive Advanced Parole!!!
4. Remember, if your spouse has overstayed his or her visa, it is risky to travel outside of the US even with Advanced Parole! They can be barred from re-entering. Technically, this is up to the border guard at the point of entry. In this situation, talk to USCIS or an attorney or both to be  sure your spouse won’t have problems getting back into the country.

My husband end up overstaying his B-2 visa while waiting for USCIS to approve an extension. Therefore, he waited two years to travel outside of the country. We didn’t want to risk getting Advanced Parole and having problems.

Filed under: Immigration, Questions, Uncategorized