MARRIAGE AFTER GETTING GREEN CARD

[gitakrish]

Hi

This is in continuation to my earlier posting here regarding this topic. How about if a person who has a green card - marries a girl , who might come to US with a student visa? What might be the complications involved? Is that possible? Any other
alternatives/suggestions?

Regards
Geetha

[JoeF]

Re: MARRIAGE AFTER GETTING GREEN CARD

The answer doesn't change much, so I copied most of the text from my earlier answer:
The waiting time is still between 5 and 6 years. This essentially is a petition for a family-based GC in family category 2A, which currently has a PD of Nov. 96 for most countries (see the Visa Bulletin at travel.state.gov/visa_bulletin.html).
If the spouse has a student visa and is in the US as a student, the spouse would still have to maintain legal status on his or her own. The spouse could have any non-immigrant visa, as long as it is valid. But if it expires and/or the spouse leaves the country, e.g., for a vacation, the spouse would only be able to come back with an H1 or L1 visa. In particular, a person with a student visa would most likely be turned back at the border, because a student visa does not allow immigration intent.

And again, the alternative: wait with marriage until one partner becomes a US citizen. The spouse then is classified as immediate relative, with no quota.