Marriage and Green Card application while on Visitor Visa

[rhameed]

My sister-in-law is currently here in US visiting us on a visit visa. She is engaged to a boy who currently lives and works in Germany but is in the final stages of getting his family based green card. The boy plans to enter US in about a month to complete the final step of his consular processing. Once he gets his green card he would go back to Germany and then will move permanently to US at a later point. Their families think that when the boy comes to US, they should get married here in US so he could start her green card process as well as apply for her German visa from here in US before he leaves.

Our concern is that could it be held against my sister-in-law that she married and applied for a green card while on a visit visa which has a non-immigrant intent. When she entered US about 3 months ago, her intent was only to visit us, but obviously intents are hard to prove.

I would greatly appreciate any responses on this.

[rayb]

There is nothing wrong with them getting married while both are in the U.S.

Naturally, the lad cannot petition sis-in-law until he has his Green Card. What they do beyond that depends on the husband's Green Card status. If he is a German citizen, it would make more sense for him to get her a German visa, albeit a nonimmigrant visa, and follow him to Germany.

-Ray B

My sister-in-law is currently here in US visiting us on a visit visa. She is engaged to a boy who currently lives and works in Germany but is in the final stages of getting his family based green card. The boy plans to enter US in about a month to complete the final step of his consular processing. Once he gets his green card he would go back to Germany and then will move permanently to US at a later point. Their families think that when the boy comes to US, they should get married here in US so he could start her green card process as well as apply for her German visa from here in US before he leaves.

Our concern is that could it be held against my sister-in-law that she married and applied for a green card while on a visit visa which has a non-immigrant intent. When she entered US about 3 months ago, her intent was only to visit us, but obviously intents are hard to prove.

I would greatly appreciate any responses on this.

[rhameed]

There is nothing wrong with them getting married while both are in the U.S.

Naturally, the lad cannot petition sis-in-law until he has his Green Card. What they do beyond that depends on the husband's Green Card status. If he is a German citizen, it would make more sense for him to get her a German visa, albeit a nonimmigrant visa, and follow him to Germany.

-Ray B

Thanks for your response! He has already appeared at the US embassy in Germany for the consular processing interview, and now just needs to enter US to complete the process. If everything goes normally, he should receive his green card a few weeks after his arrival in US. They will not get married until he gets his green card because his green card was filed as an unmarried son, and it is the condition of his GC petition that he should not get married while his green card is being processed. So the plan is to wait for his GC and then get married and file the GC for my sister-in-law. We have learnt that her petition could take over 3 years to approve, and in the meantime she may not really have a way to stay in US even if her husband has a green card. So based on that it does seem they are better off living in Germany until her green card gets approved as well. Any thoughts about that?

[rayb]

1. Correct, the boy would have to reenter the U.S. as "single" status to maintain eligibility of his immigrant visa. Once in the U.S., he will have met the conditions for his "unmarried, child of Green Card or U.S. citizen petitioner), and would be legal to marry.
2. Unlike "many years past," once the new husband submits an immigrant petition for his wife, it will take 10-15 months, not 3 years, for her to be eligible for a visa or for a Green Card, as an F2A visa category, which is about 4 months-oversubscribed right now.

The groom would have to be 21 or older to petition his new wife.

--Ray B

Thanks for your response! He has already appeared at the US embassy in Germany for the consular processing interview, and now just needs to enter US to complete the process. If everything goes normally, he should receive his green card a few weeks after his arrival in US. They will not get married until he gets his green card because his green card was filed as an unmarried son, and it is the condition of his GC petition that he should not get married while his green card is being processed. So the plan is to wait for his GC and then get married and file the GC for my sister-in-law. We have learnt that her petition could take over 3 years to approve, and in the meantime she may not really have a way to stay in US even if her husband has a green card. So based on that it does seem they are better off living in Germany until her green card gets approved as well. Any thoughts about that?